Friedhof
German
Alternative forms
- Freithof (obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle High German vrīthof, from Old High German frīthof, derived from frīten (“to enclose”) + hof (“yard”). In Early Modern German, the word came to be associated with distantly related Frieden (“peace”), probably at first through interaction of diphthongising and non-diphthongising dialects, but then leading to semantic remotivation as “place of final peace”. Cognate with archaic Dutch vrijthof.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈfʁiːtˌhoːf/
Audio (file)
Noun
Friedhof m (strong, genitive Friedhofes or Friedhofs, plural Friedhöfe)
- cemetery, graveyard
- Synonym: (less common) Kirchhof
Declension
Declension of Friedhof [masculine, strong]
| singular | plural | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| indef. | def. | noun | def. | noun | |
| nominative | ein | der | Friedhof | die | Friedhöfe |
| genitive | eines | des | Friedhofes, Friedhofs | der | Friedhöfe |
| dative | einem | dem | Friedhof, Friedhofe1 | den | Friedhöfen |
| accusative | einen | den | Friedhof | die | Friedhöfe |
1Now uncommon, see notes.
Related terms
- Frieden m
- Friedhofsgärtner m (“cemetery gardner”)
- Friedhofskapelle f (“cemetery chapel”)
- Hof m
Further reading
- “Friedhof” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
- “Friedhof” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
- “Friedhof” in Duden online
Friedhof on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia de- Friedrich Kluge (1883), “Friedhof”, in , John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891