October 9, 1997

landlubber

"Land lubber," "land lover"--another example of folk etymology? Are they equivalent? And how exactly does one become a lubber?

If you have to ask how to become a landlubber, you probably are one already.

Landlubber, a well-established word (it's now usually written as one word) that means 'an inexperienced seaman' or 'a person unfamiliar with the sea', is not related to the expression "land lover."

The word landlubber, first recorded in the late 1690s, is formed from land and the earlier lubber. This lubber dates from the fourteenth century and originally meant 'a clumsy, stupid fellow; lout; oaf'. By the sixteenth century it had developed the specialized sense 'an unseamanlike person; inexperienced seaman', which is the same sense as landlubber and was eventually combined with land to emphasize the unfamiliarity-with-the-sea aspect.

Lubber itself is probably related to or derived from lob, a word also meaning 'a clumsy, stupid fellow; lout', which is chiefly an English dialect form but occasionally appears in America (for example: "He is generally figured as nothing but a lob as far as ever doing anything useful...is concerned"--Damon Runyon). Though lob is not found until around 1500, somewhat later than lubber, lob is clearly related to words in other Germanic languages meaning 'a clumsy person'.