Dictionary

lamba en · NOUN

Etymology

From Malagasy (Highlands dialect).

Meanings

1. The traditional garment worn by men and women in Madagascar, consisting of a rectangular length of cloth wrapped around the body.
   • […] the Lances flew briskly at one another; one of which went thorow my Lamber, and scratch’d me […] 1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar, London, page 135:
   • Wind stirred the grass, leaving streaks of gold-green light, and the patterns of lambas on women coming home from the market took on the vividness of a Degas painting. 2017, Colleen J. McElroy, chapter 5, in Over the Lip of the World: Among the Storytellers of Madagascar, Seattle: University of Washington Press, page 99:
   • I was, from the first, surprised by the reverent manner in which public worship is conducted—especially by the outward respect shown during prayer. Almost everyone has his face covered with the folds of the lamba, and even young children seem instinctively to know that prayer is a solemn act, and often lie at full length on the ground perfectly still, with their little heads covered by their dress. 1870, James Sibree, chapter 17, in Madagascar and its People, London: The Religious Tract Society, page 520:

Forms