Hirsch

English

Proper noun

Hirsch

1. A hamlet in the Rural Municipality of Coalfields, Saskatchewan, Canada.
2. A surname from German.
3. A surname from Yiddish.

Derived terms

• Hirsch funnel
• Hirschian

German

Etymology

From Middle High German hirs, from older hirʐ(e), from Old High German hiruz, from Proto-West Germanic *herut, from Proto-Germanic *herutaz. Cognate with Dutch hert, English hart.

When the Old High German -u- was lost by syncope (in inflected forms), the fricative /s̄/ came to stand after a consonant, which regularly it never did. This anomaly was then removed by replacing /s̄/ either with /s̠/ (spelt ⟨s⟩) or with the affricate /t͡s/ (cf. Luxembourgish Hierz). In the former case, the cluster /rs̠/ was regularly shifted further to /rʃ/ (cf. Kirsche etc.).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hɪrʃ/, [hɪʁʃ], [hɪɐ̯ʃ]

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Noun

Hirsch m (strong, genitive Hirsches or Hirschs, plural Hirsche, diminutive Hirschchen n or Hirschlein n, feminine Hirschkuh or Hirschin) or
(southern Germany and Austria alternatively) Hirsch m (weak, genitive Hirschen, plural Hirschen)

1. deer
2. (humorous) two-wheeler (e.g. bicycle, moped, motorbike)
3. (regional, informal) expert

   Synonym: Könner

4. (derogatory, colloquial) fool

Declension

Declension of Hirsch [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Hirsch	die	Hirsche
genitive	eines	des	Hirsches, Hirschs	der	Hirsche
dative	einem	dem	Hirsch, Hirsche1	den	Hirschen
accusative	einen	den	Hirsch	die	Hirsche

¹Now rare, see notes.

Declension of Hirsch [masculine, weak]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Hirsch	die	Hirschen
genitive	eines	des	Hirschen	der	Hirschen
dative	einem	dem	Hirschen	den	Hirschen
accusative	einen	den	Hirschen	die	Hirschen

Hyponyms

• Damhirsch, Mähnenhirsch, Platzhirsch
• Rothirsch, Sikahirsch, Wapitihirsch

Related terms

• Hirschgeweih, Hirschhorn, Hirschkopf, Hirschkuh, Hirschschrei, Hirschzecke

Descendants

• → Luxembourgish: Hirsch
• → North Frisian: hirsk
• → Plautdietsch: Hersch
• → Saterland Frisian: Hirsk

Proper noun

Hirsch m or f (proper noun, strong, genitive Hirschs or (with an article) Hirsch, plural Hirschs or Hirsch)

1. a surname

Declension

Declension of Hirsch [masculine // feminine, surname]

	singular						plural
	masculine			feminine
	indef.	def.	noun	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	(ein)	(der)	Hirsch	(eine)	(die)	Hirsch	(die)	Hirschs
genitive	(eines)	(des)	Hirschs, Hirsch1	(einer)	(der)	Hirsch	(der)	Hirschs
dative	(einem)	(dem)	Hirsch	(einer)	(der)	Hirsch	(den)	Hirschs
accusative	(einen)	(den)	Hirsch	(eine)	(die)	Hirsch	(die)	Hirschs

¹With an article.

Related terms

• Hirschhorn, Hirschhausen
• Kirsch, Miersch

Further reading

• “Hirsch”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[1] (in German)
• “Hirsch” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.
• “Hirsch” in Duden online

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From German Hirsch. The native cognate is Hierz, obsolete in this sense, but surviving as “stag beetle” (cf. German Hirschkäfer).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [hiχʃ]

Noun

Hirsch m (plural Hirschen)

1. deer