Re: German "Stein"

[Joachim Pense <snob@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Am Thu, 28 Dec 2006 08:32:10 -0500 schrieb Harlan Messinger:

> Dr. Jamshid Ibrahim wrote:
>> The German word for stone ,,Stein" is used in German very widely in
>> combinations particularly with proper names like surnames, names of
>> streets....
>> 1. The combination of some words like Bernstein is clear to me but I
>> can't understand a name like Einstein "one stone".
>> 2. Germany is not that mountainous so why this overuse of "Stein"(
>> maybe particularly in the north?) Any historic explanation?
> 
> 1. "Stein" means "stone", not "mountain", so what do mountains have to 
> do with it?
> 

In fact mountains often carry the name suffix "-stein" (similar to the
English Mount ...). 

> 2. Much of the region where *German is spoken* is mountainous.

And the southern half of Germany is not exactly flat either.

Joachim