Etymologically
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plume

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈpluːm/, /ˈpljuːm/[1]
  • US: /ˈplum/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English plume,[2][3] borrowed from Old French plume (“soft feather, down”), also Anglo-Norman plume,[4][5][6][3] and directly borrowed from Latin plūma (“small soft feather, down”).[4][5][6] The OED takes the Latin word as borrowed first, already in Old English, where it appears in a translation of Defensor's “Liber Scintillarum” and in the compound Old English plūmfeðer (“down feather”), and then reinforced by, or taken again from, French.[6][7] The French word is recorded from about 1140, for down used to fill duvets and pillows,[6] and Anglo-Norman had it from about 1165 for a feather, plumage and a feather bed.[8] The OED calls the Latin word of unknown origin;[6] Etymonline derives it from Proto-Indo-European *pleus- (“to pluck; a feather, fleece”), the source of flēos (“fleece”),[4] and Klein and Ayto also connect it with fleece,[9][10] while Skeat thought it allied to fly.[11] Partridge compares Lithuanian plũnksna (“feather”).[12] The Latin word gave piuma, pluma and pluma,[10][6] and was borrowed early into other Germanic languages, as plūme (now pluim) and pflūma (now Flaum), probably because of the trade in goose down from northern Europe since Roman times.[6][13] The verb is partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman plumer (“to cover with feathers”) and Latin plūmō (“to cover with feathers”), partly borrowed from Middle French plumer (“to pluck a bird”), and partly formed from the noun.[6][14][15]

Earliest recorded meaning

A feather, especially a large or showy one: about 1399, in Mum and the Sothsegger,[5][6] or in the late 14th century according to Etymonline.[4] In Old English the word meant feathers collectively or down, a sense now rare and poetic.[6]

Semantic evolution

From 1530 a plume was an ornamental feather, bunch of feathers or tuft of horsehair worn on a helmet or hat, often as a mark of rank.[6][15] Figurative uses followed: an ostentatious display from 1580, then, from 1605, a mark of honour or a source of pride, like a feather in one's cap.[6] Borrowed plumes alludes to the fable of the jackdaw that dressed in a peacock's feathers.[16][14] From the late 16th century the word was used for various things that look like a feather,[13] such as the feathery appendage of a seed (1578) and the gill of a crustacean or mollusc (1834).[6] From 1878 it also denoted a long trail of smoke and the like.[4] The verb first belonged to falconry, of a hawk plucking at the feathers of its prey, before 1450;[6] Barnhart dates it to about 1399.[5] The sense of adorning with plumes is recorded from 1449,[6] and of a bird preening itself from 1486.[6] The reflexive plume oneself, to congratulate oneself, is recorded from 1643, in Browne's Religio Medici,[6][5] and Weekley traces it to the image of a bird preening.[16]

Timeline

  • c. 1399 – a feather, especially a large or showy one.[5][6]
  • before 1450 – verb, of a hawk, to pluck at the feathers of its prey (obsolete by 1668).[6] Barnhart dates the verb to about 1399.[5]
  • 1449 – to adorn or cover with plumes.[6]
  • 1486 – of a bird, to preen itself.[6]
  • 1530 – an ornamental feather or tuft worn on a helmet or hat.[6]
  • 1578 – in botany, a feathery appendage of a seed.[6]
  • 1605 – a mark of honour or distinction.[6]
  • 1643 – plume oneself, to congratulate oneself.[6][5]
  • 1878 – a long trail of smoke or the like.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A feather, especially a large or showy one: a hat trimmed with a peacock plume.[17][15][6]
  2. A feather, cluster of feathers or tuft of hair worn as an ornament or a sign of rank, as on a helmet.[17][15][6]
  3. A column or trail of something rising or spreading out, such as smoke or steam: A plume of steam rose from the kettle.[17][4]
  4. (biology) A feathery part, such as the structure on some seeds that helps the wind carry them.[17][6]
  5. A mark of honour or distinction.[6]

Verb

  1. To provide or decorate with plumes.[15][6]
  2. plume oneself: to congratulate oneself, especially on something trivial.[6][15]
  3. Of a bird, to preen its feathers.[6][4]
  4. To rise or spread out in a plume: smoke pluming from the factory chimneys.[15]
  5. (obsolete) Of a hawk, to pluck the feathers of its prey.[15][6][14]

Word family

  • plumeless
  • plumelike
  • displume
  • plumelet
  • plumy
  • plumed
  • replume
  • unplumed
  • plumage
  • fleece
  • plumule
  • plumose
  • deplume
  • nom de plume

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Mayhew, A. L.; Skeat, Walter W. (1888), A Concise Dictionary of Middle English from A.D. 1150 to 1580, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  12. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  13. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  14. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  16. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  17. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins