Frage, bitte: Nicknames?

[villa66]

I’ve learned on the Forum about the Brüningsthaler and Sibleradler, and the (3-mark) thaler.

Please, are there other German coins (since, say, 1850) that have been loved enough, hated enough, or were distinctive enough to have acquired widely-known nicknames?

v.

[Mynter]

Der Heiermann

Bezeichnung für das Fünfmarkstück, fusst auf " Heuer ". Vor 1914 war das fünfmarkstück das übliche Handgeld , das der angeworbene Seemann erhielt; dadurch war der Dienstvertrag verbindlich geworden. Doch siehe auch jiddisch " heh = fünf ". Entstanden vor 1900

( Quelle : Küpper : Wörterbuch der deutschen Umgangssprache )

[KarlAntonMartini]

Das Zweimarkstück wurde Zwickel genannt. Das silberne 20 Pfennig Stück hieß im Süden Simmerl, weil es sieben Kreuzer entsprach. Grüße, KarlAntonMartini

[Lutz12]

Das Fünf-Pfennigstück wird z.T. heute noch als Sechser bezeichnet, stammt aus der Zeit vor der Reichsgründung, als der Groschen 12 Pfennig galt.
Gruß Lutz

[Mynter]

Das Fünf-Pfennigstück wird z.T. heute noch als Sechser bezeichnet, stammt aus der Zeit vor der Reichsgründung, als der Groschen 12 Pfennig galt.
Gruß Lutz

Und nicht zu vergessen ,den guten alten Groschen, der bis 2002 immer dann fiel, wenn man etwas begriffen hatte, auch wenn die aeltesten Groschen gegen Ende der DM schon längst im Münzfernsprecher durchfielen.

[olricus]

Hallo Sammlerfreunde,
zu dem Groschen hab ich auch eine alte Bezeichnung kennengelernt, ich stamme aus Schlesien und ich kann mich noch erinnern,
dass meine Oma immer den Groschen auch noch nach 1945 als "Böhm" bezeichnete.
Die Bezeichnung stammt sicher von dem Böhmischen Groschen, auch Prager Groschen, die lange Zeit in Schlesien im Umlauf waren.
Grüße von olricus

[sigistenz]

Mein ostpreussischer Opa nannte das 10-Pfenning-Stück "Dittchen".
Sigi
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[villa66]

Our Internet has been spotty or nonexistent for about three days now, so I'll be quick.

Danke for the answers. I've worked a little on them, trying to digest them properly.

Sechser and Groschen I can see travel with some affection--especially Groschen.

I'll send this in case the Net fails....

[villa66]

Das Zweimarkstück wurde Zwickel genannt....

Danke KAM. I read on (English) Wikipedia that Zwickel was a nickname used mostly in southern Germany and has also attached itself to the 2-euro coin.

The Wikipedia article is...very(!) incomplete (and sometimes wrong), so maybe a couple of quick questions, to be sure?
1. Did the use of Zwickel extend back to the Kaiserreich?
2. If the 2-euro is acquiring the nickname, that suggests the 2-DM was sometimes called a Zwickel?

I note that if the use of Zwickel is mostly southern German, then all things being equal, F-mint and D-mint coins would be somewhat more likely to have been called Zwickels during their circulating careers.

v.

[villa66]

Der Heiermann

Bezeichnung für das Fünfmarkstück, fusst auf " Heuer ". Vor 1914 war das fünfmarkstück das übliche Handgeld , das der angeworbene Seemann erhielt; dadurch war der Dienstvertrag verbindlich geworden. Doch siehe auch jiddisch " heh = fünf ". Entstanden vor 1900

( Quelle : Küpper : Wörterbuch der deutschen Umgangssprache )

This answer is a prize. Vielen Dank!

I had trouble finding more about it, but then found "Heuer" defined as "pay" with the label "Naut." Nautical, which dovetailed with your post.

I did notice in Google searches Heiermann occasionally popped up in company with the 5-DM. So maybe a question for anyone who might know...How long did the use of "Heiermann" persist?

And a final note, while I still have the Net. Wikipedia didn't say much about Heiermann except to say its origin was unknown--so thank you, Mynter--and to say its use was mostly a northern thing, without saying more.

Of course. Being a nautical word, its natural territory would be where Germany keeps its ships and sailors, and appropriates the money to build, train and use them. So, mostly coins with mintmarks J and A.

v.

