marmosetn.

Etymology: < Middle French marmouset, marmoset grotesque image, gargoyle (1292 in Old French: compare post-classical Latin marmosetum or marmosetus (1206)), cynocephalus (in one isolated glossarial attestation), favourite of a ruler (late 14th cent.), little boy (probably late 15th cent.), kind of monkey (1537 in Liège, Belgium, 1613 in French as marmozet ), young child (mid 17th cent.), etymology disputed, probably < marmouser , marmuser to murmur, to mumble (first attested only from late 15th cent. in Middle French, now French regional; < a Gallo-Romance base *marm- (see marmot n.) + -ouser , -user , verbal suffix, arising by analogy with muser muse v., Old French doloser to groan: compare dole v.²) + -et -et suffix¹. Compare Old French, Middle French marmote female monkey (late 12th cent.), Middle French, French marmot monkey (1480), probably < marmotter to mumble, to mutter through the teeth (not attested until c1480 in Middle French) < *marm- (see marmot n.) + -otter , verbal suffix; French marmot is subsequently attested in senses closely parallel to those of marmouset , marmoset (than which it is now much commoner): compare also marmotte marmot n. and discussion at that entry. Compare Middle Dutch marmoset grotesque image, mask, ape. ( N.E.D. (1905) gives only a pronunciation with primary stress on the first syllable, and secondary stress on the final syllable: British pronunciations with primary stress on the final syllable are first recorded in the closing years of the 20th cent.)