Origins of a word from the Wise

As I have pointed out on numerous occasions, I love it when readers give me a call or e-mail me with suggestions for What’s the Word. This weeks’ column has what wound up being a doozy from reader Bruce Wise. (Don’t worry, I’m going to address the origin of the slang term ‘doozy’ later on just as I promised in my last column.)

Wise gave me a call last week and said he had a word for me.

‘You’re going to love this one,’ Wise said. ‘Have you ever heard about the origin of the word pumpernickel’?

As most people know, pumpernickel is a dark brown crusty bread with a distinctive taste and texture that was generally eaten by German peasants.

According to a story Wise heard it turns out Napoleon liked the bread so he used to send one of his men out to get it in the villages during France’s military campaigns in Germany, but they didn’t want to say it was for Napoleon, so they would say it was for his horse, Nicol. Thus came the phrase ‘pain pour Nicol,’ which translates ‘bread for Nicol,’ since ‘pain’ is the French word for bread, and ‘pour’ means for. This eventually became ‘pumpernickel,’ and the bread has been called that to this day.

Well Bruce, as happens with many origin stories, some people beg to differ with the particular history you heard, though it has been around for a long time, with no less a dignitary than actor Roger Moore repeating it to Johnny Carson on the ‘Tonight Show.’

Most people just ask me to find out the origin of a word, but on the rare occasions when the origin is given I still research it to make sure there are no other theories listed, and the alternate theory for pumpernickel is, if you can believe it, even more bizarre than the Napoleon story.

One source claims the word was a part of the German language a century before Napoleon was born, and was used as a pejorative most akin to the modern English word ‘jerk.’

The ‘Straight Dope’ Web site lists this alternate to the Napoleon theory:

‘The true origin of “pumpernickel” is nearly as strange, if somewhat less savory. “Pumpern” was a New High German word similar in meaning to the English “fart” (so chosen because, like the word “achoo,” it imitated the sound it described), and “Nickel” was a form of the name Nicholas, an appellation commonly associated with a goblin or devil (e.g., “Old Nick” is a familiar name for Satan). Hence, pumpernickel is the “devil’s fart,” allegedly a reference to the bread’s indigestible qualities and hence the effect it produced on those who consumed it.’

Well, even though it is disputed, I believe I like your origin story better Bruce. The other one stinks a bit, but it is pretty interesting. And you were right, I definitely did love this one.

All right, on to ‘doozy,’ which I actually misspelled in my last column as ‘doosey.’ It is sometimes spelled that way, but the other form is the more common spelling.

I had heard early on that the term had to do with the famous Dusenberg automobile. Certainly these early performance cars were called ‘Duesies’ in the 1920s and 1930s, but according to most etymologists by the time the first Dusenberg was made in 1920 the noun ‘doozy’ had been around for some time.

The main theory for its origin is, oddly enough, the word ‘daisy’ which was an English slang term used from the eighteenth century on for something that was especially appealing or excellent. Author Thomas Chandler Haliburton used the term in his 1836 book ‘The Clockmaker’ to describe a horse as ‘a real daisy,’ which for some reason eventually became ‘doozy’ at some point in the nineteenth century.

Charlie Johnson is news editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191.