stein-

Meaning

very

Etymology

Cognate with Dutch: steengoed

Cognate with Icelandic: steinóður

In summary

From Stein (“stone”). Originally used in semantically transparent forms like steinalt (“stone-old”), steinhart (“stone-hard”), steintaub (“stone-deaf”), steintot (“stone-dead”), etc. Then generalised to other adjectives without a semantic relation to the basic word, such as steinreich (literally “stone-rich”). See the same in Dutch steengoed (literally “stone-good”), Icelandic steinóður (literally “stone-mad”). Compare further German stock-.