tamarin

tamarin¹ tamarind

Etymology tree of tamarin¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin tamarindus

English tamarind

French tamarin

Pronunciation

• /ta.ma.ʁɛ̃/^[1]

Forms

tamarin m (plural tamarins)^[1] Old French tamarinde and tamarandi, Middle French tamarin.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

The word for the tamarind is borrowed from Medieval Latin tamarindus, a word of medieval medicine, which is from Arabic تَمْر هِنْدِيّ (tamr hindī, “Indian date”).^[2][3][5][6] The Arabic phrase is made of تَمْر (tamr, “date”) and هِنْدِيّ (hindī, “Indian”).^[2][7] The older forms tamarinde and tamarandi were shortened to the present form in the 15th century.^[3][4]

Cognate with Italian tamarindo, Spanish tamarindo and Portuguese tamarinho.^[8][9] Meyer-Lübke derived the French word from the Portuguese form.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the 13th century tamarinde names the fruit of the tamarind tree in a treatise on simple medicines, and about 1298 the Livre of Marco Polo uses tamarandi for the pulp of the fruit used as a laxative: une chose qui a nom tamarandi, qui leur fait aler hors ce qu'il ont ou ventre “a thing called tamarandi, which makes them pass what they have in the belly”.^[2][9][7]

Semantic evolution

The word first named the pod and pulp of the fruit, known to medieval medicine as a laxative and used to make a drink, and only later the tree itself, a sense found by 1641.^[3][2][10] The tree was then given its own name, tamarindier (1604), remade as tamarinier (1733).^[2][3]

From 1549 the word was also sometimes used for the tamaris, a word of the same origin; the dictionaries record this use from 1876.^[2][3][7] In the French of Africa the drink is called jus de tamarin, and in Réunion sirop de tamarin.^[3]

Timeline

• 1200s – Tamarinde names the fruit in a treatise on simple medicines.^[2]
• c. 1298 – Marco Polo's Livre has tamarandi for the pulp used in medicine.^[2][7][9]
• Early 1300s – Tamarinde in the Antidotaire Nicolas.^[2][7]
• 1400s – The short form tamarin appears in the Grant herbier.^[2][7]
• 1549 – Robert Estienne uses it for the tamarisk.^[2]
• 1604 – The tree is called tamarindier.^[2][3]
• 1641 – Tristan L'Hermite uses tamarin for the tree.^[2][10]
• 1690 – Furetière records the sense “fruit of the tamarind tree”.^[7]
• 1733 – Tamarinier replaces tamarindier.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The fruit of the tamarind tree, a long pod whose sweet-sour pulp is used as a laxative and to make drinks.^[11][2][7]
2. (by extension) The tamarind tree itself.^[11][2]
3. (rare) The tamarisk.^[11][2]

Word family

• tamarinier
• tamar
• tamarinade

tamarin² monkey

Pronunciation

• /ta.ma.ʁɛ̃/^[1]

Forms

tamarin m (plural tamarins)^[1] First written tamary (1614), then tamarin (1664).^[2][3]

Etymology

The word for the monkey is borrowed from an Amerindian language of the Amazon, probably Tupi.^[2][3][4] The Petit Robert calls the source word Carib.^[11] Wiktionary takes the first form, tamary, from a Tupi-Guarani language and thinks the later form was shaped by the name of the tamarind.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded as tamary in 1614, in Claude d'Abbeville's history of the Capuchin mission to the island of Maragnan, naming a small South American monkey.^[2][7][3]

Semantic evolution

The form tamarin is found in 1664, in Antoine Biet's account of his voyage to Cayenne.^[2] The Grand Robert, the GLLF and the Petit Robert date that form only to 1745.^[4][7][11] In zoology the word names small, long-tailed monkeys related to the ouistiti.^[2][7]

Timeline

• 1614 – Claude d'Abbeville writes tamary.^[2][7][3]
• 1664 – Antoine Biet writes tamarin.^[2][3]
• 1745 – The date the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert give for tamarin.^[4][11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (zoology) A tamarin, a small South American monkey with a long, non-prehensile tail and claws on its forefeet, related to the marmoset.^[2][7][11]