merlioun
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Middle English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]- amerlyon, emerlion, emerlyoun, marlyon, merilioun, merleyn, merliȝon, merlion, merlone, merlyn, merlyon, merlyone, merlyoun
Etymology
[edit]From earlier *emerlioun, emerlyoun, borrowed from Old French esmerillon, diminutive of esmeril, from Frankish *smiril, from Proto-Germanic *smirilaz.
The borrowing of monosyllabic Old French /ʎun/ as disyllabic /liˈuːn/ and the tendency for it to reduce to /lin/ rather than /ljun/ is probably to avoid the creation of a cluster /rlj/, though influence from lioun (“lion”) is also possible.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]merlioun
- merlin (the falcon Falco columbarius)
Descendants
[edit]- English: merlin, marlin, marlion, marlyon, merline, merlion, merlon
- Scots: maalin (Shetland)
- → Dutch: merlijn
References
[edit]- “merliǒun, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.