menhir
See also: Menhir
English
WOTD – 17 October 2021
Etymology
PIE word |
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*méǵh₂s |
Either borrowed from French menhir, or from its etymon Breton maen-hir (literally “long stone”), from maen (“stone”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s (“big, great”)) + hir (“long”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁- (“long; lasting”)). The English word is cognate with Cornish mênhere, Welsh maen hir.[1]
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈmɛnhɪə/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /ˈmɛnˌ(h)ɪ(ə)ɹ/
Audio (GA) (file) - Hyphenation: men‧hir
Noun
menhir (plural menhirs)
- (archaeology) A single tall standing stone as a monument, especially one dating to prehistoric times.
- Synonym: orthostat
- 1963, Thomas Pynchon, “Confessions of Fausto Maijstral”, in V.: […], Philadelphia, Pa., New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC, pages 310–311:
- [N]o time has passed since we lived in caves, grappled with fish at the reedy shore, buried our dead with a song, with red-ochre and pulled up our dolmens, temples and menhirs and standing stones to the glory of some indeterminate god or gods, […]
- 1980, Anthony Burgess, chapter 39, in Earthly Powers, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, London: Penguin Books, published 1981, →ISBN, page 280:
- On the coast tree ferns and pandanus palms. Inland termite menhirs seventeen feet high.
Translations
single tall standing stone as a monument
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References
- “menhir, n.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2020; “menhir, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Dutch
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
French
Etymology
Borrowed from Breton maen-hir, from maen (“stone”) + hir (“tall”) (compare Welsh maen hir, Cornish mênhere).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /me.niʁ/
Audio (file)
Further reading
- “menhir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Polish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈmɛn.xir/
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -ɛnxir
- Syllabification: men‧hir
Noun
menhir m inan
- (archaeology) menhir (single tall standing stone as a monument, especially one dating to prehistoric times)
Declension
Romanian
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /meˈniɾ/ [meˈniɾ]
- Rhymes: -iɾ
Further reading
- “menhir”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
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