menhir

See also: Menhir

English

WOTD – 17 October 2021

Ar Brigourien (“The Talkers”), a pair of menhirs on the Île de Sein, Brittany, France

Etymology

PIE word
*méǵh₂s

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂sder.?

Proto-Celtic *maginos

Proto-Brythonic *maɣɨnder.

Breton maen

Proto-Indo-European *seh₁-

Proto-Indo-European *-rós

Proto-Celtic *sīros

Proto-Brythonic *hirder.

Breton hir

Breton maen-hirbor.

French menhirbor.

English menhir

Either borrowed from French menhir, or from its etymon Breton maen-hir, compound of maen (“stone”) +‎ hir (“long”). Compare with Welsh maen hir, and Cornish men hir.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛnhɪə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛnˌ(h)ɪ(ə)ɹ/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: men‧hir

Noun

menhir (plural menhirs)

1. (archaeology) A single tall standing stone as a monument, especially one dating to prehistoric times.

   Synonym: standing stone

   Hypernyms: monolith, megalith

   Hyponym: holestone

   Near-synonym: orthostat

   • 1963, Thomas Pynchon, “Confessions of Fausto Maijstral”, in V.: […], Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC, pages 310–311:

     [N]o time has passed since we lived in caves, grappled with fish at the reedy shore, buried our dead with a song, with red-ochre and pulled up our dolmens, temples and menhirs and standing stones to the glory of some indeterminate god or gods, […]

   • 1980, Anthony Burgess, chapter 39, in Earthly Powers, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, London: Penguin Books, published 1981, →ISBN, page 280:

     On the coast tree ferns and pandanus palms. Inland termite menhirs seventeen feet high.

Translations

single tall standing stone as a monument

• Afrikaans: menhir
• Arabic: شاهد قائم
• Aragonese: menhir
• Armenian: մենհիր (hy) (menhir)
• Asturian: menhir
• Basque: menhir, iruinharri
• Belarusian: менгір m (mjenhir)
• Breton: peulvan (br)
• Bulgarian: менхир m (menhir)
• Catalan: menhir (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 立石 (zh) (lìshí)

• Czech: menhir (cs)
• Danish: bautasten (da) c
• Dutch: menhir (nl) m
• Esperanto: menhiro
• Estonian: menhir (et)
• Faroese: beytasteinur m
• Finnish: menhir (fi), megaliitti
• French: menhir (fr) m
• Galician: menhir (gl) m, lapa (gl) f, pedrafita f
• Georgian: მენჰირი (menhiri)
• German: Menhir (de) m, Druidenstein m, Hinkelstein (de) m, Hünenstein m
• Greek: μενίρ (el) n (menír)
• Hebrew: מנהיר (he)
• Hungarian: menhír, kőszál (hu)
• Ido: menhiro (io)
• Indonesian: menhir (id)
• Irish: gallán m
• Italian: menhir (it) m
• Japanese: メンヒル (menhiru)
• Kazakh: менгир (meñir), қадатас (qadatas)
• Korean: 선돌 (ko) (seondol)
• Lithuanian: menhyras
• Macedonian: менхир (menhir)
• Malay: menhir
• Malayalam: മെൻഹിർ (meṉhiṟ)
• Marathi: वीरगळ (vīrgaḷ)
• Norwegian:

  Nynorsk: bautastein m, menhir

• Occitan: menir
• Persian: سنگ‌افراشت
• Polish: menhir (pl) m
• Portuguese: menir (pt) m
• Quechua: sayakuq rumi
• Romanian: menhir (ro) n
• Russian: менги́р (ru) m (mengír)
• Scottish Gaelic: tursa m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мѐнхӣр m

  Roman: mènhīr (sh) m

• Slovak: menhir
• Slovene: menhir (sl)
• Spanish: menhir (es) m
• Swedish: bautasten (sv), rest sten
• Tagalog: nakatayong bato
• Tamil: குத்துக்கல் (ta) (kuttukkal)
• Tatar: менгир (mengir), озынташ (ozıntaş), тораташ (tt) (torataş)
• Turkish: menhir
• Ukrainian: менгі́р (menhír)
• Uzbek: mengir
• Walloon: menir (wa) m
• Welsh: maen hir m
• West Frisian: menhir

See also

• stela
• stele

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Breton menhir, from Breton maen-hir.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

menhir m (plural menhirs, diminutive menhirtje n)

1. (archaeology) menhir

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Breton maen-hir, from maen (“stone”) +‎ hir (“tall”). Compare Cornish men hir, and Welsh maen hir.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛ.niʁ/ ~ /me.niʁ/

• Audio (France (Brétigny-sur-Orge)):

  (file)

Noun

menhir m (plural menhirs)

1. (archaeology) menhir

Descendants

Descendants

• → Aragonese: menhir
• → Armenian: մենհիր (menhir)
• → Asturian: menhir
• → Basque: menhir
• → Belarusian: менгір (mjenhir)
• → Dutch: menhir
  • → Afrikaans: menhir
• → Bulgarian: менхир (menhir)
• → Catalan: menhir
• → Czech: menhir
• → English: menhir
• → Esperanto: menhiro
• → Estonian: menhir
• → Finnish: menhir
• → Galician: menhir
• → Georgian: მენჰირი (menhiri)
• → German: Menhir
• → Greek: μενίρ (menír)
• → Hebrew: מנהיר
• → Hungarian: menhír
• → Ido: menhiro
• → Indonesian: menhir
• → Italian: menhir
• → Japanese: メンヒル (menhiru)
• → Kazakh: менгир (meñir)
• → Lithuanian: menhyras
• → Macedonian: менхир (menhir)
• → Malay: menhir
• → Malayalam: മെൻഹിർ (meṉhiṟ)
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: menhir
• → Occitan: menir
• → Polish: menhir
• → Portuguese: menir
• → Romanian: menhir
• → Russian: менги́р (mengír)
• → Serbo-Croatian: mènhīr
• → Slovak: menhir
• → Slovene: menhir
• → Spanish: menhir
• → Tatar: менгир (mengir)
• → Turkish: menhir
• → Ukrainian: менгі́р (menhír)
• → Uzbek: mengir
• → Walloon: menir
• → West Frisian: menhir

Further reading

• “menhir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Polish

menhir

Etymology

Borrowed from French menhir.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛn.xir/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnxir
• Syllabification: men‧hir

Noun

menhir m inan

1. (archaeology) menhir (single tall standing stone as a monument, especially one dating to prehistoric times)

Declension

Declension of menhir

	singular	plural
nominative	menhir	menhiry
genitive	menhiru	menhirów
dative	menhirowi	menhirom
accusative	menhir	menhiry
instrumental	menhirem	menhirami
locative	menhirze	menhirach
vocative	menhirze	menhiry

Further reading

• menhir in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• menhir in PWN's encyclopedia

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Breton menhir, from Breton maen-hir.

Noun

menhir n (plural menhire)

1. (archaeology) menhir

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from French menhir, from Breton maen-hir.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /meˈniɾ/ [meˈniɾ]
• Rhymes: -iɾ

Noun

menhir m (plural menhires)

1. (archaeology) menhir

Further reading

• “menhir”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024