Hermelin
German
editEtymology
editFrom Middle High German hermelīn, from Old High German harmilī, diminutive of harmo (“ermine”), from Proto-Germanic *harmô. Cognates outside Germanic only in Latvian sermulis and Lithuanian šarmuõ, šermuõ.
The monophthong -i- in modern German (alongside obsolete Hermlein, Hermelein) as well as the final stress can be explained natively, as being from a non-diphthongising dialect on the one hand, and by comparing the irregular stress shift in such words as Holunder, Wacholder, lebendig on the other. However, it seems likely that both developments were reinforced by Romance words such as Italian ermellino, armellino, French hermine. The origin of these latter is contested; they are either borrowed from Germanic or go back to an unrelated Medieval Latin Armenius mūs (literally “Armenian mouse”).
Pronunciation
editNoun
editHermelin n (strong, genitive Hermelins, plural Hermeline)
Declension
editNoun
editHermelin m (strong, genitive Hermelins, plural Hermeline)
- ermine (white fur of the ermine)
- A moth (Trichosea ludifica (Noctuidae spp.))
- Synonym: gelber Hermelin
Declension
editReferences
edit- “Hermelin” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
- Friedrich Kluge (1883) “Hermelin”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891
- “Hermelin” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.
- German terms inherited from Middle High German
- German terms derived from Middle High German
- German terms inherited from Old High German
- German terms derived from Old High German
- German terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- German terms derived from Italian
- German terms derived from French
- German terms derived from Medieval Latin
- German 3-syllable words
- German terms with IPA pronunciation
- German terms with audio links
- German lemmas
- German nouns
- German neuter nouns
- de:Zoology
- de:Heraldry
- German masculine nouns
- de:Moths
- de:Mustelids
- de:Natural materials