ermelin

English

Alternative forms

ermilin

Etymology

Borrowed 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

ermelin (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 [...].

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