Plants & CreaturesGreek → English
Salamander
/ˈsæləmændər/noun
A tailed amphibian with moist skin, often marked with bright warning colours.
The Greek roots
σαλαμάνδρα
salamándra
salamander
Literally: “salamander”
Follow a root:σαλαμάνδρα1 word
The story of the word
The Greek word has no convincing Greek pedigree and was probably borrowed from an eastern language. Ancient writers claimed the creature could live in fire, an idea that likely began when logs pulled from a woodpile were thrown on the hearth and the animals inside crawled out of the flames. Medieval alchemists made it the spirit of the fire element, and fire-resistant cloth was sold as salamander wool.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- 14th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
In a sentence
A fire salamander crossed the wet path, black with yellow blotches.