[KarlAntonMartini]

The Terms "Zwickel" and "Heiermann" I had heard about the first time when I earned money as a cab-driver during the 1980s. These words were used by other cab-drivers and customers of lower classes, waitresses and women who offered more physical services. They called the 5-Mark-Note, which was still in use "Pestfünfer" and disliked them. My wife told me that she heard "Heiermann" only from me whereas "Zwickel" she remembers was used by students and workers mostly in connection with buying cigarettes from machines ("Hast du mal einen Zwickel für Kippen?") - As there is no 5 euro coin the "Heiermann" will die out. Best regards, KarlAntonMartini

[sigistenz]

HEIERMANN was not restricted to the coast. I lived in Köln (=Cologne) then which is pretty far from any coast. The term was always understood when I used it occasionally. As to mintmarks - nobody cared. All coins circulated freely throughout the country and mixed thoroughly. So the term applied to any 5 DM coin regardless of its mint mark. As there is no 5 Euro coin in circulation, the heiermann vanished together with the DM at the end of 2001. Those were the days.....
ZWICKEL means a gusset, i.e. a triangular piece of cloth inserted in a garment. I never heard it as a nickname for the 2 DM coin.
Sigi
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[villa66]

You’re quite right about the mixing of mintmarks, and also the fact that no one was paying attention to them. I was just making notes about the probabilities. What I was thinking was something like this…

In countries with multiple mints, each mint has a territory into which its coins are first distributed. Over time, some of those coins are carried away to the territories of other mints, and the coins of other mints arrive. Generally, however, the bulk of the coin-population in an area remains that of the original mint.

(As a boy, I learned this the hard way—living in Denver-mint territory when San Francisco-mint coins were the things to find.) And now, it seems, I‘m always waiting the months or years it takes for Philadelphia’s coins to arrive.

The mixing goes more quickly, I expect, in more compact countries, but the dynamic is the same—I know I’d see the new coins of Karlsruhe and Stuttgart first, then after some time, München, and then finally, Hamburg’s coins would show up.

Oops. Got to go, quick. But Koln is a river city, etc., etc. Back later, and thanks much for the chance to play around with this stuff…

v.

[villa66]

About the mixing of coins from various mints, I guess until ’39, the process would have been accelerated at the coastal centers by the coming and going of the big passenger liners. And the Kriegsmarine too, up to the present day. Both activities would be pulling in coins from all over the country.

The word-traffic? Navy-words like Heiermann would travel inland with sailors home on leave or retired (for some, maybe, as far from the sea as they could get). Etc., etc.

Once inland though, the usage might have some difficulty surviving. Not enough reinforcement, for one thing, and the original carriers eventually die, for another.

Navy-words, I expect, would have a better chance at surviving in places with some kind of connection to the sea, and to ships or boats and the people who work them—navigable rivers, for instance. Up and down the Rhei?. Or large inland lakes for another. In or around Konstanz, maybe?

Two last thoughts about Heiermann. I wonder if the word ever traveled with the circulating DDR 5-mark of 1969. And I have to mention Danzig’s 5-gulden—it’s a stretch, I know, but it does seem like a good geographical area to have found Heiermann.

I go to find a 5-mark coin I can reasonably tie to one of the Kaiser’s warships.

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Many thanks, guys, and of course I’d always like to hear more nicknames. And Sigi, “Dittchen,” for the 10-pfennig. With “-chen,” that’s some small something?
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v.

[sigistenz]

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Many thanks, guys, and of course I’d always like to hear more nicknames. And Sigi, “Dittchen,” for the 10-pfennig. With “-chen,” that’s some small something?
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v.

Dittchen or Düttchen is the German adaption of a Polish coin's nickname . In 1528 the Polish King Sigismund I introduced a 3 groschen coin (Dreigröscher in German) of good silver which soon enjoyed widespread appreciation beyond Poland. Under Sigismund III, however, its silver content kept diminishing, by and by becoming billon. Refering to the eagle on it, Poles mockingly called the coin "dudek" - plural "dudki", Polish for the hoopoe bird. The term seems to have extended beyond Poland along with the coin.The dudek equaled one Prussian silbergroschen which was introduced in 1821. When Mark/Pfennig took over in 1871(at 3 marks to the taler), Groschen (1/30 taler) persisted as a nickname for the 10 Pfennig coin. And in the German areas adjacent to Poland the düttchen/dittchen, survived as synonym for the Groschen/10 pfennig coin.
Sigi
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