Etymology Dictionary

LAPWING,  the name of a bird.  (E.)   M.E. lappewinke (four syllables), Gower, C. A. ii. 239; later lapwinke, Prompt. Parv. p. 288; spelt lhapwynche, Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 61, l. 31.—A.S. hleápewince, Wright's Vocab., i. 62, col. 1, l. 22.   β. The first part is hleápe-, connected with hleápan, to run, spring, leap; see Leap.   γ. The second part of the word is, literally, 'winker;' but we must assign to the verb wink its original sense.   This orig. sense appears in the O.H.G. winchan, M.H.G. winken, to move from side to side, a sense preserved in mod. G. wanken, to totter, stagger, vacillate, reel, waver, &c.   Thus the sense is 'one who turns about in running or flight,' which is (I believe) fairly descriptive of the habit of the male bird.   The G. wanken is from the same root as Lat. uagus, wandering; see Vagrant and Wink.   ¶ Popular etymology explains the word as 'wing-flapper;' but lap does not really take the sense of flap; it means, rather, to droop, hang down loosely; see Lap (2).   This interpretation is wrong as to both parts of the A.S. form of the word, and is too general. [†]

ADDENDA

Actually spelt leepwynke in Wycliffe, Levit. xi. 19; cf. lapwynches, pl., in Caxton, tr. of Reynard the Fox, ed. Arber, p. 60, l. 24.   As late as 1530, we find lapwynke in Palsgrave.