Etymograph

English

lap

Lap comes from Old English læppa ‘skirt or flap of a garment’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *lappô ‘cloth’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*lappô1‘cloth’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*lappō1reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150læppa1‘skirt or flap of a garment’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lappe1
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1693lap1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English lap
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, [The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Sixth Satyr: “Her garment spreads, and laps him in the fold.”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*lappôWiktionary, English lap‘cloth’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*lappōWiktionary, English lapreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150læppaWiktionary, English lap‘skirt or flap of a garment’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lappeWiktionary, English lap
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1693lapWiktionary, English lap. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, [The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Sixth Satyr: “Her garment spreads, and laps him in the fold.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *leb- ‘to hang loosely’

la, lip, label, limp, limbo, lobe, labia, labrum, lave, 14 more

Another origin of lap

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*werb-‘to bend, turn’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wlapp-‘to turn, roll, wind, fold, wrap’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150*wlappanreconstructed
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wlappen‘to fold, wrap’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lappen‘to fold, wrap’
  6. Englishtodaylap

Also related to envelop, develop. The sense of "to get a lap ahead (of someone) on a track" is from 1847, on notion of "overlapping." The noun meaning "a turn around a track" (1861) is from this sense.

Another origin of lap

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leh₂b-‘to lap, lick’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*lapōną‘to lick’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*lapōnreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150lapian‘to lick, lap’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lappen‘to wrap, fold’
  6. Englishtodaylap

French lamper is a loanword from German.

Today it means

noun The loose part of a coat; the lower part of a garment that plays loosely; a skirt; an apron.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “lap”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *lappô / lap

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