Etymology

ermelin

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Today it means: An ermine. Full definition →

German Hermelin ← Middle High German hermelin ← Proto-West Germanic *harmō
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*harmô“weasel”
  2. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*harmō
  3. Middle High German · derived fromhermelin
  4. German · borrowed fromHermelin“ermine”
  5. English todayermelin

Borrowed from German Hermelin (“ermine”), from Middle High German hermelin, from Old High German harmilī, harmilīn (“weasel”), diminutive of Old High German harmo (“ermine, stoat, weasel”), from Proto-West Germanic *harmō, from Proto-Germanic *harmô (“weasel”). Cognate with Italian ermellino (“ermine”), from the same Germanic source. More at ermine.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.