kermès

Forms

kermès m (invariable)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Arabic قرمز (qirmiz, “cochineal, kermes”),^[2][3][4] through Spanish alkermes according to Rey, the Grand Robert, the Petit Robert and Bloch and Wartburg, who make the French word a shortened form of alkermès.^[5][6][7][8] Bloch and Wartburg and Wiktionary trace the Arabic word to Persian قرمز (qermez);^[8][1] Etymonline takes it back to a Sanskrit compound meaning “produced by a worm”,^[9] and Littré already derived it from the Sanskrit word for “worm”.^[10]

The same Arabic word is the source of cramoisi and carmin.^[2][5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, as Kermes, is in the French translation of the Hortus sanitatis (about 1500), for the kermes insect.^[2][5][6] The GLLF and the Petit Robert date it to about 1440.^[11][7]

Semantic evolution

In Old and Middle French the insect was called graine, because the female covers itself, to protect its eggs, with a hard red shell shaped like a seed, from which a scarlet dye was made.^[2][5] Until the early 19th century the kermes was taken for a growth on the evergreen oak caused by an insect's sting; its animal nature was established by the Italian naturalist Cestoni.^[2][5] Olivier de Serres wrote about 1600 that the Arabs called the seed kermes.^[10][8]

From 1584 the word also named the oak on which the insect lives, chêne kermès (1808).^[2][5] By metonymy it named the red dye.^[2][11] In pharmacy kermès minéral (1720) was an emetic and expectorant made with antimony, called poudre des Chartreux because a Carthusian brother brought it into fashion about 1714.^[5][2][10]

Timeline

• c. 1440 – First record according to the GLLF and the Petit Robert.^[11][7]
• c. 1500 – Kermes “cochineal” appears in the French Hortus sanitatis.^[2][5]
• 1546 – Rabelais uses the fuller form alkermès.^[8]
• 1584 – Du Bartas uses kermez for the oak.^[2][5]
• 1720 – Kermès minéral names an antimony remedy.^[5]
• 1737 – Lesage uses kermès alone for the remedy (1735 according to the GLLF).^[2][11][12]
• 1775 – A natural-history dictionary notes that the Provençals call the evergreen oak simply kermès.^[2]
• 1808 – Chêne kermès is first recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A scale insect that lives on certain oaks, the dried females of which gave a scarlet dye.^[7][13][2]
2. The red dye made from this insect: kermès animal.^[2][11][7]
3. The kermes oak, a shrubby evergreen oak with holly-like leaves, growing in the garrigues around the Mediterranean, also chêne kermès.^[7][13][11]
4. (pharmacy, dated) Kermès minéral: an expectorant or emetic preparation of antimony.^[2][11][10]

Related words

• alkermès
• cramoisi
• carmin

Usage notes

Kermès and kermesse are homophones.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ Pihan, A. P. (1866), Glossaire des mots français tirés de l'arabe, du persan et du turc, Paris: Challamel
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 19, 95b
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
11. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
12. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
13. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)