- sauerkraut
- sauerkraut (n.) 1610s, from Ger. Sauerkraut, lit. "sour cabbage," from sauer "sour" + Kraut "vegetable, cabbage," from O.H.G. krut, from P.Gmc. *kruthan.They pickle it [cabbage] up in all high Germany, with salt and barberies, and so keepe it all the yeere, being commonly the first dish you have served in at table, which they call their sawerkrant. [James Hart, "Klinike, or the diet of the diseased," 1633]In U.S. slang, figurative use for "a German" dates from 1858 (Cf. KRAUT (Cf. kraut)). "The effort to substitute liberty-cabbage for sauerkraut, made by professional patriots in 1918, was a complete failure." [Mencken]
Etymology dictionary. 2014.