camp

camp · noun, verb¹

1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*kampōn“to fight, do battle”
2. Old English · inherited fromcampian, compian“to fight, war against”
3. Middle English · inherited fromcampen
4. Old Northern French · derived fromcamp
5. Middle French · derived fromcan, camp“place where an army lodges temporarily”
6. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*kh₂emp-“to bend; crooked”
7. Latin · derived fromcampus“open field, level plain”
8. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*kamp“open field where military exercises are held, level plain”
9. Old English · inherited fromcamp“battle, contest, battlefield, open space”
10. Middle English · inherited fromkampe“battlefield, open space”
11. English todaycamp

From Middle English kampe (“battlefield, open space”), from Old English camp (“battle, contest, battlefield, open space”), from Proto-West Germanic *kamp (“open field where military exercises are held, level plain”), from Latin campus (“open field, level plain”), from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂emp- (“to bend; crooked”). Reinforced circa 1520 by Middle French can, camp (“place where an army lodges temporarily”), from Old Northern French camp, from the same Latin (whence also French champ from Old French). Cognate with Old High German champf (“battle, struggle”) (German Kampf), Old Norse kapp (“battle”), Old High German hamf (“paralysed, maimed, mutilated”). Doublet of campus and champ. The verb is from Middle English campen, from Old English campian, compian (“to fight, war against”), from Proto-West Germanic *kampōn (“to fight, do battle”), from *kamp (“field, battlefield, battle”), see above. Cognate with Dutch kampen, German kämpfen (“to struggle”), Danish kæmpe, Swedish kämpa.

camp · noun, adjective, verb²

Unknown. Suggested origins include the 17th century French word camper (“to put oneself in a pose”), an assumed dialectal English word *camp or *kemp (“rough, uncouth”) and a derivation from camp (n.) Believed to be from Polari, but otherwise obscure.

camp · noun³

1. Spanish · borrowed fromcampo“countryside”
2. English todaycamp

From Spanish campo (“countryside”).

Camp · proper noun⁴

Clipping.

Words from the same roots