Ich würde sagen:"Made of salt." Ich habe Schwierigkeiten, ein Adjektiv zu finden, das das Material, aus der die Treppe gemacht ist, richtig beschreibt.

Meine erste Idee war auch "made of salt" ...

Warum nicht "a salt stair"? "A wood stair" sollte auch gehen. Vielleicht sagt ja noch ein Native etwas.

you can't use salten

your best option in this case is "made of salt" IMHO

a salt staircase might work... a wood staircase

'wood stairs' klingt komisch, finde ich, da hätte ich schon gern ein 'wooden'. Aber metal, plastic, rubber stairs ginge auch (wenn es die dann gäbe), deshalb fände ich 'salt stair' grammatisch auch okay. Habe allerdings keine Ahnung, was das sein soll.

Seasand, deinen englischen Satz verstehe ich nicht. Unlike wooden? Ich dachte, um genau das geht's.

na da hatten wir doch grade einen -ish-Faden:
related discussion: -ish / -isch
http://www.google.at/#hl=de&gs_nf=1&cp=7&gs_i...


saltish

Rather OT: I don't think "wood stair / table / chair" etc. sounds right - it's wooden in those cases, but wood flooring /panelling are OK...? Odd.

edit: rubber stairs ?

with a spring in your step up to the bedroom...? ;-)

Hallo,
danke für eure Antworten.

Wie wäre es mit "saline", also "a saline stair"?

How´d "a saline stair" sound? Would this phrase mean that the stair is made of salt?

@joe: Ich glaube, dass das mit dem Suffix -ish nicht funktioniert, da "saltish" doch eher mit salzig übersetzt werden würde, soweit ich den thread in deinem link verstanden habe. Trotzdem danke.

@Gibson: Ich hoffe, der Satz ist nicht falsch, mein Englisch ist nicht besonders gut.
Wahrscheinlich habe ich irgendwo einen Fehler gemacht, ich wollte damit sagen:

"Ich suche nach einem Wort, welches eine Treppe, im Gegensatz zu der Beschreibung, hölzern zu sein ("a wooden stair"), die sie als aus Holz bestehend schildert, als aus salz bestehend definiert."

Selbst wenn er richtig ist, ist das eine schreckliche Formulierung von mir.

Liebe Grüße

Ja, seasand
http://www.google.at/#hl=de&sclient=psy-ab&q=...

"saline stone" gibt's ja auch!

"saline stone stair"

(Womöglich gleich noch lachsrosa, hihi? Weil die Salzsteine für die Rehe sind meist lachsrosa)

"Halite" ist die mineralische Ausprägung des Kochsalzes, die auch die Form von Säulen, Stalaktiten und eben Treppen annehmen kann.

Dein "saline stair"
hat auch 66 Googles
http://www.google.at/#hl=de&sclient=psy-ab&q=...

Ja, lauter Treppenbauer in einer Stadt namens Saline, MI, USA.

ok also ist "halite" wohl am passendsten.
Vielen Dank an euch alle!

under no circumstances can you use "saline." Nor can you use "halite," since you do not even know if halite is the mineral in question and few people even know what it is anyway. Think of the equivalence - "hailte staircase" would be "eine Treppe aus Halit" or "Halittreppe".

The vast majority of English speakers who have no recently taken a chemistry class will not know what "halite" means.

"saline stair" has 66 hits because there's a town in Michigan named Saline, dammit. READ what the hits are before approving them.

And there is no such thing as "a stair"


You can say "salt staircase" or "staircase made of salt." There ARE no other options.

Please, if you are looking for a final answer, ask a native speaker!

Mercury, you are right of course,
Sorry for my wrong looking at these Googles!

There sure is such thing as a "stair" (I just checked in ODE, there is no indication there that the singular is actually wrong). And there are other lots of possible translations, e.g. "salt steps", "set of steps made of salt", "stairs made of salt".

I agree with #16: "a stair" exists. The singular indicates either a single step in a stairway or the entire stairway (set of steps). Obviously the singular is ambiguous, which is probably why we use the plural much more often, but someone might well say something like, "Watch the stair" or "He tripped on the bottom stair". (Cf. Merriam-Webster, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stair )

Of all the suggestions so far, some of which are totally off base, my preference is "salt stairs" followed by "made of salt". As has previously been noted, we use the noun "adjectivally" in some cases to indicate what something is made of: The Glass Menagerie, rubber bullets, straw men, leather straps - just to name a few.

"saline stair" has 66 hits because there's a town in Michigan named Saline, dammit. READ what the hits are before approving them.

Indeed. READ the other posts before you comment. #12, in this case.

Mercury3, maybe you want to consider using fewer of those 'never', 'under no circumstance', 'no native speaker would ever' and the like?

LEO is full of linguists, well-educated native speakers and EFL teachers. Some of them are bound to disagree with you.

