Nachtigall

German

Etymology

Inherited from Middle High German nahtegal, nahtegale, from Old High German nahtagala, from Proto-West Germanic *nahtigalā (literally “she who sings during the night”). Related with Nacht and gellen. Middle High German unstressed -eg- regularly yields modern -ig- (compare the suffix -ig and words like Bräutigam). Cognate with Dutch nachtegaal, English nightingale (which see for more).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnaxtiɡal/, [ˈnaχ.ti.ɡal], [ˈnax-], [-tɪ-]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

Nachtigall f (genitive Nachtigall, plural Nachtigallen)

1. nightingale (bird)

Declension

Declension of Nachtigall [feminine]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	eine	die	Nachtigall	die	Nachtigallen
genitive	einer	der	Nachtigall	der	Nachtigallen
dative	einer	der	Nachtigall	den	Nachtigallen
accusative	eine	die	Nachtigall	die	Nachtigallen

Derived terms

• Nachtigallenboden

Descendants

• → Saterland Frisian: Nachtigal

Further reading

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