steinene

Steinene is the definite plural form of the Norwegian noun stein, meaning “the stones.” The base word stein denotes a stone or rock, and it occurs in both natural and man-made contexts. In Bokmål and Nynorsk grammar, the indefinite singular is stein, the definite singular steinen; the indefinite plural is steiner, and the definite plural is steinene. The term steinene is used to refer to a specific collection of stones that both speaker and listener recognize, such as stones in a riverbed, on a hillside, or elements of a built landscape.

In geology, archaeology, and everyday description, steinene can refer to natural rock fragments of various sizes, stone features in a landscape, or stones used in construction or landscaping. The word also appears in concrete phrases such as gravsteiner (gravestones) and other compound forms describing stone markers or features. Etymologically, stein derives from Old Norse steinn and is cognate with related Germanic terms in neighboring languages, such as Danish sten and Swedish sten. The definite plural suffix -ene forms the common Norwegian expression for “the stones,” distinguishing a particular set of stones from stones in general. The term is widely used in Norwegian dictionaries, literature, and field descriptions to denote a known collection of stones within a given context.