Champ
noun · first attested 20th century
Named by exactly the trick that produced Nessie: clip the water's name, add a pet ending.
The lake monster said to live in Lake Champlain.
44.5300°N -73.3300°W · Q68467
Record
- Relationship
- Named from the place
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- 20th century
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Lake Champlain
- In English
Champ
Lake Champlain lies between New York, Vermont and Quebec and carries the name of Samuel de Champlain, who reached it in 1609. Reports of a large creature were collected there through the nineteenth century, and the nickname Champ spread with the renewed interest that followed a widely printed 1977 photograph. Both the New York State Assembly and the Vermont legislature passed resolutions in the early 1980s protecting the animal from harm.