Note 354 — ACT IV., SCENE I.
Reading edition
Leman is the old word for a lover of either sex; and in a note to "The Merry Wives of Windsor," act iv. sc. 2, Mr Steevens derives it from lief, which is Dutch for beloved. In this opinion he only follows Junius, while others consider it to have its origin in l'aimant.
"Judge Apius, prickt forth with filthy desire, Thy person as Lemmon doth greatly require."
—Apius and Virginia, 1575, sign. D 3.
In "The Contention between Liberalitie and Prodigalitie," 1602, it is made the subject of a pun:
"He shall have a Lemmon to moysten his mouth: A Lymon, I meane, no Lemman, I trow; Take hede, my faire maides, you take me not so."
—Sign. C 4.—Collier.