Origin of emery
French émeri from Old French emeril from Italian smeriglio from Medieval Greek smeri, for Classical Greek smyris, emery from Indo-European base an unverified form smer-, smear
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noun
Origin of emery
Middle English from Old French emeri, emeril from Late Latin smericulum from Greek smuris, smiris perhaps akin to smēn to wipe, cleanse ( of unknown origin ) or to Hebrew šāmîr a kind of very hard substance (possibly corundum)
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From French émeri, from Old French esmeril, from Late Latin smericulum, from Ancient Greek σμῆρις (smēris, “powder used for polishing”) (alternative spelling: σμύρις (smuris)).
From medieval Germanic personal names, either a variant of Amory, from Amalric, Proto-Germanic *amal (“vigor, bravery”) + rīhhi (“ruler”), or of Henry, from Heimrich, from heim (“home”) + rīhhi (“ruler”).
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