Neandertaler

See also: neandertaler

English

Etymology

From German Neandertaler.

Noun

Neandertaler (plural Neandertalers)

1. Synonym of Neanderthal.
   • 1913, Hugo v[on] Buttel-Reepen, Man and His Forerunners, London: Longmans, Green and Co., pages 50 and 74:

     This snout-like type of face, with the projecting jaws and wide nose, persists to some extent among certain living races, notably among the Australian aborigines, whose skulls have features in common with those of Neandertalers. […] It is supposed that the forerunners of the Neandertalers and of the gorilla evolved for so far together, because their respective skeletons have so many points in common.

   • 1916, Science Progress in the Twentieth Century: A Quarterly Journal of Scientific Work & Thought, volume X, page 269:

     The skeleton of the fourth species, the Neandertalers, is almost completely known from the remains of numerous individuals. These Neandertalers are most puzzling beings. They had receding foreheads with monstrous brow-ridges, and they walked with a permanent crouch, and yet they had big brains and were skilled workers in stone.

   • 1927 September, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Grisly Folk”, in The Short Stories of H. G. Wells, London: Ernest Benn Limited […], →OCLC, page 689:

     The legends of ogres and man-eating giants that haunt the childhood of the world may descend to us from those ancient days of fear. And for the Neandertalers it was the beginning of an incessant war that could end only in extermination. The Neandertalers, albeit not so erect and tall as men, were the heavier, stronger creatures, but they were stupid, and they went alone or in twos and threes; […]

   • 1968, Björn Kurtén, Pleistocene Mammals of Europe, Routledge, published 2017, →ISBN, pages 60–61:

     Neandertal Man, Homo neanderthalensis King. The true or ‘classical’ Neandertaler with his dorsally flattened, very large and long head, big brow ridges, prognathous face, round eye sockets, very large braincase and a stockily built, powerful body, lived during the 4-Würm up to the great interstadial about 35,000 years ago, when this species became extinct. […] Our own species may be definitely identified in the 4-Würm interstadial, the time when men of modern type invaded Europe and ousted the Neandertalers. On the other hand, it has been thought that specimens like Fontéchevade Man (two skull caps without a trace of the Neandertal brow ridge) have to be counted in this species, even if Steinheim and Swanscombe are left as Neandertalers.

   • 1992, Marvin L. Lubenow, Bones of Contention: A Creationist Assessment of the Human Fossils, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, →ISBN, page 36:

     This was the most complete Neandertal skeleton found in western Europe up to that time. Once it was reconstructed, the world could see what a Neandertaler looked like. […] Piltdown Man was one of Boule’s proofs that modern humans with their high-domed skulls dated much further back than the Neandertalers.

   • 1998, “Neandertalers”, in Academic American Encyclopedia, volume 14, →ISBN, pages 68–69:

     The Neandertalers (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) were a subspecies of prehistoric humans inhabiting Europe and parts of Western Asia from about 150,000 to 35,000 years ago. The first Neandertal fossil was discovered (1856) by quarrymen in a cave in the Neander Valley, near Düsseldorf, Germany. […] Evidence indicates that the Neandertalers hunted a variety of animals, including cave bear, woolly rhinoceros, and mammoth, and also gathered plant foods.

German

Alternative forms

• Neanderthaler (superseded)

Etymology

Neandertal +‎ -er

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

Neandertaler m (strong, genitive Neandertalers, plural Neandertaler, feminine Neandertalerin)

1. Neanderthal (member of the now extinct species Homo neanderthalensis)
2. Neanderthal (primitive person)

Declension

Declension of Neandertaler [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Neandertaler	die	Neandertaler
genitive	eines	des	Neandertalers	der	Neandertaler
dative	einem	dem	Neandertaler	den	Neandertalern
accusative	einen	den	Neandertaler	die	Neandertaler

Derived terms

• Neandertalerin

Further reading

• “Neandertaler” in Duden online