stirna

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *śírˀnāˀ, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥h₂-néh₂, from *ḱerh₂- (“head, top, horn”), with an extra -n (from which also German Horn, English horn, Latin cornū and also cervus (“deer”)), which yielded Latvian archaic sirna.

The presence of a t has given rise to various explanations: st- < *ts-; metathesis (sirna > *srina) with t epenthesis; contamination or influence from some other animal name, e.g., taurs; borrowing from a Slavic language with changes to conform to Baltic pronunciation. More recently, it has been suggested that stirna might come from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“red, pink”) in the reduced grade *sr̥-no-, causing t epenthesis in Baltic. Cognates include Lithuanian stìrna, Old Prussian sirwis, Proto-Slavic *sьrna.^[1]

• IPA^(key): [stīɾna]

stirna f (4th declension)

1. roe deer (Capreolus capreolus)

   stirnu āzis, stirnuāzis, stirnāzis ― male roe deer

   stirnu buks ― male roe deer

   stirnu kaza, mātīte ― female roe deer

   stirnu mazulis ― baby roe deer, fawn (syn. stirnēns)

   stirnas pašlaik aizliegts medīt ― roe deer hunting is now prohibited

   meitene viegla kā stirna ― a girl as light as a roe deer

• stirnāzis, stirnuāzis, stirnu āzis
• stirnēns

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *śírˀnāˀ, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥h₂-néh₂, from *ḱerh₂- (“head, top, horn”), with an extra -n (from which also German Horn, English horn, Latin cornū and also cervus (“deer”)).

More recently, it has been suggested that stirna might come from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“red, pink”) in the reduced grade *sr̥-no-, causing t epenthesis in Baltic. Cognates include stirna, Old Prussian sirwis, Proto-Slavic *sьrna.

sti̇̀rna f stress pattern 1

1. roe

From Proto-West Germanic *stirniju.

stirna m

1. forehead

• Middle High German: stirne
  • German: Stirn
  • Luxembourgish: Stier
  • Yiddish: שטערן (shtern)