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The German word Kraut is a generic term that is often used in compound nouns for cabbage, cabbage products and many herbs, cognate with Dutch kruid (only herb):
- Sauerkraut = pickled sour cabbage
- Weißkraut = green cabbage (literally "white cabbage")
- Blaukraut or Rotkraut = red cabbage (also called Rotkohl)
- Rübenkraut = thick sugar beet syrup
- Bohnenkraut = Savory
- Unkraut = Weed
The word is almost never used alone, but the plural form, Kräuter, translates to the English herbs or herbage. For example, Kräutertee is herbal tea .
Use in Slang
In former times, Kraut was used as a colloquial expression for tobacco, especially loose tobacco for pipes. Today it is sometimes used for marijuana.
Since World War II, Kraut has, in the American English language, come to be used as a derogatory term for a German. This is probably based on Sauerkraut, which was very popular in German cuisine at that time. The stereotype of the sauerkraut-eating German dates back to long before this time, though, as can for example be seen in Jules Verne's depiction of the evil German industrialist Schultz as an avid sauerkraut eater in "The Begum's Millions".
Maybe, the origin is somewhat older: Raw sauerkraut is an excellent source of Vitamin C. Captain James Cook always took a store of sauerkraut on his sea voyages, since experience had taught him that it was an effective remedy against scurvy. Later, on British ships, sauerkraut was mostly replaced by lime juice (for the same purpose). But German sailors continued with the use of kraut, calling their British colleagues "limies" and being similarly called "krauts".
Krautrock is a popularly accepted term for a form of highly experimental German post-Prog Rock of the late 1960s and 1970s. Krautrock was typified by acts such as Amon Düül, Kraftwerk, Neu!, Tangerine Dream, Faust, Can as well as many others.
Under the title "Krauts" J. Corinth described his experiences as a German prisoner of war in North Carolina and as immigrant to California (ISBN 3-935111-14-2).
Krauts is also an Irish language novel by Máirtín Ó Muilleoir about young Northern Irish students trying to find employment in Germany in the early eighties.
See also
- Krautrock
- Pejorative terms for Germans
- List of ethnic slurs
- Pejorative words and phrases
- Terms of disparagement
- Insult
External links
"Kraut"