menhir

[men-hir] Origin

men·hir

[men-hir]
noun Archaeology.
an upright monumental stone standing either alone or with others, as in an alignment, found chiefly in Cornwall and Brittany.

Origin:
1830–40; < Breton phrase men hir, equivalent to men stone + hir long
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Menhir is always a great word to know.
So is ort. Does it mean:
a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
Collins
World English Dictionary
menhir (ˈmɛnhɪə)
 
n
a single standing stone, often carved, dating from the middle Bronze Age in the British Isles and from the late Neolithic Age in W Europe
 
[C19: from Breton men stone + hir long]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

menhir
1840, "upright monumental stone," lit. "long stone," from Fr., from Breton men "stone" + hir "long" (cf. Welsh maen hir, Cornish medn hir).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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