Etymologically
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merlin

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English merlioun, also merilioun,[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman merilun,[5][6][7][8] an aphetic form of esmerilun.[5][8][9] This corresponds to Old French esmerillon (c. 1170), now émerillon,[5][6][4] formed from esmeril and a suffix that the OED and Etymonline take as a diminutive,[5][7][10] and Merriam-Webster and the “Oxford Dictionary of English” as an augmentative.[3][11][8] The French word is probably from Frankish *smiril,[5][6][4][9] related to Middle Dutch smerle, Old High German smerlo, German Schmerl and Old Norse smyrill.[5][3][4] Weekley and Etymonline add Spanish esmerejón and Italian smeriglione, from the same Germanic source.[10][6] The further origin of the Germanic word is uncertain: the OED mentions a suggested link with Schmerle, the loach, a small fish, but finds the change of meaning hard to explain,[5][4] and it rejects a connection with Latin merula (“blackbird”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The small falcon: before 1382, in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible, in a list of birds that may not be eaten.[5][2] The Anglo-Norman word is found from the first third of the 13th century,[12] and the MED cites it from a treatise on hawks of before 1300;[2] Etymonline says the English word may date from the early 14th century.[6]

Semantic evolution

Chaucer used merlioun four times.[13] The merlin was a hawk of falconry: Johnson (1755) defined it only as "a kind of hawk", quoting Sidney on an old man still following a merlin.[14][15] The MED notes that the word may have been confused with the heraldic merlette.[2] Older dictionaries give the bird the scientific name Falco aesalon,[3][4][2] while the OED and Collins call it Falco columbarius, the name that includes the American pigeon hawk.[5][15]

Timeline

  • early 13th century – Anglo-Norman merilun.[12]
  • before 1382 – the small falcon, in the Wycliffite Bible.[5][2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small falcon, Falco columbarius, of northern Europe, Asia and North America, with a dark, barred tail, formerly used in falconry.[15][5][3]
  2. In North America, the pigeon hawk.[3][15]

Usage notes

The name of the wizard Merlin of the Arthurian legends is a separate word: it first appears as Medieval Latin Merlinus in Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1140), from Welsh Myrddin.[5][3][4] The OED also records merlin, a small hardy Welsh pony, from 1810, a borrowing of Welsh merlyn, of uncertain origin.[5][16]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  10. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  13. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  15. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  16. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)