I should be less so, yes. I was just upset that they decided "halite" was the right answer when "salt" was just fine all along - and right.

Indeed, "stair" can be used in the singular, and it means the same as "staircase" or "flight of stairs", but I would say this usage is uncommon - far, far, less common than the German singular "Treppe".

And yes, XXXXXX "steps" can be used, too. My main point was that I'm pretty sure the only workable translation for "aus Salz" in this case is "salt" or "made of salt"

And I will stand behind my original assertion that "saline stair" should not be used under any circumstances :)

OT, sorry, but with all this talk of whether "stair" can be used in the singular, I can't help thinking of A.A. Milne's poem:
"Halfway down the stairs
Is a stair where I sit..."
http://www.newearth.demon.co.uk/poems/lyric203.htm

On topic, "staircase made of salt" or "salt staircase".

OT: Thanks, Anne, for the link. I enjoyed the poem.

On topic: let's hope seasand checks back on further discussion. While "halite" may be a technically correct term, depending on the kind of salt in question, it won't mean much to most readers (but then perhaps seasand wants to spur readers to research terms). Here is a link to an interesting picture of halite:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons...

Think of the equivalence - "hailte staircase" would be "eine Treppe aus Halit" or "Halittreppe".
14AutorMercury3

Unter bder Annahme, dass folgende Ortsnamen von Halit abgeleitet sind, käme man auf Halltreppe.

Hallenberg, Hallstadt (Franken), Halberstadt (ex DDR), Hall (Tirol), Hallein (Salzburg) und Hallstatt (Salzkammergut) u.A.

Autor #0, seasand, ist uns eigentlich das deutsche Wort, das uebersetzt werden soll, schuldig geblieben.

They're not named after halite.

The German word "Salz" and English "salt" come from Proto-Germanic *saltan.

The names of those German towns come from the continental Celtic version, something like "halla" (Welsh "halen").

"Halite" is an invented term which uses the Ancient Greek "halas" as its base.

Of course they all come from the same Indo-European root, but the town names do not come from "halite", since the word "halite" didn't exist until the modern period (I'd imagine).

Google: staircase of salt

Mercury, since I'm not able to click on answer in "translation correct", so here:

Your "crime worthy of death" as well as "crime worthy of the death penalty" is correct for "todeswürdiges Verbrechen".

haha, you can't put that answer over there? And I was wondering about "deadly offense" anyway.

Hermann ... what do you mean? It gets 22 hits.

"salt staircase" and "staircase made of salt" work just fine.

"of" can be used that way (fists of steel, heart of gold) but it's less common than using the noun as an adjective or a construction with "made of"

They're not named after halite.

The German word "Salz" and English "salt" come from Proto-Germanic *saltan.

The names of those German towns come from the continental Celtic version, something like "halla" (Welsh "halen").

"Halite" is an invented term which uses the Ancient Greek "halas" as its base.

Of course they all come from the same Indo-European root, but the town names do not come from "halite", since the word "halite" didn't exist until the modern period (I'd imagine).
# 23, Autor Mercury3

Na, dann haben uns halbgebildete Heimatkundelehrer in der Schule etwas falsches gelehrt, und Wikipedia sitzt dem auch auf:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Reichenhall#...

Hallgrafschaft, Stadt „Hal“

Ab ca. 700 hatte der Ort den Namen Hal, was wie zuvor der Name ad salinas einen Ort mit einer Saline bezeichnet.

Hallo, danke für eure Antworten!
Ich bin euch das deutsche Wort schuldig geblieben, weil es meines Wissens nach kein deutsches Wort gibt, welches exakt das bedeutet, was ich suche. Ein Adjektiv das eine Sache als aus salz bestehend beschreibt, so wie "hölzern" eben eine sache als aus holz bestehend beschreibt. Nur bedeutet "salzig" oder "(ge)salzen", dass die Treppe gut gewürzt ist und nicht, dass sie aus Salz besteht. Im Englischen besteht das Problem aber offensichtlich ebenfalls, da das Adjektiv von "salt" ("salten") sich auf die würze bezieht.
Ich könnte als deutsches Wort "sälzern" vorschlagen, bezweifle aber ehrlich gesagt, dass es das überhaupt gibt. ("sälzerne Treppe")

The deciding point, regarding the question, if halla stems from the Ancient Greek word ἅλας [hals] in which case it would be related to "halite", or not, is finally that it doesnt change the meaning of "halite", which clearly is the crystaline form of sodium chloride, as far as i understood. the fact, that halla may refer to ἅλας [hals], aswell as halite does, wouldn´t even change its meaning, since halla, in this case, derives from ἅλας [hals] which originally meant salt, when the reader has to decide between either the town or the mineral. Additionally I don´t believe that someone relays the word to another one that sounds related, whilst he got an existing alternative.

