Zahn
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Zahn (plural Zahns)
From German Zahn, from Middle High German zan, zant, from Old High German zan, zand, from Proto-West Germanic *tanþ.
The velarised form Zank, which is native in most of Ripuarian, has widely been replaced in eastern dialects; some of them have adopted the southern form Zand, others the standard German form Zahn. As can be seen below, the native plural Zäng remains intact. Compare Hand for more.
Zahn m (plural Zäng, diminutive Zähnche)
From Middle High German zan, zant, from Old High German zan, zand, from Proto-West Germanic *tanþ, from Proto-Germanic *tanþs.
The Old High German nominative zan alongside zand is not quite clear, but may go back to an inherited variation that was levelled in the other old languages. The stems zan- and zand- were then used indiscriminately in Middle High German. The success of the form without -d may have been reinforced by the widespread dialectal development: intervocalic -nd- → -nn-, which produced d-less inflected forms even in dialects that used zand-. Cognates include Dutch and Danish tand, English tooth. See the latter for more.
Zahn m (strong, genitive Zahnes or Zahns, plural Zähne, diminutive Zähnchen n or Zähnlein n)
1Now rare, see notes.