salmon

Where does the word "salmon" come from? It comes from Latin salmo, passing through Anglo-French before entering English (1500s).

Salmon’s story begins in Latin: salmo meant “salmon.” Possibly from 'salire', to leap, after the fish leaping upstream. By medieval, the word had taken hold in Anglo-French as saumon. Pronounced without the 'l', which English still leaves silent. It reached English by 1500s as salmon. Renaissance scholars put the 'l' back into the spelling to match Latin. Today, salmon means a large pink-fleshed fish that swims upriver to spawn.

1. Stage 1 · Latin · ancient salmo "salmon", possibly from 'salire', to leap, after the fish leaping upstream.
2. Stage 2 · Anglo-French · medieval saumon "salmon", pronounced without the 'l', which English still leaves silent.
3. Stage 3 · English · 1500s salmon "salmon", Renaissance scholars put the 'l' back into the spelling to match Latin.