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Origin and history of salmon

salmon(n.)

early 13c., samoun, the North Atlantic salmon, from Anglo-French samoun, Old French salmun (Modern French saumon), from Latin salmonem (nominative salmo) "a salmon," probably originally "leaper," from salire "to leap" (see salient (adj.)), though some dismiss this as folk etymology. Another theory traces the Latin word to Celtic.

Thompson ["Glossary of Greek Fishes"] writes that "The Salmon does not enter the Mediterranean. It is not mentioned by any Greek author, nor by any Latin writer except those two" [Pliny and Ausonius].

It replaced Old English læx, from PIE *lax, the more usual word for the fish (see lox). The classical -l- was restored in English from 16c., though Scott still uses saumon. In reference to a pinkish-orange color like that of the flesh of the fish, it is recorded by 1786. Related: Salmonic.

also from early 13c.

Entries linking to salmon

lox(n.)

1934, American English, from Yiddish laks, from Middle High German lahs "salmon," from Proto-Germanic *lakhs-, from the common IE root for the fish, *laks- (source also of Lithuanian lašiša, Russian losos, Polish łosoś "salmon").

salient(adj.)

1560s, "leaping," a heraldic term, from Latin salientem (nominative saliens), present participle of salire "to leap," from a PIE root of uncertain form (source also of Sanskrit sisarsi, sisrate "to flow, run, hurry;"Greek hallesthai "to leap," Middle Irish saltraim "I trample," Middle Welsh sathar "trampling").

The meaning "pointing outward" (preserved in military usage) is from 1680s; that of "prominent, striking" first recorded 1840, from salient point (1670s), which refers to the heart of an embryo, which seems to leap, and translates Latin punctum saliens, going back to Aristotle's writings. Hence, the "starting point" of anything.

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    kipper
    Old English cypera "male salmon," perhaps related to coper "reddish-brown metal" (see copper (n.1)), on resemblance of color..."sharp, hooked lower jaw of the male salmon in breeding season," which is from Middle English kippen "to snatch, tug, pull...The earliest attested uses of the verb are to preparing salmon, hence the verb....The modern noun kipper is recorded from 1773 of salmon, 1863 of herring....
    lac
    Still another guess is that Sanskrit laksha is related to English lax, lox "salmon," and the substance perhaps was so called...from being somewhat the color of salmon [Barnhart]....
    perch
    Greek perkazein "to become dark"), typically in names of animals; compare Middle Irish erc, Welsh erch "spotted, dark red; salmon...
    smelt
    common name of various small fishes, Old English smelt "sardine, small salmon-like sea fish," cognate with Dutch smelt "sand...
    Chinook
    The name was extended to a type of salmon (1851) and a warm spring wind in that region (1860)....
    tweed
    The anglers who have so long established their head-quarters at Kelso, for the purpose of enjoying the amusement of salmon...fishing in the Tweed, have had excellent sport lately : some of the most skilful having caught five or six salmon a day,...
    red
    pale red — that is, one of low chroma and high luminosity — is called a pink, ranging from rose-pink, or pale crimson, to salmon-pink...
    much
    c. 1200, "great in quantity or extent" (also "great in size, big, large," a sense now obsolete), a worn-down form (by loss of unaccented last syllable) of Middle English muchel "large, tall; many, in a large amount; great, formidable," from Old English micel "great in amount or e
    Idaho
    1861 as a place name, originally applied by U.S. Congress to a proposed territorial division centered in what is now eastern Colorado; said at the time to mean "Gem of the Mountains" but probably rather from Kiowa-Apache (Athabaskan) idaahe "enemy," a name applied by them to the
    fish
    "a vertebrate which has gills and fins adapting it for living in the water," Old English fisc "fish," from Proto-Germanic *fiskaz (source also of Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Old High German fisc, Old Norse fiskr, Middle Dutch visc, Dutch vis, German Fisch, Gothic fisks), perhaps from

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