Origin of 'yomp', yomping, 'yomper' - not unknown surely?
Gary Mc Closkey
princeton.edu and decided to test it out with 'yomp'. And it came back with
yomp
yomp yo(hook)mp, v. orig. Mil. Origin unknown. The word came into prominence
when used by the Royal Marines
during the Falklands conflict of 1982. It was subsequently identified with
yump v. by correspondents familiar with the
terminology of rally driving, but whether correctly or not has not been
confirmed.
a. intr. To march with heavy equipment over difficult terrain. Also fig.
b. trans. To cover (a certain distance) in this way.
1982 Daily Tel. 3 June 36/6 And always in the cold light of the
Falklands dawn, the..Marines..have been ready to
`yomp on' for the next stage of the journey.
etc.
The bit that intrigues me is that the origin is listed as military, unknown.
I was always told that it came from the irish (gaelic) "ag iompar",
pronounced "egg umpar" or "egg yomper". [You can ignore the ag/egg part -
it's the gaeilic equivalent of -ing].
Now 'ag iompar' means to be in a state of pregnancy, or to be carrying a
load. To me this makes sense of the meaning used in the British military
Can anyone else confirm this?
Gary
--
gmc_...@indigo.ie. Remove underscore_duff to mail me.
NOTICE TO BULK E-MAILERS: Pursuant to US Code, Title 47, Chapter 5,
Subchapter
II, 227, and all unsolicited commercial e-mail sent to this address is
subject
to a download and archival fee in the amount of $500 US.
N.Mitchum
-----
> yomp yo(hook)mp, v. orig. Mil. Origin unknown. The word came
> into prominence when used by the Royal Marines during the
> Falklands conflict of 1982. It was subsequently identified with
> yump v. by correspondents familiar with the terminology of rally
> driving, but whether correctly or not has not been confirmed.
>
> a. intr. To march with heavy equipment over difficult terrain. Also fig.
>
> b. trans. To cover (a certain distance) in this way.
>
>
The definitions (and the "yump" variant) put me in mind of the
American military slang word, "hump," which became well known to
our civilian population during the Vietnam War. Its meaning is
rather plain to see. I wonder if the Royal Marines didn't simply
appropriate, and alter, this word.
----NM [If replying by e-mail, please heed my address]
Gary Mc Closkey
[snip]
>The definitions (and the "yump" variant) put me in mind of the
>American military slang word, "hump," which became well known to
>our civilian population during the Vietnam War. Its meaning is
>rather plain to see. I wonder if the Royal Marines didn't simply
>appropriate, and alter, this word.
Nope - yomping goes back into the 19th and possibly 18th cenury in terms of
usage.
G.
--
gary...@indigo.ie. Remove underscore_duff to mail me.
John Davies
<du...@duffduff.com> writes
>In the wonderful meandering way of the web I came across the OED at
>princeton.edu and decided to test it out with 'yomp'. And it came back with
>
>yomp
>
>when used by the Royal Marines
>during the Falklands conflict of 1982. It was subsequently identified with
>yump v. by correspondents familiar with the
>terminology of rally driving, but whether correctly or not has not been
>confirmed.
>
>a. intr. To march with heavy equipment over difficult terrain. Also fig.
>
>b. trans. To cover (a certain distance) in this way.
The explanation I remember hearing during the Falklands conflict was
that it came from a briefing by a Norwegian officer with whom, as NATO
allies, the Marines had been exercising their arctic campaigning skills.
The story was that his pronunciation of "jump", meaning a quick advance
to their next objective, sounded to the bootnecks like "yomp".
I offer this for what it's worth, which is probably not very much. All
the Norwegians I have known, and I've known quite a few, speak the most
excellent English with only a trace of an accent, so it's not all that
likely.
--
John Davies (jo...@redwoods.demon.co.uk)
TJ
>
> The explanation I remember hearing during the Falklands conflict was
> that it came from a briefing by a Norwegian officer with whom, as NATO
> allies, the Marines had been exercising their arctic campaigning skills.
> The story was that his pronunciation of "jump", meaning a quick advance
> to their next objective, sounded to the bootnecks like "yomp".
>
In a Farley Mowat book (The Dog Who Wouldn't Be), the dog climbs a
ladder and suprizes a ?Norwegian at the top who says he 'yomped' into
the window. Perhaps it was a Swede.
tj
John Davies
<du...@duffduff.com> writes
>N.Mitchum wrote in message <361104...@removeme.lafn.org>...
>[snip]
>
>>The definitions (and the "yump" variant) put me in mind of the
>>American military slang word, "hump," which became well known to
>>our civilian population during the Vietnam War. Its meaning is
>>rather plain to see. I wonder if the Royal Marines didn't simply
>>appropriate, and alter, this word.
>
>Nope - yomping goes back into the 19th and possibly 18th cenury in terms of
>usage.
I'd be interested to hear what evidence you have for that. Partridge's
"Dictionary of Historical Slang" doesn't mention it, whilst the earliest
citation given by his successor Paul Beale, in his "Concise Dictionary
of Slang and Unconventional English", is from 1982. Beale briefly
mentions the "jump" explanation referred to in my earlier posting, by
the way, but prefers the "hump" derivation. Scandinavian rally driver's
slang is apparently the derivation preferred by the Oxford Word and
Language Service.
--
John Davies (jo...@redwoods.demon.co.uk)