Seltzer water

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Mineral water jug from the spring in Niederselters from the 19th century
Selters Classic and Leicht from Selters on the Lahn

The expression Selterswasser , Selters or Selterwasser , especially in northern and eastern Germany also Selter , is nowadays often used to denote carbonated mineral water . Selters is or was also the brand of two mineral waters.

Origin of name

Selterswasser or Selterser Wasser originally referred to a mineral water from the springs in Niederselters in Central Hesse in the Taunus in the Limburg-Weilburg district . This mineral water is an alkaline - muriatic acid , i. H. It is a mineral water that is alkaline due to its sodium hydrogen carbonate content and contains salt and a natural carbonic acid content of over 250 mg / l. The ancient Romans (50 BC to 475 AD in Germania) called the places where bubbling, “dancing” water came from the depths to the surface, Aqua Saltare . In the course of time this Saltare first became Saltrissa and finally Selters . In the Fulda monastery , this spring was named "Saltrissa" in 772.

history

Well temple in Niederselters
Share in the company Selters-Sprudel Augusta Victoria GmbH from April 19, 1928
Building of the Selters mineral springs in Löhnberg-Selters

The Worms doctor Jakob Theodor Tabernaemontanus introduced in 1581 in his book The Neuw water treasure , the medicinal properties of well water from Niederselters out. Since the late 16th or 17th centuries, it was exported in millions of stoneware jugs , so-called seltzer water bottles . For a long time, two competing mineral waters were traded under the name Selters, on the one hand that from the original and term-defining Niederselters (at times also called "Urselters") and on the other hand that of a spring in Selters on the Lahn , which is the second well operation in the town (after Neuselters ) Was put into operation in 1908 ( see also: History of the Niederselters Mineral Spring ). After the owner of the spring in Selters an der Lahn, the Binding brewery , bought up the company in Niederselters in 1990 , supra-regional sales of the Selters from the original source in Niederselters were discontinued in favor of the mineral water from Selters an der Lahn. The "original" Selters were still sold locally until 1999, when the wells in Niederselters were closed. Since then, the mineral water from Selters Mineralquelle Augusta Victoria GmbH from Selters an der Lahn has been the only one commercially available with the brand name "Selters".

Nomenclature

The brand name “Selters” has become independent and has become a generic name . It is often used synonymously for mineral water. This is where the saying “Sekt or Selters” is derived. This generic use of the name was officially eliminated in the Federal Republic of Germany with the amendment to the Mineral and Table Water Ordinance of 1984. The generic use of the term continued in the GDR. Sometimes the name “Selterswasser” was printed there on mineral water bottles from other beverage manufacturers. From a legal point of view, this term only ended with the expiry of the transitional provisions for reunification.

Seltzer is a modification of the German word Selterser , ie "from the seltzer to arise", and except in the expression Aqua Seltzer predominantly (in English-speaking water Seltzer ) for seltzer water used.

The word Seltzer also found its way into the made-up word Alka-Seltzer , the brand name for a weak to moderately strong pain reliever with the active ingredient ASA ( acetylsalicylic acid ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Community Selters (Taunus): History of Selters
  2. ^ History of Selterswasser
  3. Selterswassermuseum has the world's largest bottle collection. In: Selterswassermuseum. Community of Selters (Taunus), accessed on February 16, 2020 : "In the GDR [were] the waters of other wells on the label as 'Selterswasser'"