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siren

SY-ren · noun

Ancient GreekLatinOld FrenchMiddle EnglishEnglish

Origin

From Middle English siren, borrowed from Old French sereine and Latin Sīrēn/Sīrēna, which came from Ancient Greek Σειρήν (Seirḗn).

Journey

The word later branched out from its Greek mythological roots: in 1671 it picked up a mammalian sense in French, and in 1766 Linnaeus used it to name a genus of aquatic salamanders in his reptile classifications.

Related words

The facts given don't point to a specific English cognate beyond the word's own path through Latin and French.

More words

From Ancient Greek

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