salmon English · revision 10475

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=borrowing|attested=1205|origins=xno samoun|origins=la salmo}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈsæmən/ ''(UK)''; /ˈsæmən/, /ˈsælmən/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English samoun, salmon, [[bor|xno|samoun|t=salmon]], Old French salmun, saumon,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(NODE 1998) from Latin [[m|la|salmō|t=salmon]], salmōnem,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) of uncertain origin, probably originally a leaper, from salīre, to leap (see [[salient]]),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) though some dismiss this as folk etymology, and another theory traces it to Celtic.^(Etymonline) The classical -l- was restored in English from the 16th century.^(Etymonline)^(NODE 1998)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The North Atlantic salmon: 1228 in Barnhart, the early 13th century in Etymonline; earlier as the surname Salmun (1205).^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It replaced Old English læx, the more usual Indo-European word for the fish (see [[lox]]).^(Etymonline) Thompson notes that the salmon does not enter the Mediterranean and is mentioned by no Greek author and only two Latin ones, Pliny and Ausonius.^(Etymonline) Other fish of the family, and in Australia unrelated fish, are also called salmon.^(OED 1989)^(Collins 2023) As a colour, yellowish pink, it is by 1786.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1205 – the surname Salmun.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1228 – a salmon.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1786 – salmon colour.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Any of various large food and game fishes of northern waters, with pink flesh, that swim from the sea into fresh water to spawn.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(Australia)'' Any of several unrelated fishes, such as the Australian salmon.^(Collins 2023)

+ # A yellowish-pink or orange-pink colour.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[salmonlike]]

+ * [[salmonoid]]

+ * [[king-of-the-salmon]]

+ * [[salmonid]]

+ * [[Chinook salmon]]

+ * [[jack salmon]]

+ * [[landlocked salmon]]

+ * [[white salmon]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[samlet]]

+ * [[lox]]

+ * [[salient]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Salmon is also used in old oaths, ''by the salmon'', of unknown origin (16th–19th centuries).^(OED 1989)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}