Hinkelstein

German

Etymology

Originally a Rhine Franconian dialect word denoting a number of menhirs in Hesse. Generalised and standardised in the 19th century. The form is analysable as Hinkel (“chicken”) +‎ Stein (“stone”). Likely from of an underlying Hünenstein, from Middle High German hiune (“giant”, literally “Hun”); compare modern German Hüne. This would first have been corrupted to Hühnerstein, and then further to the contemporary form because the word Huhn (“chicken”) was replaced in these dialects with Hinkel (an original diminutive).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɪŋkəlˌʃtaɪ̯n/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ̯n

Noun

Hinkelstein m (strong, genitive Hinkelsteins or Hinkelsteines, plural Hinkelsteine)

1. menhir

   Synonym: Menhir

Declension

Declension of Hinkelstein [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Hinkelstein	die	Hinkelsteine
genitive	eines	des	Hinkelsteins, Hinkelsteines	der	Hinkelsteine
dative	einem	dem	Hinkelstein, Hinkelsteine1	den	Hinkelsteinen
accusative	einen	den	Hinkelstein	die	Hinkelsteine

¹Now rare, see notes.

Related terms

• Henkelmann
• Winkelstein

Further reading

• “Hinkelstein” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Hinkelstein” in Duden online