Wand

Central FranconianEdit

From Old High German *wand, northern variant of want. For the phonetic development compare Hand.

Wand f (plural Wänn or Wäng, diminutive Wändche)

The plural Wänn is used in Moselle Franconian and some southern dialects of Ripuarian. The form Wäng is used in many Ripuarian dialects, including Kölsch.

From Middle High German want, from Old High German want, from Proto-Germanic *wanduz (“weave; wickerwork; plait; fence, wall”), from Proto-Indo-European *wendʰ- (“to turn; bend; wind; twist; braid; weave”). Cognate with English wand although developing a completely distinct meaning.

Wand f (genitive Wand, plural Wände)

The words Wand and Mauer are often but not always interchangeable. Even when they are synonymous, there is sometimes a preference for one of them:

Wand is strongly predominant for all walls that are not made of stone, concrete, or the like. Mauer usually implies masonry.
Wand usually denotes a tall wall, smaller walls might be called Mauer even if not made of stone, e.g. a low glass wall is more likely to be called Glasmauer than Glaswand.
With stone walls, only Mauer is commonly used for freestanding ones.
Both words are used for the walls of buildings. Wand is the normal choice, however, when one refers to them as seen from the inside (for example, a painting is typically said to hang an der Wand, "on the wall", rather than an der Mauer).