leman

See also: lemán, Leman, and Léman

English

Alternative forms

• leaman
• lemman (13th–17th centuries)
• lemon (15th–16th centuries)

Etymology

From Middle English lemman, variant of leofman, from Old English *lēofmann ("lover; sweetheart"; attested as a personal name), equivalent to lief +‎ man ("beloved person"). In the past, incorrectly asserted to derive from French l’aimant (“the [male] lover”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛmən/, /ˈliːmən/
• Rhymes: -ɛmən
• Homophone: lemon

Noun

leman (plural lemans)

1. (archaic) One beloved; a lover, a sweetheart of either sex (especially a secret lover; a gallant or mistress).
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Faire Venus seemde vnto his bed to bring
     Her, whom he waking euermore did weene,
     To be the chastest flowre, that ay did spring
     On earthly braunch, the daughter of a king,
     Now a loose Leman to vile seruice bound […].

   • 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter II, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 61:

     The prisoner I speak of is better booty—a jolly monk riding to visit his leman, an I may judge by his horse-gear and wearing apparel.

2. (often pejorative) A paramour.
   • 1915, Oscar Wilde, A House of Pomegranates: The Fisherman and his Soul:

     '...They are lost, I tell thee, they are lost. For them there is no heaven nor hell, and in neither shall they praise God’s name.’
     ‘Father,’ cried the young Fisherman, ‘thou knowest not what thou sayest. Once in my net I snared the daughter of a King. She is fairer than the morning star, and whiter than the moon. For her body I would give my soul, and for her love I would surrender heaven. Tell me what I ask of thee, and let me go in peace.’
     ‘Away! Away!’ cried the Priest: ‘thy leman is lost, and thou shalt be lost with her.’
     And he gave him no blessing, but drove him from his door.

   • 1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song:

     And he sent the news to William the Lyon, sitting drinking the wine and fondling his bonny lemans in Edinburgh Town, and William made him the Knight of Kinraddie […].

Anagrams

• Elman, Melan, lamen, nelma

Malay

Etymology

From Javanese liman, possibly from lima +‎ -an, doublet of liman; related to Proto-Chamic *lamaːn (compare Western Cham limân, Rade êman, Jarai rơman).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ləman/
• Rhymes: -əman, -man, -an

Noun

leman (Jawi spelling ليمن, plural leman-leman, informal 1st possessive lemanku, 2nd possessive lemanmu, 3rd possessive lemannya)

1. (colloquial, Javanese) elephant.

   Synonyms: liman, gajah, biram

Further reading

• “leman” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.
• Wilkinson, Richard James. An Abridged Malay-English Dictionary. Macmillan. 1965.