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, elhe, from Old High German elaho, elho, elcho (hapax elach), from Proto-West Germanic *elh(ō), 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, mainly because it was used in Brehms Tierleben (1865). Brehm himself might have been influenced by the entry Elen (1859) in the Deutsches Wörterbuch, where Grimm spoke disparagingly of this supposedly non-Germanic word.

• IPA^(key): /ɛlç/, [ʔɛlʲç], (substandard also) [ʔɛltʲç], [ʔɛɪ̯ç]

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

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

1. moose (US), elk (UK) (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