German Literature Help - Kierkrug

[secKS]

Hello,

I am looking for some assistance as a friend of mine has sent me on an endless chase. Long story short, my friend has a sign over the gate to his home that simply says "Kierkrug". He said he has not ever told anyone what it means but did tell me that it is a place from German Literature. I have yet to find anything of value, but believe that it roughly translates to Beer Mug, so that doesn't make sense. I did find a reference to a satire cartoon from the 1700's and believe the word is meaning a pot of porter in a bear's hand.


Was hoping to find any help from more scholarly people as to what this may mean.

Thank you

[OrphanPip]

Idk, krug can mean "mug" or "jug", but it can also mean "inn" or "tavern." I don't know of any Kierkrugs in German literature but I am far from knowledgeable of German lit, I only speak a little German because I dated a German lit major in uni.

[Emil Miller]

Hello,

I am looking for some assistance as a friend of mine has sent me on an endless chase. Long story short, my friend has a sign over the gate to his home that simply says "Kierkrug". He said he has not ever told anyone what it means but did tell me that it is a place from German Literature. I have yet to find anything of value, but believe that it roughly translates to Beer Mug, so that doesn't make sense. I did find a reference to a satire cartoon from the 1700's and believe the word is meaning a pot of porter in a bear's hand.


Was hoping to find any help from more scholarly people as to what this may mean.

Thank you

I have read a good deal of German literature but have never come across this word. It doesn't feature in either of my German dictionaries and Google comes up with nothing. The satirical cartoon you refer to was done by Hogarth as a retort to another 18th century satirist and does indeed show a bear holding an ale mug (bierkrug). There is also a reference to a place called Senkierkrug, a village in what was formerly Wehlau a province of East Prussia (now Poland) that has an historical resonance due to the 17th century Treaty of Wehlau that ceded the area to the Germans by the then Polish king, but that's as near to it as I could get.

[Scout85]

That's as much as I know too, I think it's a B that became, or looks like a K.