411 REFERENCE · Wiktionary
Halve Hahn
Reference material by Wiktionary contributors. This retains its source identity and is not 411 news reporting.
Central Franconian
Noun
gmw-cfr noun m
gmw-cfr chiefly Kölsch a cheese sandwich, cut in half
gmw-cfr Foods
German
Etymology
de ksh halve Hahn half a cock/rooster. The origin is possibly an order like ksh Kann ich ne Halve hann? Can I get half [a sandwich]?, the last two words of which were then re-interpreted (either by foreigners or jokingly) as halve Hahn.
Pronunciation
de /ˌhalvəˈhaːn/
Noun
de noun m
de regional in the Rhineland a cheese sandwich, cut in half
Usage notes
The expression is rare in actual usage. Even in thick Ripuarian dialect one generally uses the plain and simple word gmw-cfr Kiesbrütche ("cheese sandwich"). However, Halve Hahn is occasionally used as a shibboleth among Rhineland people and can be found on the menus of traditional Colognian pubs (as a humorous knowledge test for foreigners).
The term is either uninflected, e.g. (accusative) den Halve Hahn, or the first part behaves like a normal German adjective, thus den Halven Hahn, and so on.
de Sandwiches