On the (im)possible Latin etymons of Polish jarmułka (‘yarmulke, skullcap’)

The etymology of the Polish word jarmułka has become a subject of discussion in LingVaria (1.15: 113–124). Catalyst for the discussion was a paper written by B.A. Struminsky (1987), in which the author puts forward a thesis concerning the Latin origin of the word. The present paper constitutes a commentary in which the lexical status of the Latin word forms suggested as potential etymons of jarmułka, both in Struminsky’s paper and in the other works concerning the subject, published in the issue of LingVaria mentioned above, is interpreted from a Latinist’s perspective. Moreover, reference is also made to a paper by W.G. Plaut (1955), in which the author postulated the Latin etymology of jarmułka 30 years prior to the work of Struminsky