Forms: 3–7 ermin, -yn(e, (4–7 hermin, -yn, 5–7 armin, -yn(e, -yon, 6 ermion, emerine), 3– ermine. [a. OF. (h)ermine (mod.F. hermine), cogn. with Pr. ermini, Sp. armiño (Minsheu). The remoter etymology is disputed.
Some scholars (including Kluge and Skeat) think that the Romanic word is ad. OHG. harmîn adj., ‘belonging to the ermine,’ f. harmo ermine, stoat, weasel, corresp. to the synonymous OE. hearma (glossed ‘megale’ = mygale Wr.-Wülck. 32) and Lith. szermũ (OAryan type k’ormōn-, -en-).
A different hypothesis (favored by Littré, Paul Meyer, and others) is that the Romanic words represent L. Armenius Armenian. The mus Ponticus, ‘Pontic rat,’ mentioned by Pliny as a fur-bearing animal, is commonly supposed, though without actual proof, to be the ermine; and as Pontus and Armenia were conterminous, it has been suggested that an alternative name for the animal may have been mus Armenius. That some animal was known by this designation in the second century is rendered probable by a passage in Julius Pollux (circa A.D. 180), who (Onomast. VII. 60) gives μυωτός as the name of an Armenian garment, and, amongst other conjectures as to the origin of the word, suggests that this article of dress may have been so named because made of the skins of ‘the mice (or rats) of that country.’ The belief that the ermine derived its name from Armenia was common in the 14th c., and the supposition accounts quite satisfactorily for the Romanic forms of the word. If this view be correct, it involves the consequence that the resemblance in sound between ermine and OHG. harmîn was merely accidental; there may however have been an early confusion between two distinct words of similar sound and meaning.]
1. An animal of the weasel tribe (Mustela Erminea), an inhabitant of northern countries, called in England a stoat, whose fur is reddish brown in summer, but in winter (in northern regions) wholly white, except the tip of the tail, which is always black.
a. 1200. Moral Ode, in Lamb. Hom., 181. Ne scal þer beo fou ne grei · ne cunig ne ermine.
c. 1450. Guy Warw. (C.), 9085. Owt of hys mowþe wente a þynge Also whyte, as any armyne.
1530. Palsgr., 217/1. Ermyne, a beest, ermyne.
1555. Eden, Decades W. Ind. (Arb.), 326, marg. The skynnes of sables and Ermynes.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 307. The rats and mice in the country of Pontus, namely Hermins, & such like.
1655. Gurnall, Chr. in Arm., xxv. § 4 (1669), 322/1. The Ermine … will dye before she will be got into the dirt to defile her beautiful skin.
1744. Thomson, Winter, 812. Fair ermines, spotless as the snows they press.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), III. 354. The weasel may be easily distinguished from the ermine by the tip of the tail, which in the latter is always black.
1835. Sir J. Ross, N. W. Pass., xv. 228. An ermine came on board, quite starved.
1863. Miss Yonge, Chr. Names, II. 82. The pretty tale of the spotless ermine, that took refuge under his shield.
2. The fur of the ermine, often having the black tails (formerly pieces of black lamb’s-wool) arranged upon it, at regular intervals, for the sake of effect. The whiteness of ermine is often referred to in poetry as an emblem of purity.
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 191. Noble men, y cloþed in ermyne echone.
c. 1400. St. Alexius (Laud 622), 398. Pelured wiþ Ermyne & wiþ grijs.
a. 1450. Knt. de la Tour (1868), 30. Hodes & cotes furred with ermyn.
a. 1500. Flower & Leaf, xxxv. With cloth of gold, and furred with ermine Were the trappoures of their stedes strong.
1587. Holinshed, Chron. Irel., an. 1568 (R.). Princelie robes of crimson veluet doubled or lined with ermin.
1628. Wither, Brit. Rememb., Pref. 159/3. Ev’n from the Fox-fur, to the spotted Ermine.
1719. D’Urfey, Pills (1872), I. 13. Her skin by nature, No Ermin better.
1795. H. Macneill, Will & Jean, IV. Strips thee of thy robes of ermine (Emblems of thy spotless life).
1855. Longf., Hiaw., XI. 146. He was dressed in shirt of doe-skin, White and soft, and fringed with ermine.
b. pl. Trimmings, or garments, made of this fur. † Formerly also used, as in the sing. (see prec.), as a name for the material (cf. sables).
