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alquermes

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word alquermes

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1555 Laguna, Dioscórides, spelt alchermes More words from the 16th century
Borrowed from
Arabic قرمز
Ultimate origin
Arabic قرمز

Forms

alquermes m[1] Older spellings are alchermes, alkermes, alquermez, alquerme, alcuermes and alcuerme.[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Andalusian Arabic قرمز (qármaz, “cochineal, kermes”), from Arabic قرمز (qirmiz), which the DLE traces to a Persian expression for the kermes insect.[1][3][4] Corominas traces the Arabic word to the Persian word for “worm”, which he calls a distant relative of Latin vermis.[5]

From the same Andalusian word, without the article, come Old Leonese carmez (914 and 935), carmes and quermes, and with it the Spanish headword and Catalan alquermes (1460), from which Italian took alchermes (1567).[5] The colour word carmesí is derived from the Arabic word.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word appears in 1555, as alchermes and alquermez, in Andrés Laguna's Dioscorides, for a medicinal confectión coloured with kermes.[5][2]

Semantic evolution

The confection was a costly remedy: Bartolomé Leonardo de Argensola (c. 1602–1605) said that good taste purifies the blood more than la costossa conffeción de Alquerme, and Lope de Vega's Dorotea (1632) puts drinkable gold into it.[2] The Diccionario de Autoridades, under alchermes, described the tiny red insect from whose grains the scarlet dye was made, used also in the pharmacies.[6] Terreros listed it as a cordial of sugar, rose powder and other flowers with coral, pearls and kermes.[7] In 1843 the Academy described it as a confection of cinnamon and other medicines, and in 1884 as a pleasant but very stimulating table liqueur coloured with kermes, and a medicinal electuary.[8][9] Gaspar y Roig called it little used in their day.[10]

Timeline

  • 1555 – alchermes and alquermez in Laguna's Dioscorides.[5][2]
  • 1632 – Lope de Vega's Dorotea mentions the cofección de Alquermes.[2]
  • 1726 – the Diccionario de Autoridades describes the insect under alchermes.[6]
  • 1786 – Terreros records alcuermes.[2]
  • 1884 – the Academy defines the liqueur and the electuary.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (rare) The kermes insect; the same as quermes.[1][11]
  2. A very pleasant but very stimulating table liqueur coloured with kermes.[1][11]
  3. (medicine) A kind of electuary containing kermes and various stimulants.[1][11]
  • quermes
  • carmesí
  • carmín
  • Italian alchermes

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. alquermes
  2. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. alquermes
  3. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
  4. ^ Corriente, Federico; Pereira, Christophe; Vicente, Ángeles (2019), Dictionnaire des emprunts ibéro-romans: emprunts à l'arabe et aux langues du monde islamique (Encyclopédie linguistique d'Al-Andalus 3), Berlin: De Gruyter, p. s.v. quermes
  5. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 876
  6. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 183
  7. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 1, 83
  8. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 38
  9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 60
  10. ^ Gaspar y Roig (eds.) (1853–1855), Biblioteca ilustrada de Gaspar y Roig: Diccionario enciclopédico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Imprenta y Librería de Gaspar y Roig, p. 1, 121
  11. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. alquermes

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Alquermes.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/alquermes. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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