lampern

From Middle English laumproun, adopted from Old French lampreon, diminutive of lampreie (“lamprey”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈlæmpəɹn/
• Hyphenation: lam‧pern

lampern (plural lamperns)

1. The European river lamprey, Lampetra fluviatilis.
   • 1382, Wyclif's Bible‎, prologue to Job, page 671:

     […]if thou woldest an eel or a laumprun holde with streite hondis, how myche strengerli thou thristis, so myche the sunnere it shal sliden awey.

   • 1589, Thomas Coghan, Haven of Health, published 1636, page 165:

     LAmprayes or Lampurnes bee partly of the nature of Eeles[…].

   • 1799, John Price, The Worcester Guide, page 55:

     The Lampern is called Petromyzon Fluviatilis, becauſe this fiſh at certain ſeaſons goes to the ſea.

   • 1936, Charles Tate Regan, Natural History, Ward Lock, page 194:

     The Lampern, Lampetra fluviatilis, is white, with greenish back; it reaches a length of sixteen inches.

   • 1956, R. Morris, “The Osmoregulatory Ability of the Lampern (Lampetra fluviatilis L.) in Sea Water during the Course of Its Spawning Migration”, in Journal of Experimental Biology, volume 33, page 235:

     Lampetra fluviatilis (the lampern or river lamprey) undergoes a spawning migration in British rivers during the period between November and February, after which the animals spend from 4 to 6 months in fresh water prior to spawning.

• lampern in Oxford English Dictionary, volume VI, 1908
• “lampern”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• Perlman