Auerhuhn

German

Etymology

From Middle High German ûr-han, from Old High German ūr-huon (variant of orre-huon), from Proto-West Germanic *ūrʀahōn, from a compound of the Proto-Germanic elements *urzô (“black grouse ~ capercaillie”) +‎ *hōną (“hen”) (see Huhn), literally "grouse-hen", referring to the bird's call. The first element, which is cognate with Swedish orre and Faroese orri, is possibly from Proto-Indo-European *wérsō (“virile, male; male livestock animal, bull calf”). Cognate with German Low German Urhane and Dutch woerhaan (< *worʀahanō).

Pronunciation

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Noun

Auerhuhn n (strong, genitive Auerhuhnes or Auerhuhns, plural Auerhühner)

1. capercaillie, wood grouse (Tetrao urogallus)

Declension

Declension of Auerhuhn [neuter, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	Auerhuhn	die	Auerhühner
genitive	eines	des	Auerhuhnes, Auerhuhns	der	Auerhühner
dative	einem	dem	Auerhuhn, Auerhuhne1	den	Auerhühnern
accusative	ein	das	Auerhuhn	die	Auerhühner

¹Now rare, see notes.

Related terms

• Auerhahn

Descendants

• → Dutch: auerhoen

Further reading

• “Auerhuhn” in Duden online
• Kroonen, Guus (2013) “*urzan-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 561