Hermelin

See also: hermelin

German

Etymology

From 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

• IPA^(key): /hɛʁməˈliːn/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

Hermelin n (strong, genitive Hermelins, plural Hermeline)

1. (zoology) ermine (Mustela erminea)
2. (heraldry) ermine

Declension

Declension of Hermelin [neuter, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	Hermelin	die	Hermeline
genitive	eines	des	Hermelins	der	Hermeline
dative	einem	dem	Hermelin	den	Hermelinen
accusative	ein	das	Hermelin	die	Hermeline

Noun

Hermelin m (strong, genitive Hermelins, plural Hermeline)

1. ermine (white fur of the ermine)
2. A moth (Trichosea ludifica (Noctuidae spp.))

   Synonym: gelber Hermelin

Declension

Declension of Hermelin [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Hermelin	die	Hermeline
genitive	eines	des	Hermelins	der	Hermeline
dative	einem	dem	Hermelin	den	Hermelinen
accusative	einen	den	Hermelin	die	Hermeline

References

• “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.