What Does Lagniappe Mean? New Orleans, La Definition
Lagniappe Definition / Meaning
Lagniappe - noun - la·gniappe / lan’yap/ A commonly used word in the New Orleans region to describe an unexpected gift or surprise akin to a bonus. In short, it’s a little something extra.
Lagniappe is a mindset of giving, of service.
Common Synonyms: bonus, extra, gratuity, perk, gratis, tip
ex. The Galatoire’s waiter comped the Old Fashioned* cocktail as lagniappe to the meal.
*Better than a great wine in New Orleans
Lagniappe's French-Spanish inspired term - an Ambiguous History
Is it a French word? A cajun-french inspired noun with Nova Scotia roots? Or is it more Spanish? Let's see...
South American Spanish - la yapa or ñapa refers to a free extra item of small value.
“La” is the definite article meaning “the” in both Spanish and French (la ñapa or la gniappe = the ñapa/gniappe).
Lagniappe traces back to the Quechua word yapay ('to increase; to add'). The word is still commonly used in Andean markets it is still customary to ask for yapa ("a little extra") when making a purchase.
The Quechua word lagniappe is used freely in New Orleans and across the state of Louisiana. The word was introduced by the Spanish Creoles and blended into the French culture.
Despite the ambiguity, lagniappe makes up the fabric of New Orleans.
Even the former New Orleans Times Picayune News Paper adopted the word including a section of the paper called Lagniappe to highlight special events, places to visit and restaurants to dine in across the region.
The city’s multicultural settlers no doubt created a few new words. Lagniappe is just one of them.
Whooo dat is another for the New Orleans Saints. Thanks to the historic Super Bowl win, that "NOLA talk" is known across the Unites States and the world. The Big Easy’s linguistic evolution is alive and well today with its own vocabulary from decades-old influences reflecting the city’s overall culture.
Visit any local bar across the whole city you'll pix up quickly the mix-heritage descendants be it Irish to German to Italian to African to Vietnamese to Spanish to French descendants. From blue-blood families, your rich elite citizens, to the guys waiting tables they're all pivotal components of the Big Easy culture. New Orleans may a bit rough around the edges, it's also the charm that makes it a romantic place with its own unique vocabulary.
Lagniappe Definition According to Meriam Webster Dictionary
Noun: Lagniappe is a small gift given to a customer by a merchant (retail store) at the time of a purchase broadly: something given or obtained gratuitously or by way of good measure
Mark Twain writes about the word lagniappe in a chapter on New Orleans in Life on the Mississippi (1883).
Twain called it "a word worth traveling to New Orleans to get."
H"We picked up one excellent word—a word worth travelling to New Orleans to get; a nice limber, expressive, handy word—'lagniappe.' They pronounce it lanny-yap. It is Spanish—so they said. We discovered it at the head of a column of odds and ends in the Picayune, the first day; heard twenty people use it the second; inquired what it meant the third; adopted it and got facility in swinging it the fourth. It has a restricted meaning, but I think the people spread it out a little when they choose.
It is the equivalent of the thirteenth roll in a "baker's dozen." It is something thrown in, gratis, for good measure. The custom originated in the Spanish quarter of the city. When a child or a servant buys something in a shop—or even the mayor or the governor, for aught I know—he finishes the operation by saying—"Give me something for lagniappe."
The shopman always responds; gives the child a bit of licorice-root, gives the servant a cheap cigar or a spool of thread, gives the governor—I don't know what he gives the governor; support, likely.
When you are invited to drink, and this does occur now and then in New Orleans—and you say, "What, again?—no, I've had enough;" the other party says, "But just this one time more—this is for lagniappe." When the beau perceives that he is stacking his compliments a trifle too high, and sees by the young lady's countenance that the edifice would have been better with the top compliment left off, he puts his "I beg pardon—no harm intended," into the briefer form of "Oh, that's for lagniappe."
