Hüne

From German Low German Hüne (“giant, hulk”), from Middle Low German hǖne (“hulk; Hun”), ultimately from the self-designation of the historic Huns. Compare Middle High German hiune, hūne (“Hun; Hungarian”), from Old High German hūn (“Hun”).

The High German equivalent Heune became obsolete in Early Modern German and was superseded by the Latin-derived Ungar (“Hungarian”) and Hunne (“Hun”). However, Hüne remained common as a term for “giant, hulk” both in mythic and everyday contexts in many parts of northern Germany, whence it was reintroduced to the written language in the 17th and 18th centuries.

• IPA^(key): /ˈhyːnə/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

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Hüne m (weak, genitive Hünen, plural Hünen)

1. giant, hulk (tall man, typically also muscular)

   Drago, ein eiskalter Hüne mit über 2,00 m Körperlänge, ist eine mit stahlharten Muskeln bepackte Kampfmaschine.

   Drago, an ice-cold hulk of a man standing more than two metres tall, is a fighting machine packed with muscles of steel.

   • 1911, Lily Braun, Memoiren einer Sozialistin [Memoirs of a Woman Socialist]‎^[1], Kampfjahre, München: Albert Langen:

     Überrascht sah ich auf. »Mister Stratford?« — Der rotblonde Hüne, der mich eben begrüßt hatte, nickte erfreut.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1913, Rainer Maria Rilke, “Im alten Hause”, in Erste Gedichte‎^[2]:

     Die Stadt verschwimmt wie hinter Glas. / Nur hoch, wie ein behelmter Hüne, / ragt klar vor mir die grünspangrüne / Turmkuppel von Sankt Nikolas.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (mythology) giant

• hünenhaft

• Hunne
• Hünenbett, Hünengrab, Hünenstein, Hinkelstein

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