Kegel
English
editNoun
editKegel (plural Kegels)
- Alternative letter-case form of kegel
Synonyms
editAnagrams
editGerman
editEtymology
editFrom Middle High German kegel, from Old High German chegil, kegil (“peg”), especially pegs for a tent (zeltchegil) or similar. Middle High German kegel means “peg or pin used for a game” (such as skittles), but regional use from the 14th century onward also preserve a more general meaning of “peg, cudgel”.
The etymology cannot be traced with certainty. The word is a member of a Wortsippe which also includes Keil (“wedge”), German Kugel (“ball, sphere”) and Kiel (“keel”).
No cognates of Kegel are known outside of German (other than loans from German in Dutch, Scandinavian as well as Baltic and Slavic languages). French quille seems to be a reflex of an Old Frankish form of the word. Proto-Slavic *žezlъ (“stick, staff, rod”) has diverse proposed origins. The German word Keil (“wedge”) is closely related, compared by Grimm to the relationship of Latin cuneus (“wedge”) with cōnus (“cone”). In some dialects, Keil was used as the term for both “wedge” and “bowling pin”.
Also closely related is Kugel (“ball, sphere”). All these terms developed in context of the game of skittles. The relation of Keil to Kegel (both terms for the pin) was the same as that of Kaule to Kugel (both terms for the ball; the former remained dialectal, while Kugel became the generic term for "sphere").
For the development of the sense of an illegitimate son compare German Bengel, Flegel, Balg and the like.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editKegel m (strong, genitive Kegels, plural Kegel)
- skittle, ninepin, bowling pin; pin [from 13th c.]
- (by extension) any heap or peak of conical or pyramidal shape, especially of feces, hay, brushwood, of mountains and of the tip of a helmet [from 14th c.]
- (mathematics) cone [from 18th c.]
- (obsolete) ruffian, bastard (illegitimate child)
- Synonyms: uneheliches Kind, Bankert, Bastard, Mamser
Declension
editHyponyms
editDerived terms
editRelated terms
editFurther reading
edit- “Kegel” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
- “Kegel” in Duden online
- “Kegel” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- German terms inherited from Middle High German
- German terms derived from Middle High German
- German terms inherited from Old High German
- German terms derived from Old High German
- German 2-syllable words
- German terms with IPA pronunciation
- German terms with audio links
- German lemmas
- German nouns
- German masculine nouns
- de:Mathematics
- German terms with obsolete senses
- de:Bowling
- de:Shapes