English
albumen
Albumen comes from Late Latin albūmen ‘egg white, albumen’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *albʰós.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*albʰós‘white’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*alβos‘white’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEalbus‘white, dull white’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEalbūmen‘egg white, albumen’
- Englishearliest quotation 1677albumen
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*albʰós‘white’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*alβos‘white’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEalbus‘white, dull white’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEalbūmen‘egg white, albumen’
- Englishearliest quotation 1677albumen
Earliest quotation: 1677, Nehemiah Grew, Flowers: “As all Seeds are ex Ovo [from an egg];…”
The story
The plural form albumina is a learned borrowing from Late Latin albūmina.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *albʰós ‘white’
through Proto-Italic *alβos ‘white’
through Latin albus ‘white, dull white’
Today it means
noun Synonym of egg white (“(uncountable) the clear fluid part of an egg surrounding the yolk, being mostly the protein albumin and water, which turns stiff and white when beaten or cooked; (countable) the white of a particular egg”).
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *albʰós / albumen