An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Hermelin

by Friedrich Kluge

Hermelin, masculine and neuter (accented like a foreign word), from the equivalent Middle High German hęrmelîn, neuter, ‘ermine,’ diminutive of Middle High German harme, Old High German harmo, masculine, ‘ermine’; a German word merely, wanting in the other Old Teutonic languages, but in spite of the phonetic correspondence with Lithuanian szermǔ, ‘ermine’ (Lithuanian sz for Sanscrit ç, Aryan k, whence Teutonic h), there is no doubt about its being genuinely Teutonic. From German are derived the Romance words similar in sound (Modern French hermine, Italian ermellino) rather than from the Middle Latin mus armenius (for which the earlier mus ponticus is found).