Ampfer
German
Etymology
From the equivalent Middle High German ampfer, Old High German ampfaro m, allied to the equivalent Old English ompre, from Proto-West Germanic *amprō; an adjective used as a substantive. Compare Dutch amper (“sharp, bitter, unripe”), Old Swedish amper, Old Norse apr (“sharp, chiefly of cold”) (for Proto-Germanic *ampraz); also Low German ampern (“to prove bitter to the taste”). Sauerampfer (also corrupted to Sauer-ramf) is a tautological compound like Windhund. In case *ampraz, from earlier Pre-Germanic *ambras, represents the properly Proto-Indo-European *amrós (see *h₂eh₃mós, *h₂éh₃-mr-), Sanskrit अम्ल (amlá, “sour; wood-sorrel”) and Latin amārus (“bitter”) are primitively cognate with this word.[1]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈam(p)fɐ/
Audio (file)
Noun
Ampfer m (strong, genitive Ampfers, plural Ampfer)
- sorrel (plant)
Declension
| singular | plural | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| indef. | def. | noun | def. | noun | |
| nominative | ein | der | Ampfer | die | Ampfer |
| genitive | eines | des | Ampfers | der | Ampfer |
| dative | einem | dem | Ampfer | den | Ampfern |
| accusative | einen | den | Ampfer | die | Ampfer |
Related terms
- Sauerampfer
References
- Friedrich Kluge (1883), “Ampfer”, in , John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891
Further reading
- “Ampfer” in Duden online