Etymology

ermine

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Today it means: A weasel found in northern latitudes (Mustela erminea in Eurasia, Alaska, and the Arctic, Mustela haidarum in Haida Gwaii, Mustela richardsonii in the rest of North America) which's dark brown fur turns white in winter, apart from the black tip of the tail. Full definition →

Middle English ermine ← Old French ermin ← Germanic
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The story

  1. Medieval Latin · derived frommūs Armenius“Armenian mouse”
  2. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*ḱormō
  3. Proto-Germanic · derived from*harmǭ
  4. Germanic · derived from
  5. Old French · derived fromermin
  6. Middle English · inherited fromermine
  7. English todayermine

From Middle English ermine, ermin, ermyn, from Old French ermin, ermine, hermine. There are two main theories for the origin of Old French ermine. Germanic origin is suggested via Old Dutch *harmino (“stoat skin”), from *harmo (“stoat, weasel”) (compare Dutch hermelijn and dialectal herm), from Proto-Germanic *harmǭ, *harmô (compare Old English hearma, Old High German harmo (harmin (adjective), obsolete German Harm), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱormō (compare Romansh carmun, obsolete Lithuanian šarmuõ). Romance sources identify the animal with the corresponding word for Armenian, possibly from Medieval Latin mūs Armenius (“Armenian mouse”) or a posterior compound.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.