Seehund

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

German

[edit]
German Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia de

Etymology

[edit]

15th century, alteration of Seelhund, explanatory compound from now obsolete Seel (seal) + Hund (dog). The first component seems to have been inherited from Middle High German sele, seleh, from Old High German selah, from Proto-Germanic *selhaz (seal). For natural reasons it was a rare word, however, and was later reinforced by cognate Middle Low German sēl, also sēlhunt. Cognate with English seal, North Frisian selich, seel, Danish sæl. Ultimately reinterpreted as See (sea) +‎ Hund (dog); compare the same in Dutch zeehond.

Pronunciation

[edit]
  • IPA(key): [ˈzeːˌhʊnt]
  • Audio:(file)

Noun

[edit]

Seehund m (strong, genitive Seehunds or Seehundes, plural Seehunde, diminutive Seehündchen n, feminine Seehündin)

  1. common seal, harbor seal (Phoca vitulina)
    Hypernym: Robbe
  2. (loosely) any seal
    Synonym: Robbe

Declension

[edit]

Descendants

[edit]
  • Hebrew: כלב ים (kélev-yam) (calque)

See also

[edit]

Further reading

[edit]
  • Seehund” in Duden online
  • Seehund” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache