# Another German Language Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 25, 2000, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-german-language-question/23488 "2000-06-25T19:44:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OldBroad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@OldBroad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldBroad)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2000, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-german-language-question/23488/1 "2000-06-25T19:44:53Z")
My problem word is “chausseehaus” My latest genealogical find is my grandfather’s baptsimal record. His small house had a Catholic church, chausseehaus, starch factory, distillery, etc. My limited German-English dictionary says chaussee is “high road” Could chausseehaus have been an old word for an inn in a tiny village? Also, how would chaussee be pronounced? TIA ---
**Author:** ![jmullaney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@jmullaney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmullaney)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2000, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-german-language-question/23488/2 "2000-06-25T21:39:29Z")
Just a guess here, but a high road house sounds like what we’d call and Inn or Pub to me. You might try the translate link on altavista though. ---
**Author:** ![OldBroad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@OldBroad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldBroad)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2000, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-german-language-question/23488/3 "2000-06-25T22:51:31Z")
The online translators don’t know this word. I suspect it’s pretty archaic. The source information is more than 100 years old. My grandfather’s small town (not house as in theOP) is still on the map and does have a very old “hotel” I suspect that this might have been an inn or pub, as you suggest, that had rooms for overnight stays for travelers. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Sheepshead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@Mr.Sheepshead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Sheepshead)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2000, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-german-language-question/23488/4 "2000-06-26T00:03:47Z")
_Note: much speculation ahead_ Hrmmm… _Chausseehaus_ is quite the interesting word. I suspect it may be a French import (the “chaus” part at least) in that there are not many native German words that start with “ch”. If it translates as a ‘high road house’, then I suppose Inn or Pub would be a good approximation. It may not actually translate. Breaking up the word, you have “see” (sea) and “haus” (house). Perhaps there was a Chaus Sea somewhere near it? Regardless, it would be pronounced (chows’-zay-hows) with the initial “ch” sound being a very airy ‘k’, like you’re just blowing air through a ‘k’. I have also forwarded this info to my aunt who is a much more fluent speaker than myself and comes directly from Germany… ---
**Author:** ![OldBroad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@OldBroad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldBroad)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2000, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-german-language-question/23488/5 "2000-06-26T00:25:07Z")
Sheep (if I may be so informal) - No sea - middle of Poland. I’m researching the Polish town of Iwno, about 15 miles East of Poznan. But, I’m looking back in the days when it was Posen, Prussia. A fellow genealogist has access to a German gazeteer from the early 1900’s. His message to me says: "Iwno, noble’s estate of 664 residents, Kreis Schroda, Posen. Civil reg. office was in Kostschin. It had its own: Catholic church, ‘Chausseehaus’, ‘lw. Masch.’ factory, starch factory, distillery, sawmill and brickworks. Belonging to Iwno were two ‘Vorwerk’s: Chorzalki, pop. 58; and Wiktorowo, pop. 217. A ‘Vorwerk’ can be described as a remote estate or farm, removed from the main estate or village. Hope this helps, James Birkholz ======== This information extracted from: ========= “Meyers Orts- & Verkehrs- Lexikon des Deutschen Reichs - 1912” for info: [http://www.flash.net/~birchwd/Genealogy/GGRA/Resources/Meyers.html](http://www.flash.net/~birchwd/Genealogy/GGRA/Resources/Meyers.html) ======= (Civil reg. offices started about 1874) ======= " So you see that I’ve taken the spelling directly from his email. Can’t discount the possibility of a typo. My further presumptions is that Iw. Masch. factory is something like Iwno Machine Works(factory). Does that seem at all reasonable to you? I’m using Webster’s New World German Dictionary, concise edition. I suspect I should have bought an older and/or dictionary in hopes of finding somewhat archaic words. The entire C list takes up only 2 1/4 pages, but it does have Chausee listed as a dated word for high road. I’ll appreciate an insight you may be able to give. ---
**Author:** ![Flymaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c4cdca/32.png) [@Flymaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flymaster)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2000, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-german-language-question/23488/6 "2000-06-26T02:51:26Z")
See needn’t mean “Sea.” See is also “lake.” It changes based on gender (It’s been a whole year since my last german class, so I forget which is which.) ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2000, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-german-language-question/23488/7 "2000-06-26T03:20:23Z")
