English
flehmen
Flehmen comes from German flehmen ‘to flehm, to exhibit the flehmen response’, and goes back to Upper Saxon German flemmen ‘to look spiteful’.
- Upper Saxon Germanmodernflemmen‘to look spiteful’
- Germanc. 1650–presentflehmen‘to flehm, to exhibit the flehmen response’
- Englishearliest quotation 1994same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Upper Saxon Germanmodernflemmen‘to look spiteful’
- Germanc. 1650–presentflehmen‘to flehm, to exhibit the flehmen response’
- Englishearliest quotation 1994same form
Earliest quotation: 1994, Lee Boyd, Katherine Albro Houpt: “One can observe mucus dripping from the nostrils of…”
Every English word from Upper Saxon German flemmen
Today it means
verb Flaring of the lip in mammals, associated with intensive smelling; flehming.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Upper Saxon German flemmen / flehmen