Elster

English

Etymology

Borrowed from German Elster.

Proper noun

Elster (plural Elsters)

1. A surname from German.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Elster is the 39555^th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 556 individuals. Elster is most common among White (91.19%) individuals.

Further reading

• Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Elster”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 1, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 524.

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German

Etymology

From Middle High German elster, alster, agelster, from Old High German agalstra, from Proto-West Germanic *agastrijā (“magpie”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʔɛlstɐ/

• audio:

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• audio:

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• Hyphenation: Els‧ter; pre-1996: El‧ster

Noun

Elster f (genitive Elster, plural Elstern)

1. magpie

   "Die diebische Elster" ― "The Thieving Magpie" (Opera by Rossini)

Usage notes

• In the folklore of German-speaking Europe (as well as many other parts of Europe), the magpie is accused of being in the habit of stealing small objects such as jewellery, coins, etc. Therefore the bird is often called diebische Elster (“thieving magpie”), and this epithet is also used jocularly to describe someone who takes or borrows things without asking.

Declension

Declension of Elster [feminine]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	eine	die	Elster	die	Elstern
genitive	einer	der	Elster	der	Elstern
dative	einer	der	Elster	den	Elstern
accusative	eine	die	Elster	die	Elstern

Related terms

• elstern

Further reading

• “Elster” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache