Etymology

hunger stone

hun·ger stone

Today it means: A stone, either naturally exposed or intentionally embedded in a river during a drought, which is dated and often inscribed to mark the water level as a warning to future generations that they may face famine if the water reaches that low level again. Such stones are common in Central Europe. Full definition →

German Hungerstein
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The story

  1. German · calque ofHungerstein
  2. English todayhunger stone

Calque of German Hungerstein, from Hunger (“hunger”) + Stein (“rock, stone”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.