Dreikäsehigh

Dreikäsehoch is a colloquial and joking term for a small (i.e. not tall) child . It is mostly used when rebellious or cheeky behavior is observed on the part of the child.

In 2007 the term was voted the third most beautiful threatened word in the German language .

Word origin

The motive for naming this phrase, which has been in use since the 18th century, is unclear. One possibility is the former jocular use of stacked cheeses as sizing charts for children. A three-cheese high is therefore as big as a stack of three wheels of cheese. On the other hand, it is assumed that the word, however, has nothing to do with cheese , but rather comes from the French word caisse (German: box, box). So it describes someone as big as three boxes.

Dreikäsehigh in literature

The Turkish writer Rıfat Ilgaz (1911-1993) has set a literary monument to the Dreikäsehoch (Turkish: Bacaksız ) in some of his children's books. The books published in Edition Orient (Berlin) from 2006 to 2008 in a three-volume German-Turkish edition are titled:

The three-cheese high and the giant melon - Bacaksız ve kocaman karpuz. Edition Orient, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-922825-68-5 .
The three cheese high at the police station - Bacaksız karakolda. Edition Orient, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-922825-70-8 .
The threesome at school - Bacaksız Okulda. Edition Orient, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-922825-72-2 .

literature

Ewald Harndt : French in Berlin jargon . 2nd edition, Jaron, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-89773-524-8 .
Elmar Seebold (editor), Friedrich Kluge (founder): Kluge, etymological dictionary of the German language . 25th edition. de Gruyter, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-11-022364-4 , p. 214 .
Christoph Gutknecht : puff cake! Lots of culinary word stories (= Beck'sche Reihe , Volume 1481). CH Beck, Munich 2002, ISBN 978-3-406-47621-1 .

Web links

Wiktionary: Dreikäsehoch - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Competition The most beautiful threatened word
KuriosAh: Where does the expression "Dreikäsehoch" come from? WDR
Christa Binder : Dreikäsehoch in the project: Nutritious vocabulary from the Karl-Franzens University Graz

Individual evidence

^ Elmar Seebold (editor), Friedrich Kluge (founder): Kluge, Etymological dictionary of the German language . 24th edition. de Gruyter, Berlin, ISBN 3-11-017473-1 , p. 214 . It also refers to the French haut comme trois pommes (as high as three apples).
↑ Christoph Gutknecht . Puff cake! Lots of culinary word stories (= Beck'sche Reihe . Volume 1481 ). CH Beck, ISBN 978-3-406-47621-1 , p. 65 .

[1] Elmar Seebold (editor), Friedrich Kluge (founder): Kluge, Etymological dictionary of the German language . 24th edition. de Gruyter, Berlin, ISBN 3-11-017473-1 , p. 214 . It also refers to the French haut comme trois pommes (as high as three apples).

[2] Christoph Gutknecht . Puff cake! Lots of culinary word stories (= Beck'sche Reihe . Volume 1481 ). CH Beck, ISBN 978-3-406-47621-1 , p. 65 .