Calling Kammer

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Kammer K
Kammer Nov 22, 2004 12:39:03
Replying to elderford

I'm pretty sure Mark's right. The word 'Menhir' is pinched from French, which in turn pinched it from Breton (apparently 'Middle Breton').

What I'm not sure about is whether the word 'Menhirs' is technically correct from a Breton point of view. Adding an 's' to the end of a word to make the plural isn't very typical of the Celtic languages. It's far too simple!

Breton and Welsh are extremely similar in some respects. The Welsh equivalent of 'Menhir' is 'Maenhir', with 'maen' meaning stone and 'hir' meaning long (exactly the same as the Breton in meaning).

I'm still trying to establish what the plural of 'Maenhir' is in Welsh.

K x

S Spaceship mark
Spaceship mark Nov 22, 2004 12:52:44
Replying to Kammer

Indeed, although the French and Breton's use 'menhir' to describe a standing stone the word is a relitively recent coining. The traditional Breton word is 'peulven', I'm not sure of the etmymology but 'ven' means stone.
Similarly 'dolmen' is another relatively recent word, derived from the Breton words 'dol/taol'=table and 'men/mane/maen' etc.=stone.
In everyday French use both take an 's' to become plural but I have no idea what they do in Breton...especially as neither is a true Breton word...