▪ From Skr
kṛ́mi-jā ‘(red dye) produced by a worm’, composed of
kṛ́mi-ḥ ‘worm’ (from IE
*kʷrmi‑ ‘worm’) and
‑jā‑ ‘produced’ (from IE
*gene‑).
▪ The Ar word is (via mLat and It) at the origin of Engl
kermes and
crimson as well as related words in many other Eur langs.
▪ The shield-louse was esteemed »from ancient times as a source of red and scarlet dye. The dye is harvested from pregnant females, which in that state resemble small roundish grains about the size of peas and cling immobile to the tree on which they live« (a species of oak, the kermes oak). »Cloths dyed with kermes are of a deep red colour; and though much inferior in brilliancy to the scarlet cloths dyed with real Mexican cochineal, they retain the colour better and are less liable to stain. The tapestries of Brussels and other parts of Flanders, which have scarcely lost any thing of their original brilliancy, even after a lapse of 200 years, were all dyed with kermes«
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EtymOnline.