Hering

From German Hering, from Middle High German hærinc, both meaning herring.

Hering

1. A surname from German.

From Middle High German hærinc, herinc, from Old High German hārinc, herinc, from Proto-West Germanic *hāring, *haring, perhaps from a substrate language.

The sense of "tent peg" is from to the visual similarity between the fish and long, silver-grey metal pegs. According to Pfeifer, this sense is attested by the late 19th century.

• IPA^(key): /ˈheːʁɪŋ/

• Audio:

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• Audio (Germany):

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Hering m (strong, genitive Heringes or Herings, plural Heringe)

1. herring
2. tent peg
3. (informal) thin person, usually male
   • 1978, “Dicke”, performed by Marius Müller-Westernhagen:

     Ich bin froh, dass ich kein Dicker bin,
     Denn Dicksein ist ’ne Quälerei.
     Ich bin froh, dass ich so’n dürrer Hering bin,
     Denn dünn bedeutet frei zu sein.

     I’m glad I’m not a fat person,
     Because being fat is such an ordeal.
     I’m glad I’m such a scrawny herring,
     For to be thin means to be free.

• → Estonian: heeringas
• → Hungarian: hering
• → Macedonian: харинга (haringa)
• → Romanian: hering
• → Serbo-Croatian: haringa

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