yelmo

Forms

yelmo m (plural yelmos)^[1] Old Spanish also had elmo, the form of the Fuero de Cáceres; an Aragonese charter of Huesca has ellemo.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin helmus, which Latin had borrowed from Germanic: Wiktionary and Bénaben name Frankish *helm (“helmet”) as the source, Corominas the common West Germanic word.^[1][5][6] The DLE gives a Germanic form with short /e/ and compares Old High German helm and Old English helm;^[7][2] García de Diego instead derives it from Gothic 𐌷𐌹𐌻𐌼𐍃 (hilms), beside the Frankish form.^[7][2] Goldschmidt notes that Spanish kept the group /lm/ here, as in olmo.^[8]

The same word is Portuguese elmo, Galician elmo, Catalan elm, Old Occitan elm, French heaume and Italian elmo.^[9][10][11] The Germanic word is Proto-Germanic *helmaz, whose descendants include the Gothic and Old English words and Old Norse hjalmr;^[12][1] Kroonen derives it from the verb *helaną (“to cover, hide”).^[12][1] The diminutive almete came from Catalan elmet.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the first record to about 950.^[6] The first literary use is in the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy), where a blow strikes the jewels off a helmet: las carbonclas del yelmo echógelas aparte, cortól' el yelmo, que llegó a la carne “he knocked the carbuncles off the helmet, cut through the helmet so that it reached the flesh”.^[3][13] Menéndez Pidal explains that the Cid's helmet was worn over the mail hood and tied to it with straps.^[13]

Semantic evolution

The Fuero de Zorita (1218–1250) lists the yelmo among the arms of a knight, beside the hauberk, the lance and the shield.^[3] Autoridades (1739) described it as a piece of ancient armour worn by knights in battle and tournament, with a visor that left the sight free, distinguishing it from the infantry's morion, sallet and casque; in its time it served only as an ornament on coats of arms.^[14] Cervantes made the yelmo de Mambrino famous in the Quijote.^[15][14] Since 1884 the Academy has described it as protecting head and face, made of morion, visor and beaver.^[16][7] Vox records the heraldic sense, a helmet placed on a coat of arms.^[17][1]

Timeline

• c. 950 – first record.^[6]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid (14th-century copy).^[3]
• 1218–1250 – the Fuero de Zorita lists it among the knight's arms, the earliest hit in an original manuscript.^[3]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario describes a figure wearing a helmet.^[18]
• 1583 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico City.^[19]
• 1739 – Autoridades notes that it now serves as an ornament of coats of arms.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy derives it from Low Latin helmus and Old High German helm.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. (historical) A helmet of old armour, protecting the head and face, made up of a morion, a visor and a beaver.^[7][1][20]
2. (heraldry) A helmet shown on a coat of arms.^[1][17]

Related words

• Late Latin helmus
• Portuguese elmo
• French heaume

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 3258
3. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. yelmo
4. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. yelmo
5. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. yelmo
6. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. yelmo
7. ^ a b c d 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. yelmo
8. ^ Goldschmidt, Moritz (1887), Zur Kritik der altgermanischen Elemente im Spanischen, Bonn: Carl Georgi, p. 44
9. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. elmo
10. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 3, 273
11. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. heaume
12. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 219
13. ^ a b Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 308
14. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 542
15. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. s.v. yelmo
16. ^ 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. 1104
17. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. yelmo
18. ^ Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. yelmo
19. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. yelmo
20. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. yelmo