Humor will not be tolerated!! -Portia

It seems that a Kammerjunker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kammerjunker_%28biscuit%29) is a type of biscuit (cookie) popular in Denmark. The word "kammerjunker," however, is also German for a type of valet or gentleman-in-waiting (http://www.dict.cc/german-english/Kammerjunker.html and http://www.englishforums.com/English/Ka ... x/post.htm). Anyone know what the connection is? (I'm kind of looking at you, Katya, as the person who seems most likely to know this.)

I really, really expected this to be spam. That is all.

OK. The German bit it pretty straightforward. "Kammer" means "chamber" (they actually have the same root) and a "Junker" is a "squire." So, in the same way that we say "chambermaid" in English, the Germans apparently say "chambersquire."

The Danish part . . . I'm more confused about. It's a loanword from German (the native Danish word for "valet" is "kammertjener") and it can mean either a cookie or an obsolete title for the nobility. So, I'm guessing the history of the word is: German compound noun (chamber + squire) -> German loanword to Danish (with roughly the same meaning) -> Danish word becomes slang for a kind of cookie. It's this last leap that has me stumped, since slang or colloquial terms can have very unusual etymologies.

Dragon Lady wrote:I really, really expected this to be spam. That is all.

So, she posted 200+ real comments so that she could finally spam us? Well played, madam. Well played.

Psh. I meant when I saw the title of the thread and the links in the first post. It seemed spammish. And then I saw who posted it, which is how I knew it wasn't spam. Silly, silly Katya.

Dragon Lady wrote:Psh. I meant when I saw the title of the thread and the links in the first post. It seemed spammish. And then I saw who posted it, which is how I knew it wasn't spam. Silly, silly Katya.

No, I think you're on to something. TRUST NO ONE.

Dragon Lady wrote:I really, really expected this to be spam. That is all.

Me too!

Rifka wrote:

Dragon Lady wrote:I really, really expected this to be spam. That is all.

Me too!

Ditto.

I did not.

Oh Katya, I want to be just like you when I grow up.

Emiliana wrote:Oh Katya, I want to be just like you when I grow up.

For my germanic etymological skills or my latent paranoia? (Or both? )

Katya wrote:

Emiliana wrote:Oh Katya, I want to be just like you when I grow up.

For my germanic etymological skills or my latent paranoia? (Or both? )

Mostly the first. I find the second skill somewhat less admirable, maybe because I already share it...

Personally, I'd be less paranoid if those people out there would stop watching me and plotting.

Katya wrote:

Emiliana wrote:Oh Katya, I want to be just like you when I grow up.

For my germanic etymological skills or my latent paranoia? (Or both? )

The question is: did the former arise from the latter? Or was it the other way around?

Heh. I like everything in this thread. And I'm a little disappointed that no one has postulated further on Tao's excellent question.

Tao wrote:

Katya wrote:

Emiliana wrote:Oh Katya, I want to be just like you when I grow up.

For my germanic etymological skills or my latent paranoia? (Or both? )

The question is: did the former arise from the latter? Or was it the other way around?

Correlation does not imply causation.

Katya wrote:Correlation does not imply causation.

That reminded me of this