köken: From Middle High German hermelīn, from Old High German harmilī, diminutive of harmo (“ermine”), from Proto-Germanic *harmô. Cognates outside Germanic only in Latvian sermulis and Lithuanian šarmuõ, šermuõ. The monophthong -i- in modern German (alongside obsolete Hermlein, Hermelein) as well as the final stress can be explained natively, as being from a non-diphthongising dialect on the one hand,…
köken: Inherited from Middle French hermin, ermin, from Old French ermin, ermine, hermine (“ermine”), from either Medieval Latin (mus) Armenius (“Armenian (mouse)”) (see Armenia) or Frankish *harmīn (“ermine”, adjective) (from *harmō (“ermine”)). More at ermine.