Elch

Ultimately from Latin Altacum. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

• IPA^(key): /ɛlx/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Elch
• Rhymes: -ɛlx

Elch n

1. Othée, a village in Belgium

• Elk (obsolete)

From Middle High German elch (also elche), from Old High German elh (also as elho, elaho), from Proto-West Germanic *elh, from Proto-Germanic *elhaz.

In Early Modern German, the word had been entirely replaced with Elen (see there). In the late 18th century, the form Elk was borrowed from English elk, principally for the North American moose (then still thus called). This subsequently triggered renewed use of Elch, be it based on Middle High German or on East Prussian dialects where the word may have survived. After the mid-19th century, Elch began to make inroads, possibly reinforced by the entry Elen (1859) in the Deutsches Wörterbuch, where Grimm spoke disparagingly of this supposedly non-Germanic word.

• IPA^(key): /ɛlç/

• Audio:

  (file)

Elch m (strong, genitive Elches or Elchs, plural Elche, masculine Elchbulle, feminine Elchkuh or Elchin)

1. moose, Eurasian elk (Alces alces)

   Synonyms: (archaic) Elen, Elentier

• → Luxembourgish: Elch
• →? Saterland Frisian: Älch

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

From German Elch.

• IPA^(key): /ælχ/, [ælɕ]

Elch m (plural Elchen)

1. elk

• Elch in the Lëtzebuerger Online Dictionnaire