On the lam or on the run refers to the state of being wanted by an authority and traveling to avoid capture. In politics, authority (Latin auctoritas, used in Roman law as opposed to potestas and imperium) is often used interchangeably with the term power. However, their meanings differ. ...

Etymology

"Lam" means "thrash" or "beat soundly," from the Icelandic, "lemje". The imagery is that one beats the path with one's feet while fleeing quickly. ...

Properly, it stems from a Norwegian/Icelandic language group which, in turn, derives from from a Northern Gemranic branch of the Germanic languages, where the Englishes (Modern from Middle from Old) come from Low German, coming from a Western Germnanic branch of the Germanic languages. Miriam-Webster's describes the etymology as "of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse lemje to thrash; akin to Old English lama lame Date: 1595."

Mencken's The American Language and The Thesaurus of American Slang proclaim that lam, lammister and on the lam—all referring to a hasty departure—were common in thieves' slang before the turn of the century. Mencken quotes a newspaper report on the origin of 'lam' which actually traces it indirectly back to Shakespeare's time. H. L. (Henry Louis) Mencken (September 12, 1880 - January 29, 1956) was a twentieth century journalist and social critic, a cynic and a freethinker, known as the Sage of Baltimore and the American Nietzsche. He is often regarded as one of the most influential American writers of the early 20th... The American Language is H. L. Menckens 1919 book about changes Americans had made to the English Language. ... Fin de siècle is French for End of the Century. The term turn-of-the-century is sometimes used as a synonym, but is more neutral (lacking some or most of the connotations described below), and can include the first years of a new century. ...

Its origin should be obvious to anyone who runs over several colloquial phrases for leavetaking, such as 'beat it' and 'hit the trail'. The allusion in 'lam' is to 'beat,' and 'beat it' is Old English, meaning 'to leave.' During the period of George Ade's 'Fables in Slang' (1900), cabaret society delight in talking slang, and 'lam' was current. Like many other terms, it went under in the flood of new usages of those days, but was preserved in criminal slang. A quarter of a century later it reappeared.

The Sage of Baltimore also quotes a story from the New York Herald Tribune in 1938 which reported that "one of the oldest police officers in New York said that he had heard on the lam thirty years ago." Image File history File links Cquote1. ... Image File history File links Cquote2. ...

External links

ON THE LAMB

on the lam defined by Devil's Dictionary