Though I know that halite isn´t as accurate as I suspected earlier, i´m not secure if "a salt staircase" would be the better alternative. It´s a lyrical text in which pictures are important and "a halite staircase" approximates my spelling style, due to the fact that i often use scientifical (chemical in this case) phrases. The question, which is now to ask, is, if a reader would cognize the metaphor "the halite staircase of someones tears".

The question if there is an adjective, defining an object as "made of salt" still interests me, but i dont think that there is such a adjective.

Thanks a lot for your answers,
greetings!

Das Problem, zu dem mercury3 das Wort "halite" aufbläst, sehe ich überhaupt nicht. Die Carlsbad Halite Caves (oder Caverns) finden sich in jedem Reiseführer. Esoteriker kennen es als Bestandteil der Salztherapie und in Form des vermeintlichen Heilsteins halite gemstone. http://crystal-cure.com/halite.html

Übrigens: meine Elfjährige sah mir gerade über die Schulter, als ich solch einen Salzkristall auf dem Bildschirm hatte, und sagte spontan: "Ein Halit!" Sie hat mal einen Kinderkurs in Mineralogie besucht ...

but i dont think that there is such a adjective.

Well, there's 'salt', as has been said about twelve times already. (Yes, strictly speaking, that's a noun, but it's used adjectivally.) I'd still go for 'salt staircase'.

OT:
Der Name Wintershall setzt sich aus dem Nachnamen eines der Unternehmensgründer Carl Julius Winter und dem alten Wort für Salz (Hall, vgl. Halit, Halurgie) zusammen.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wintershall

Das Wort "Hall" für ein Salzvorkommen / -bergwerk ist seit dem Mittelalter belegt.

Der Kollege Pachulke (#22, 28) hat da Recht.

Restitutus - the answer is in your "übrigens" - she took a children's course on mineralogy. Halite refers specifically to the crystal, and to the mineral in its scientific sense. The common word for it, however, is salt.

English patterns with German exactly here. There is a common word "salt" / "Salz" and a scientific word "halite" / "Halit". If German uses "Salz", there is really no good reason for English to use "halite" especially when "salt" is perfectly fine!

seasand - "halite" will make it sound less poetic, because it's a technical word. Furthermore, see the above statement. Unless you are using "Halit" in German, there's no reason to use "halite" in English. Any reason why you would not use "Halittreppe" in German is a reason not to use "halite staircase" in English. Why not use "sodium chloride staircase"? "NaCl staircase"?

Furthermore, if you are using it for poetic reasons, there are several other good reasons not to use "halite": #1 is that "halite" refers only to salt as a naturally-occurring crystal formation found in caverns and the surface and such. It is not used to refer to the salt in the sea or salt in tears, as far as I know. #2 "salt" is more poetic anyway, since you have alliteration AND because the English-speaking brain will draw a connection between "salt" and "tears" but no one will draw a connection between "halite" and "tears" #3 Stylistically, English poetry tends to prefer the "stronger", more familiar Germanic versions of words over foreign technical ones.

As to the names of German cities, Pachulke and seasand, I do not see what the problem is. I said that the German city names most probably come from a Celtic word meaning "salt", as the pre-Germanic peoples of much of modern Germany tended to be Celtic.

They were most certainly not names for "halite," a word which did not exists until the 19th century, and I do not see how they could have been named for the Greek word ἅλας. However, the Celtic "halla" and Greek ἅλας, as well as Germanic "*saltan" (whence "salt", "Salz") and Latin "sal, salis" ultimately come from the same Indo-European source root. So they ARE related, just derived through different paths.

Andreas_10: und dem alten Wort für Salz (Hall, vgl. Halit, Halurgie)

vgl. means "compare to". The old word for "salt" in place names derives from a Celtic word, not the Greek ἅλας. Both the Celtic word and the Greek word come from the same Indo-European root (*seh2l)

However, "halite" did not exist until the 19th century. It was invented in Latin in 1847 and then taken into various European languages.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=halite

Ich danke Mercury3 für die ausführliche Erklärung.

Als ich den OP las, war mein erster Gedanke "a flight of stairs carved into the salt / halite bedrock. (Salt bedrocks gibt es auf fast jedem Kontinent, eine bekannte Sehenswürdigkeit sind die Salzgebirge im Iran.)

Das hat sich ja nun nach zahlreichen Ergänzungen und Kommentaren als falsch erwiesen.

Any reason why you would not use "Halittreppe" in German is a reason not to use "halite staircase" in English.

That sums it up nicely IMO.

Andreas_10, that was the image I was thinking of, too, until seasand mentioned the tears thing.

Even so, "salt staircase" is the most natural translation. There was never a reason to go to halite even if it would have been technically correct, because the German didn't use "Halit"

Wenn Tränen, dann vielleicht so etwas hier?
http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/myworld/it...

Restitutus - why are you so stuck on using "halite"?

He said it's a poetic context. That is the most non-poetic salt