lamp or lantern?

dances_with snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (or somebody else of the same name) wrote thusly in message :

A pseudo-archaic spelling "lanthorn" was used in the SF novel Tramontane by Emil Petaja, part of a tetralogy which updated the Kalevala into a futuristic setting. Any justification for this spelling?

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We would say headlights too.

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Stephen
Lennox Head, Australia

You bet... as in look at the headlights on that one! LOL

Yes, I'm showing my age... automobies used to have lanterns, big'uns, I remember pre sealed beams.

Unless this is a regional difference, I have to disagree with that. I can think of many types of lamp that are portable. In fact, I would say most portable lights are likely to be called lamps. "Lantern" is primarily an old-fashioned word, so as soon as you hear it, you expect either a period setting or possibly an exotic one (as with Chinese lanterns).

I cannot imagine anyone using "lantern" in everyday speech, but I do not see it as either being "more portable" or "made of flimsier materials". If I read "The old man staggered along the lane, holding up his lantern to avoid the potholes", I would imagine a sturdy, but battered brass and glass lamp powered by oil or candle, and I would know the scene was set at least a century ago.

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Rob Bannister

So it is pondial. That use of "lantern" sound really quaint to my ears. I used to go caving, and when I first started, we still used carbide lamps. Electric lamps with their clumsy and heavy batteries came later. We didn't call either of them "lanterns".

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Rob Bannister

You can probably tell that I've never explored a cave. Someone else also pointed out that the devices commonly used for that are called "carbide lamps" and not "carbide lanterns". You will see, however, that one of the largest US manufacturers of camping equipment uses the word "lantern" to refer to their protected, portable lighting devices. Go to

do a search for "lantern", and you'll see a few models. Just out of curiosity, would you take a look at those Coleman "lanterns" and let me know what British campers would call them? Thanks. By the way, Coleman also makes "lamps" ("table lamps", to be specific), but they all have shades on them and appear less portable than their "lanterns".

In American parlance, the propane-fueled light-emitting devices used when camping are typically called "lanterns". See

Are those "lamps" down under?

I've got to agree with Jim Follett: if it can be carried, dangling from a handle or similarly hung on a bracket or branch, it's a "lantern". Otherwise, it's a "lamp" (or a "light").

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I checked my dictionary (perhaps should have done that earlier) and according to that source the difference is that a lantern is a lamp with a protective case (as others have noted). Where as a lamp is a source of illumination.

So a lantern is always a lamp, but not every lamp is a lantern.

To me "lantern", like "whilst" and "amongst" has a slightly old-fasioned sound, but one could go one sep further and spell it "lanthorn".

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Coleman lanterns are sold in the UK, described as "Lanterns".

If you go to:

and search for lantern you will see 5 lanterns. Each has a pivoting wire handle for carrying and/or hanging. When not in use the handle hangs down at the side of the lantern.

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Peter Duncanson
UK (posting from a.u.e)

That's come full circle - the last new car I bought (1988 Mustang) had halogen bulbs in big aluminum-plated lexan reflectors.

Cheers! Rich

The manufacturers call those torches/flashlights with the 6 volt lantern battery in them and the plastic handle, "lanterns", but when people ask for them, I don't recall them being called "lanterns". People just want a flashlight.

Oil lamps have handles and aren't called "lanterns". I think of a lantern as a white gas Coleman type device with one or two mantels at a white hot glow.

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I got rid of my tilly lamps about 3 years ago along with all the rest of my camping gear. Yes, "lamps": tilly lamp, gas lamp, camping lamp - or, of course, "light".

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Rob Bannister