# Origin of Umpire **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [May 17, 2002, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-umpire/109495 "2002-05-17T04:27:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DragonTears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@DragonTears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DragonTears)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2002, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-umpire/109495/1 "2002-05-17T04:27:03Z")
Re: [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mumpteen.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mumpteen.html) > [@](#): > > For a truly interesting word origin, go back a few and check out “umpire.” For those of us atrophied by sitting in front of the computer way too much, the Oxford English Dictionary is way to heavy. So what is the origin of the word umpire? ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2002, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-umpire/109495/2 "2002-05-17T05:43:16Z")
The word is basically the same as _non-peer_, having had various spellings in English and French, such as _nonper_, _nompere_, etc. The loss of the initial _n_ is due to a misdivision of _a numpire_ (or similar) as _an umpire_. The same sort of misdivision has caused _a nadder_ and _a napron_ (or similar spellings) to become _an adder_ and _an apron_. ---
**Author:** ![DragonTears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@DragonTears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DragonTears)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2002, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-umpire/109495/3 "2002-05-17T22:28:57Z")
nifty! namasti! nice nodose knowledge.