Etymology of the Day: Omelette

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?

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Mmm…knifey. (Pixabay)

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 ∫

11 responses to “Etymology of the Day: Omelette”

  1. 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?

    1. 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.

  2. […] 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.  […]

  3. […] 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] […]

  4. […] 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] […]

  5. […] 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] […]

  6. […] 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] […]

  7. […] 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] […]

  8. […] 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) […]

  9. […] 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 […]

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