1474. Caxton, Chesse, 16. A mantel aboue furrid with ermynes.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. cxxv. 151. Robes of scarlet, furred with Armyns. Ibid. (c. 1530), Arthur (1814), 273. Riche aparayle of emerines lay abrode in euery wyndowe.
1579. Spenser, Sheph. Cal., April, 58. Yclad in Scarlot … And Ermines white.
1639. Massinger, Unnat. Combat, III. ii. I’ve charged thro’ fire that would have singed your sables, Black fox, and ermines.
1690. Dryden, Don Sebastian, V. i. 118 (J.). A Ladyies honour … nice as Ermines will not bear a Soil.
1732. Lediard, Sethos, II. VII. 32. Having nothing on his body but some ermins.
1756. Nugent, Gr. Tour, France, IV. 81. His habit of ceremony is a violet-coloured gown with a mantle of ermins.
3. fig. With reference to the use of ermine in the official robes of judges and the state robes of peers.
1794. Godwin, Cal. Williams, 261. Reluctant to fix an unnecessary stain upon the ermine of their profession.
1836. Lytton, Duch. de la Vallière, IV. iv. This garb of serge Dares speech that daunts the ermine.
1850. Whipple, Ess. & Rev. (ed. 3), I. 21. The purity of the critical ermine, like that of the judicial, is often soiled by contact with politics.
1856. Emerson, Eng. Traits, Aristocr., Wks. (Bohn), II. 79. Skilful lawyers … were rewarded with ermine.
4. Her. A heraldic fur; white marked with black spots of a particular shape.
1562. Leigh, Armorie (last page), Ermyn, white poudered wt Black.
1655. M. Carter, Hon. Rediv., Anal. 11. If … it be white powdred with black, it is Ermin;… if white with black and one red hair Erminites.
1766–87. Porny, Heraldry, 25. Ermine is a Field Argent, with small points or spots Sable, in the form of little Triangles, which in Heraldry are generally called Powdering.
1864. Boutell, Heraldry Hist. & Pop., iv. (ed. 3), 20. Ermine, Black spots on a White field.
5. attrib. and Comb. a. simple attrib. in senses 1–4. † Ermine cross: = cross ERMINEE.
c. 1450. Guy Warw. (C.), 8425. Veire and gryce and pylches armyne And clothys of sylke and of satyne.
1486. Bk. St. Albans (Her.), D j. Ermyn cros.
1627. Drayton, Agincourt, 15. The men of Rutland … In their rich Ensigne bear an Ermine Ram.
1649. Lovelace, Poems, 63. Grieve not pretty Ermin Cabinet [a Lady’s glove].
1742. Mrs. Delany, Autobiog. (1861), II. 199. My lady … was in dark green velvet trimmed with ermine, and an ermine petticoat.
1768. Pennant, Zool., I. 85. Easily distinguished from the other in the ermine state by the tail.
1832. G. Downes, Lett. Cont. Countries, I. 50. The ermine mantle wherein the female is robed.
1864. Boutell, Heraldry Hist. & Pop., xxx. 454. The practice of the early heraldic artists … in representing ermine-spots.
b. quasi-adj. White as ermine.
1610. G. Fletcher, Christ’s Vict., in Farr, S. P. (1847), 62. What should I here depaint … her ermine breast.
1821. Shelley, Prometh. Unb., IV. i. 287. Vapours clothe earth’s monarch mountain-tops With kingly, ermine snow.
c. Comb., as ermine-hunter; also ermine white a., white as ermine; ermine moth [cf. Fr. hermine, ‘Bombyx herminea’ (Littré)] (Hyponomeuta padellus), a moth with white wings spotted with black.
1580. Sidney, Arcadia, I. (1590), 91 b. The Ermion, whitest skinne, spotted with nought.
1859. W. S. Coleman, Woodlands (1866), 76. The pretty little Ermine Moth commits great ravages on the leaves of the Apple Tribe.
1865. E. Burritt, Walk to Land’s End, 194. Diamond-diggers and pearl-divers and ermine-hunters have always had a harder time of it than even the Honiton lace-workers.
