Buchstabe

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search
The printable version is no longer supported and may have rendering errors. Please update your browser bookmarks and please use the default browser print function instead.

German

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle High German buochstabe, from Old High German *buohstabo (letter, writing) (attested only as Old High German buohstab; > German Buchstab), from Proto-West Germanic *bōkstabō, from Proto-Germanic *bōkstabô, a variant of *bōkstabaz.[1] Compare English bookstaff, bookstave.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbuːxʃtaːbə/
  • Audio:(file)

Noun

Buchstabe m (weak, genitive Buchstabens or (less common) Buchstaben, plural Buchstaben)

  1. letter (of the alphabet)
    • 1931, Gebhard Mehring, Schrift und Schrifttum, Silberburg-Verlag, page 21:
      Das römische Zahlensystem […] besteht aus 7 Buchstaben, die zur Bezeichnung von Zahlenwerten verwendet werden: M D C L X V I
      The Roman numeral system […] consists of 7 letters, which are used for the representation of numerical values: M D C L X V I
    • 1795, Wilhelm Friedrich Hezel, Ausführliche Griechische Sprachlehre nebst Paradigmen der Griechischen Deklinationen und Konjugationen in 35 Tabellen, Weißenfels & Leipzig, p.14
      II. Konsonanten — sind die übrigen siebenzehn Buchstaben des Alphabets. Man theilt sie
      A. in Ansehung der Sprachorganen, die an ihrer Bildung den meisten Antheil haben, in
      1) Lippenbuchstaben (labiales): [...]
      2) Gaumenbuchstaben (palatinas): [...]
      3) Zungenbuchstaben (linguales): [...]
      4) Zahnbuchstaben (dentales): [...]
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
  2. (law) letter (a division unit of a piece of law marked by letters)

Usage notes

Buchstabe usually has the genitive singular (des) Buchstabens (cf. Name). The weak form (des) Buchstaben does also exist.

Declension

Derived terms

See also

References

  1. ^ Friedrich Kluge (1989) “Buchstabe”, in Elmar Seebold, editor, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache [Etymological Dictionary of the German Language] (in German), 22nd edition, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN

Further reading