Gnu

See also: GNU, gnu, gnú, and gnû

German

Etymology

First used by Georg Forster in 1778, transcribing English gnoo, which he himself had introduced, a year earlier, in his English work A voyage round the world. Further from Khoekhoe !nu:, possibly via South African Dutch. While Dutch gnoe is only attested later on (common Afrikaans being wildebees), it may nevertheless have existed because it would have been difficult for Forster to borrow the word directly from Khoekhoe. The earliest-ever European attestation seems to be in a French text of 1775 (in the form nou).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɡnuː/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -uː

Noun

Gnu n (strong, genitive Gnus, plural Gnus)

  1. gnu

Declension

Declension of Gnu [neuter, strong]
singular plural
indef. def. noun def. noun
nominative ein das Gnu die Gnus
genitive eines des Gnus der Gnus
dative einem dem Gnu den Gnus
accusative ein das Gnu die Gnus

Further reading

  • “Gnu” in Duden online
  • “Gnu” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.