Etymology
Stein is an abbreviation of German Steingut "stoneware", the common material for beer mugs before the introduction of glass. The word alone is not used within Germany, rather "Krug" or "Steinkrug" are used.
The word stein could have also originated from the German word Steinzeugkrug, meaning stoneware jug or tankard. By common usage, stein refers to a beer container with a handle and hinged lid.
Bierstein in German means beerstone – i. e. beer scale – a hard residue of calcium oxalate, protein, and sugar formed when a brewing vessel is used repeatedly without exacting cleaning.
Read more about this topic: Beer Stein
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)