White dog
White dogs , in Low German witte Hunn , are high waves that pass over a ship when the sea is rough.
The term comes from the sailor's language . It was shaped in the Low German area a few hundred years ago during the sailing industry, when the sea sometimes haunted the sailor on deck. In the Idioticon Hamburgense , a dialect dictionary that appeared for the first time in 1743, de witte Hunn is described as a high wave that roars with a roaring rush and sometimes lashes across the entire ship . In a very similar way, the white dogs in the Bremen-Lower Saxony area were referred to as the foam-crowned high waves that beat over the ship .
Other common names for lakes, which can hurt a ship, were Stürzsee , Seestürzungen and Sturzsee , from which the terms Brechsee and Brecher later emerged. If the white dogs came from the side, they were called Klopfsee or Dwarssee , and Stampfsee for the direction from the front. Most dangerous, however, were the waves from astern, which were called stern runners and could cause a ship to run out of control and cross over.
In addition to all these names for a grim and dangerous sea, the sailor at that time also had some for somewhat cheerful weather conditions. For example, when the water surface was slightly rippled, people spoke of cat paws , and when it was blowing a little more and the first whitecaps appeared, of lambs or white sheep , the latter probably forming a nice counterpart to the white dogs .
literature
- Michael Richey : Idioticon Hamburgense or word book to explain the own, in and around Hamburg common Lower Saxon mouth art . Kötz Verlag, Hamburg 1975 (reprint from 1755)
- Konrad Reich , Martin Pagel: Heavenly broom over white dogs: words and idioms, stories and anecdotes - a reading book for half-men and grown-ups who want to get clearer terms from the ship's people and the sea - brought up again and explained , transpress VEB Verlag for Transport, Berlin 1981