armellino

Forms

armellino m (plural armellini)^[1]

Etymology

It is the older form of ermellino.^[2][3] It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *armenīnus, a derivative in -īnus of Latin Armenius (“Armenian, of Armenia”), with the second /n/ dissimilated to /l/.^[2][3][4][5] The animal was called mūs Armenius (“Armenian mouse”) after the regions of Asia Minor where it lives.^[3][6][7] In Latin it was also mūs Ponticus (“mouse of Pontus”), Pontus being a region bordering Armenia, which gave pantegana.^[3][8] The LEI thinks the Romans came to know the animal, rare in Italy, in Asia Minor.^[4] Latin Armenius is from Ancient Greek Ἀρμένιος (Arménios).^[4]

The same Latin word gave Old French ermine (modern French hermine), Old Occitan ermeni, Spanish armiño and Portuguese arminho.^[3][9]

GRADIT calls the origin uncertain.^[6] Körting and others derived the word from Old High German harmo (“ermine”), and Wiktionary derives the modern form from a Middle High German diminutive of it.^[10][4][1] The LEI and DELI hold instead that the Old High German diminutive harmilī was borrowed from northern Italo-Romance, as the final stress of German Hermelin also suggests.^[4][2] DEI too thinks the Latin name may only disguise a Germanic word.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI dates armellino to the Fatti di Cesare of the late 13th century, before the form ermellino.^[2] The sense is the animal, the stoat or ermine with its white winter coat.^[2][11]

Semantic evolution

The medieval bestiaries made the animal popular, likening the whiteness of its winter coat to innocence and cleanness, and its fur was highly prized.^[2][4] Petrarch describes a banner with “a white ermine on a green field” (in campo verde un candido armellino).^[12] Writers of the 15th and 16th centuries compare white things with it: Ariosto has a dog “whiter than ermine” (più bianco ch'armellino).^[13]

In 1465 Ferdinand I of Aragon had a silver coin struck that bore an ermine and was called armellino.^[6][14] The word also became the name of a heraldic fur, a silver field strewn with black tufts shaped like trefoils.^[6][14][7] Today ermellino is the usual name of the animal, and armellino survives mainly in heraldry.^[14][15]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – Armellino appears in the Fatti di Cesare.^[2]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses ermellino for the fur.^[2]
• 1465 – Ferdinand I of Aragon strikes the silver coin called armellino.^[6][14]
• 1869 – Tommaseo–Bellini records the heraldic sense of ermellino.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (uncommon) Ermine, the stoat in its white winter coat.^{[6][5][7][15]}
2. The fur of this animal.^[6][12]
3. (heraldry) Ermine: a fur shown as a silver field strewn with black spots shaped like trefoils.^{[6][7][15][1]}
4. (numismatics) A silver coin struck from 1465 by Ferdinand I of Aragon, bearing an ermine.^[6][14]

Word family

• armellinato
• contrarmellino

Related words

• ermellino
• pantegana
• armeno
• Latin Armenius
• French hermine

Usage notes

Dictionaries mark armellino for the animal as uncommon, rare or old: ermellino is the usual word, and armellino is more common in the heraldic and coin senses.^{[5][7][15][14]}

A separate regional armellino means the apricot tree and its fruit: it is recorded from 1550 and comes from Latin *armenīnum, from armenium, the neuter of Armenius.^[6][4] Devoto–Oli and Treccani call it Venetian, and Pascoli wrote tremavi come un armellino in fiore, “you trembled like an apricot tree in flower”.^[5][14]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 1306
5. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 292
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 1, 669
14. ^ a b c d e f g Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli