Seehund

German

Etymology

15th century, alteration of Seelhund, explanatory compound from now obsolete Seel (“seal”) + Hund (“dog”). The first component seems to have been inherited from Middle High German sele, seleh, from Old High German selah, from Proto-Germanic *selhaz (“seal”). For natural reasons it was a rare word, however, and was later reinforced by cognate Middle Low German sēl, also sēlhunt. Cognate with English seal, North Frisian selich, seel, Danish sæl. Ultimately reinterpreted as See (“sea”) +‎ Hund (“dog”); compare the same in Dutch zeehond.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈzeːˌhʊnt]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

Seehund m (strong, genitive Seehunds or Seehundes, plural Seehunde, diminutive Seehündchen n, feminine Seehündin)

1. common seal, harbor seal (Phoca vitulina)

   Hypernym: Robbe

2. (loosely) any seal

   Synonym: Robbe

Declension

Declension of Seehund [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Seehund	die	Seehünde
genitive	eines	des	Seehunds, Seehundes	der	Seehünde
dative	einem	dem	Seehund, Seehunde1	den	Seehünden
accusative	einen	den	Seehund	die	Seehünde

¹Now rare, see notes.

Descendants

• → Hebrew: כלב ים (kélev-yam) (calque)

See also

• Seelöwe m
• Walross n

Further reading

• “Seehund” in Duden online
• “Seehund” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache