English
ammonite
Ammonite comes from Ancient Greek Ᾰ̓́μμων, and goes back to Egyptian jmn.
- Egyptianc. 3200 BCE–600 CEjmn
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEᾸ̓́μμωνẮmmōn
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEAmmōn
- Frenchc. 1600–presentammonite
- Englishearliest quotation 1927same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history not traced here.
Lineage
- Egyptianc. 3200 BCE–600 CEjmn
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEᾸ̓́μμωνẮmmōn
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEAmmōn
- Frenchc. 1600–presentammonite
- Englishearliest quotation 1927same form
Earliest quotation: 1927, Ernest Bramah pseudonym; Ernest Brammah : “There's more interest to my mind in a neolithic…”
The story
From French ammonite, from Latin Ammōnis (cornū) (‘horn of Ammon’), as it was called by Pliny the Elder in reference to coiling ram horns used to symbolise the Egyptian god Amun.
Linked words
through Latin Ammōn
Today it means
noun Any of an extinct group of cephalopods of the subclass Ammonoidea; a fossil shell of such an animal.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Egyptian jmn / ammonite