Origin and history of vampire

vampire(n.)

"spectral being in a human body who maintains semblance of life by leaving the grave at night to suck the warm blood of the living as they sleep," 1732, vampyre, from French vampire (18c.) or German Vampir (1732, like the English word first in an account of Hungarian vampires), from Hungarian vampir, from Old Church Slavonic ǫpiri, ǫpyri (source also of Serbian vampir, Bulgarian vapir, Ukrainian uper), said by Slavic linguist Franc Miklošič to be ultimately from Kazan Tatar ubyr "witch," but Max Vasmer, an expert in this linguistic area, finds that phonetically doubtful.

MR. D'Anvers tells of a Conversation he had about a certain Prodigy, mention'd in the News Papers of March last, viz. that in the Village of Medreyga in Hungary, certain dead Bodies (call'd there Vampyres) had kill'd several Persons by sucking out all their Blood : That Arnold Paul, an Heyduke, having kill'd four Persons after he was dead, his Body was taken up 40 Days after, which bled at the Nose, Mouth and Ears : That, according to Custom, they drove a Stake thro' his Heart, at which he gave horrid Groan, and lost a great deal of Blood. And that all such as have been tormented or kill'd by Vampyres, become Vampyres when they are dead. [London Journal, May 20, 1732, quoted in Weekly Essays, May 1732]

The spread of the story about this time is perhaps traceable to a pamphlet published in 1732, the title page of which reads: Dissertationem De Hominibus Post Mortem Sanguisugis, Vulgo Sic Dictis Vampyren, Auctoritate Inclyti Philosophorum Ordinis, Publico Eruditorum Examini Die XXX. Aug. An. MDCCXXXII. Submittent M. Io. Christophorus Pohlius, Lignicens. Silesius Et Io. Gottlob Hertelius, Philos. Et Med. Stud.

An Eastern European creature popularized in English by late 19c. gothic novels. There are scattered English accounts of walking undead corpses from as far back as 1196, but they do not name the creature.

The figurative sense of "person who preys on others" is attested by 1741. It was applied 1774 by French biologist Buffon to a species of South American blood-sucking bat. As "a seductive woman" by 1909 (see vamp (n.2)) Related: Vampiric.

also from 1732

Entries linking to vampire

vamp(n.2)

"seductive woman who exploits men," 1915, a popular shortening of vampire, which is attested in this sense by 1909 in the novel A Fool There Was by Porter Emerson Browne, based on a Kipling poem written in conjunction with a painting called "The Vampire" by Kipling's cousin Philip Burne-Jones. The poem and painting first were exhibited together in 1897.

A fool there was and he made his prayer

(Even as you and I!)

To a rag and a bone and a hank of hair

(We called her the woman who did not care)

But the fool, he called her his lady fair

(Even as you and I.)

[Kipling, from "The Vampire"]

The 1915 film A Fool There Was, based on the novel, is credited with bringing the term vamp into the mainstream. Theda Bara's debut role in it as The Vampire propelled her to stardom, and the word was in print in reference to dangerous women within a month of the movie's premier.

"So you're going to turn vampire for revenge?" I inquired.

"Me for the vamp stuff," she assured me earnestly.

[William Slavens McNutt, "The Rocky Road of Rectitude," in Munsey's, February 1915]

It was a verb by 1918. Previously the word was used as a pejorative for men, perhaps shortened from vamper, originally indicating dishonest men who stole or cheated through trickery (in this sense, by 1864). The male word may have influenced the clipping of the female vampire. Related: Vamping.

N.B. The print OED citation of Chesterton using the word vamp in this sense in 1911 cannot be confirmed; the sentence quoted might be from 1926.

vampirism(n.)

"belief in the existence of vampires; act or practice of blood-sucking;" 1737; see vampire + -ism.

Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.