Etymology Of The Day: Omelette - Mashed Radish

Etymology of the Day: Omelette John Kelly April 17, 2017 Etymology of the Day

Now that Easter’s passed, what to do with all of those eggs? If they’re not chocolate or hard-boiled, whip up an omelette. You can throw in some mushrooms, peppers, cheese, and perhaps finish it off, etymologically speaking, with just a skosh of…knife?

Omelette

The word omelette, also spelled omelet, is quite the scrambled word. First served up in English in the early 1600s, omelette comes directly from the French omelette. The French omelette derives from an older form, amelette, whose L and M were flipped (in a process called metathesis) from alemette. Alemette, in turn,is from lemelle, meaning “little blade.”

The flat egg dish, so it goes, was thought to resemble the blade of a small knife or sword. And you thought you made a killer omelette.

French speakers probably mistook la lemelle, “the blade,” as l’alemelle, as if the word started with A as opposed to L. So, today, “the omelette” in French, or l’omelette, literally means “the the little blade.”

The French lemelle, in turn, comes from the Latin lamella, a diminutive of lamina, which named various things with thin, flat layers like “plate,” “blade,” or “money,” given the shape of coins. English rolled out lamina into the verb laminate, which meant “to beat into thin layers” in the 17th century before taking the 20th century synthesized its various modern meanings. 

m ∫ r ∫

Loading… ←The chaos of “gas” The root of “jungle”: It’s a desert out there?→

11 responses to “Etymology of the Day: Omelette”

1. Leland Olson Hoel April 22, 2017 at 2:23 am

   Green Chili chees, please.

   Reply
2. machinegunmeow April 30, 2017 at 5:10 am

   How interesting, especially metathesis – is this why butterflies are not flutterbys? Also, I am curious as to the difference between omelet vs omelette (other than the noun gender) – any thoughts, John?

   Reply
   1. John Kelly May 1, 2017 at 9:22 pm

      Butterflies > flutterbys would be what’s called a “spoonerism,” which is a different process featuring a sound swap. As for “omelet” vs “omelette,” I believe the former is just a simplification of the original French spelling.

      Reply
3. An etymological “epiphany” – Mashed Radish January 5, 2018 at 4:51 pm

   […] Epiphaneia eventually became epiphania, specifically used for Christ’s Magi manifestation in the New Testament. Latin picks it up as epiphania, French turns it into epiphanie, and English borrows it as Epyphany as early as 1325. Middle English often elided its initial E, as in the pyphany. If this stuck, we’d have a great case of misdivision, just as apron comes from a napron or nickname from an eke name. We saw similar forces at work in omelette.  […]

   Reply
4. 10 Common Words We Almost Spelled Differently – Myraplanet.com December 21, 2019 at 10:23 am

   […] Some French speakers soon started slurring la lemelle into l’alemelle. L’alemelle is pronounced with a vocal “a” and a silent “l.” Today, the French call omelets l’omelette, which means “the the little blade.” Interestingly, lemelle would later give us the English word, laminate meaning “to beat into thin layers.”[10] […]

   Reply
5. 10 Common Words We Almost Spelled Differently – Listverse December 21, 2019 at 10:59 am

   […] Some French speakers soon started slurring la lemelle into l’alemelle. L’alemelle is pronounced with a vocal “a” and a silent “l.” Today, the French call omelets l’omelette, which means “the the little blade.” Interestingly, lemelle would later give us the English word, laminate meaning “to beat into thin layers.”[10] […]

   Reply
6. 10 Common Words We Almost Spelled Differently – BlaBla Trend December 21, 2019 at 12:47 pm

   […] Some French speakers soon started slurring la lemelle into l’alemelle. L’alemelle is pronounced with a vocal “a” and a silent “l.” Today, the French call omelets l’omelette, which means “the the little blade.” Interestingly, lemelle would later give us the English word, laminate meaning “to beat into thin layers.”[10] […]

   Reply
7. 10 Common Words We Almost Spelled Differently – Fact one December 21, 2019 at 2:07 pm

   […] Some French speakers soon started slurring la lemelle into l’alemelle. L’alemelle is pronounced with a vocal “a” and a silent “l.” Today, the French call omelets l’omelette, which means “the the little blade.” Interestingly, lemelle would later give us the English word, laminate meaning “to beat into thin layers.”[10] […]

   Reply
8. 10 Common Words We Almost Spelled Differently – 10topmost.com December 21, 2019 at 8:03 pm

   […] Some French audio system quickly began slurring la lemelle into l’alemelle. L’alemelle is pronounced with a vocal “a” and a silent “l.” In the present day, the French name omelets l’omelette, which suggests “the the little blade.” Curiously, lemelle would later give us the English phrase, laminate that means “to beat into skinny layers.”[10] […]

   Reply
9. 10 Palavras Comuns Que Quase Soletramos Diferentemente – Replicario December 22, 2019 at 12:35 am

   […] Alguns falantes de francês logo começaram a reclamar La Lemelle para dentro l'alemelle. L'alemelle é pronunciado com um vocal "a" e um silencioso "l". Hoje, os franceses chamam omeletes lomelette, que significa "a pequena lâmina". Curiosamente, lemelle mais tarde nos daria a palavra em inglês, laminado, que significa "bater em camadas finas".(10) […]

   Reply
10. 英語では焼き方で呼び方が変わる？！目玉焼きは世界でこう食べる | DMM英会話ブログ October 13, 2022 at 3:00 pm

    […] の語源はフランス語の omelette にあり、英語圏では1600年代に最初に作られたとの記録があります。実はフランス語の omelette の語源は […]

    Reply

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Δ

Loading Comments... Write a Comment... Email Name Website

• Comment
• Subscribe Subscribed
  • Mashed Radish
  Join 11,121 other subscribers Sign me up
  • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
• • Mashed Radish
  • Subscribe Subscribed
  • Sign up
  • Log in
  • Copy shortlink
  • Report this content
  • View post in Reader
  • Manage subscriptions
  • Collapse this bar

%d