Gämse

German

Alternative forms

• Gams (Bavarian)
• Gemse (superseded spelling)

Etymology

From Middle High German gemeze, from Old High German gamiza (form only attested in a 13th-century manuscript). The variant Gams f is from Middle High German gamz m, f, n, from Old High German *gamuz or *gamaz (probably a masculine or neuter). These forms can be derived from Vulgar Latin *camōcius m, *camōcia f, which also underlie most of the dialectal Romance forms in Switzerland and northern Italy, probably from an extinct Alpine language (such as Raetic or Ancient Ligurian), eventually perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *kem (“without horns”), though this is speculative. A more western form of the same word is attested in Late Latin camōx (5th century).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɛmzə/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

Gämse f (genitive Gämse, plural Gämsen)

1. chamois ()

Descendants

• → Dutch: gems

Further reading

• “Gämse” in Duden online

References

• Template:R:ine:Roberts