Eulenspiegel
German
Dyl Ulenspiegel
Etymology
From Ulenspiegel (1st half of the 16th century), Middle Low German Ūlenspēgel.Its modern semantics is due to the mischievous nature of Till Eulenspiegel, protagonist of a folklore published in 1515.
By surface analysis, Eule + -n- + Spiegel, literally “owl mirror”, an analysis already drawn upon in the original tale.
Pronunciation
- Hyphenation: Eu‧len‧spie‧gel
Noun
Eulenspiegel m (strong, genitive Eulenspiegels, plural Eulenspiegel)
- jester, prankster
Declension
Declension of Eulenspiegel [masculine, strong]
| singular | plural | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| indef. | def. | noun | def. | noun | |
| nominative | ein | der | Eulenspiegel | die | Eulenspiegel |
| genitive | eines | des | Eulenspiegels | der | Eulenspiegel |
| dative | einem | dem | Eulenspiegel | den | Eulenspiegeln |
| accusative | einen | den | Eulenspiegel | die | Eulenspiegel |
Derived terms
- Eulenspiegelei
- Eulenspiegelstreich
- eulenspiegelhaft
Further reading
Eulenspiegel on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia de- “Eulenspiegel” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
- “Eulenspiegel” in Duden online
- “Eulenspiegel” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon