ermelin
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editBorrowed 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-Germanic *harmô (“weasel”). Cognate with Italian ermellino (“ermine”), from the same Germanic source. More at ermine.
Noun
editermelin (plural ermelins)
- (obsolete) An ermine.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- And on his shield enueloped seuenfold / He bore a crowned litle Ermilin [...].