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)

  1. sorrel (genus Rumex)

Declension
Declension of Ampfer [masculine, strong]
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

Derived terms

References
  1. Friedrich Kluge (1883) “Ampfer”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891

Further reading
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