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saumon

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Etymology and origin of the French word saumon

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1140 Geffrei Gaimar, Estoire des Engleis More words from the 12th century
Inherited from
Latin salmo via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin salmō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin salmō
French saumon
Italian salmone

Pronunciation

Forms

saumon m (plural saumons)[1] Old French salmun, then saumon; later variants include samon (1396), psalmon (1421) and saulmon (1530, still in 1660).[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French salmun, inherited from Latin salmō (“salmon”), through its accusative salmōnem.[2][3][4][5] Rey takes the Latin word to be of Gaulish origin, as river names such as that of the Salm, a tributary of the Moselle, show, and notes that it also passed into Germanic, as Old High German salmo.[3] Wiktionary calls the Gaulish source possible;[1] Littré conjectured a link with saliō (“to leap”), “the leaper”.[6] The form psalmon (1421) reflects a false etymology.[3]

Cognate with Italian salmone, Spanish salmón and Walloon sâmon.[4][6] English salmon (early 13th century) is from the Anglo-Norman form samoun.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Geffrei Gaimar's Estoire des Engleis (about 1140) has salmun, the fish;[2] the form saumon appears about 1170 in Chrétien de Troyes' Erec et Enide.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word names the large sea fish with pink flesh that swims up rivers to spawn; it is common because the fish is much eaten, hence phrases such as saumon fumé and œufs de saumon.[3]

By likeness of shape, saumon named a mass of metal (lead, tin, iron) cast in a foundry from the middle of the 15th century,[2][3] and in 1690 a mass of cast iron or lead used as ballast on a sailing boat.[3][8] Rabelais has the feminine saumone in the metal sense.[4] As an invariable adjective it names a pink colour like the fish's flesh, from 1830 according to Rey but only from 1843 (Gautier) according to the TLFi.[3][2]

Timeline

  • c. 1140 – Salmun appears in Geffrei Gaimar.[2]
  • c. 1170 – Chrétien de Troyes writes saumon.[2]
  • Early 13th century – English borrows the Anglo-Norman form as samoun.[7]
  • Mid-15th century – It names a cast mass of lead or tin, in the accounts of Jacques Cœur's mines.[2]
  • 1552 – Rabelais has the diminutive saulmonneaux.[2]
  • 1690 – Furetière records the sense “ballast of a sailing boat”.[8][3]
  • 1843 – Couleur saumon is found in Gautier.[2][9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The salmon, a large migratory fish with pink flesh that leaves the sea and swims up rivers to spawn.[10][11]
  2. Its flesh as food: saumon fumé, smoked salmon.[10][1]
  3. (technical) An ingot or cast mass of metal, especially lead or tin.[10][8]
  4. (sailing) A mass of cast iron or lead used as outside ballast on a sailing boat.[8]
  5. (aviation) A wingtip of an aircraft.[1]

Adjective

  1. (invariable) Salmon-pink, of a soft orange-tinged pink: une robe saumon.[11][12]

Word family

  • saumoné
  • saumoneau

Usage notes

Cotgrave records the proverb Il faut perdre un veron pour pescher un saulmon “one must lose a minnow to catch a salmon”.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 105a
  6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  10. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  11. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
  12. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Saumon.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/saumon. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·