> [@](#): > > originally posted by Mr. Sheepshead: > > _Chausseehaus_ is quite the interesting word. I suspect it may be a French import (the “chaus” part at least) in that there are not many native German words that start with “ch”. _chaussée_ is a french word meaning “highway”, whereas _haus_, of course, is the german word for “house”. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2000, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-german-language-question/23488/8 "2000-06-26T03:23:24Z")
Die Chaussee is, yes, a throughfare or highway. Why wouldn’t it just be the 18th C equivilant of a motel? Pronounced Show-say, probably from French originally. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2000, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-german-language-question/23488/9 "2000-06-26T04:40:40Z")
Lucky for you, someone gave me a bunch of old German books, including dictionaries. I didn’t think I’d ever have much use for them, but … From Muret-Sanders Enzyklopaedisches Englisch-Deutsches und Deutsche-Englisches Woerterbuch (copyright 1910) : under Chaussee- forms : … =geld _n_ turnpike-toll; =(geld) =einnehmer _m_ turnpike-man, toll-collector; =graben _m_ ditch along a highway; \*\* =haus _n_ toll-house \*\* … (not sure why he felt the need to note the gender, but it does make each volume over 1000 pages. ) I kinda was hoping it had something to do with Patrick Swayze. panama jack * * * “Diese Ausgabe darf, sofern sie in Deutschland oder Deutsch-Oesterreich erworben ist, auf dem Handelswege nicht nach der Schweiz, nach Belgien, Frankreich und Italien ausgefuerht werden.” - from the M.S.E. E.-D. u. D.-E. W. ---
**Author:** ![OldBroad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@OldBroad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldBroad)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2000, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-german-language-question/23488/10 "2000-06-26T15:35:17Z")
Thanks, everyone for your help. Doing genealogical research in this part of the world is interesting because of the language mix at that time. Some of the Catholic church records are in Latin, some in Polish and some in German. All records from that era are in a rather ornate script - which becomes even more fun when the writer had a shaky hand. I’m seriously hoping that none of my ancestors came from the part of Poland that belonged to Russia in the late 1800s. Cyrillic script is more of a challenge than I’m looking for. You’re all great! I knew I could count on dopers for assistance. ---
**Author:** ![TheThill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheThill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheThill)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2000, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-german-language-question/23488/11 "2000-06-26T20:56:14Z")
I guess I should answer this, since I live in Germany… Chausee is an old-fashioned word meaning something like a country road. It is pronounced with a “sh” sound at the beginning since it has been taken from French, just as “ch” is pronounced like “sh” in English words and names taken (recently) from French like “Michelle” or “microfiche”. The “au” is pronounced “o” like in French as well. So the word sounds something like “sho-SAY”. It can, btw also be combined as a street name, usually big and wide like a boulevard, such as the Potsdamer Chausee in Berlin. A Chauseehaus is thus a house on the road. There are still many buildings in Germany that are called Chauseehaus, any many tram/bus stops (incl. one here in Leipzig) with that name, since they tend to stop in front of them! In some regions of Germany, like (at least) to the south of here, people still say Chausee, albeit with a non-standard stress on the Chau- part, sometimes sounding like: “SHUH-say”. ---
**Author:** ![TheThill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheThill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheThill)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2000, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-german-language-question/23488/12 "2000-06-26T21:01:46Z")
And, yes Jack, they may well have indeed been toll-houses way back when. Maybe I’ll go down to the tram stop here an investigate. Probably, nobody will know there… ---
**Author:** ![OldBroad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@OldBroad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldBroad)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2000, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-german-language-question/23488/13 "2000-06-27T00:51:39Z")
How about the concept of a roadhouse? Here’s a small rural village suppporting the workers of the local farms & estates. The period is 1850 - 1890. There are a couple of small factories, a sawmill, a distillery, and a roadhouse or pub or inn. Seems reasonable to me. The town actually shows up on my current road atlas of Poland. It has a symbol which the map legend says is an isolated inn or hotel. I’ll find out when I go there next Spring. ---
**Author:** ![TheThill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheThill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheThill)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2000, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-german-language-question/23488/14 "2000-06-27T01:25:20Z")
Sure, why not? Maybe I can really ask around. Maybe someone here knows more about the old Chauseehäuser.