König

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See also: Koenig

German

Etymology

From Middle High German künec, from Old High German kuning (rarer kunig), from Proto-West Germanic *kuning, from Proto-Germanic *kuningaz.

The development Old High German -ning → later -nig is regular (see Pfennig). The modern vocalism -ö- is chiefly Central and Low German; compare Middle Low German köninc, from Old Saxon kuning.

Cognate with Old Dutch kuning (whence Dutch koning), Old English cyning (whence English king), Old Norse konungr (whence e.g. Danish konge). The word was borrowed into non-Germanic languages in Proto-Germanic times: Finnish and Estonian kuningas, Russian князь (knjazʹ).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈkøːnɪç/
    • Audio(file)
  • IPA(key): /ˈkøːnɪk/ (southern Germany, Austria)

Noun

König m (strong, genitive Königes or Königs, plural Könige)

  1. king (monarch, chess, card games)

Usage notes

  • Together with proper nouns, the genitive can be Königs with uninflected proper noun (e.g. Königs Wilhelm) or less common uninflected König with inflected proper noun as if the noun König were part of a name (e.g. König Wilhelms).

Declension

Declension of König
singular plural
indef. def. noun def. noun
nominative ein der König die Könige
genitive eines des Königes, Königs der Könige
dative einem dem König, Könige1 den Königen
accusative einen den König die Könige

1Now rare, see notes.

Note: The long genitive form Königes lost popularity by the mid-19th century.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

See also

Chess pieces in German · Schachfiguren, Schachsteine (layout · text)
♚ ♛ ♜ ♝ ♞ ♟
König Dame, Königin Turm Läufer Springer, Pferd, Ross, Rössel Bauer

Proper noun

König m or f (proper noun, surname, masculine genitive Königs or (with an article) König, feminine genitive König, plural Königs)

  1. a common surname transferred from the nickname

References

  1. ^ "König" in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Further reading

  • “König” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
  • “König” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
  • “König” in Duden online
  • König on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia de

Saterland Frisian

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle Low German kȫnnich, from Old Saxon kuning. Cognates include German Low German König. Doublet of Kening.

Pronunciation

Noun

König m (plural )

  1. king

Synonyms

References

  • Marron C. Fort (2015) “Kening”, in Saterfriesisches Wörterbuch mit einer phonologischen und grammatischen Übersicht, Buske, →ISBN
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