# How Did Pumpernickel Get It's Name?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-pumpernickel-get-its-name/124056>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 15, 2002, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-pumpernickel-get-its-name/124056 "2002-08-15T17:33:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2002, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-pumpernickel-get-its-name/124056/1 "2002-08-15T17:33:25Z")

</div>

I know it’s a type of bread, and being German, I’m supposed to know this, but I don’t, so I’m asking y’all. 😃

Thanks!

Quasi

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2002, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-pumpernickel-get-its-name/124056/2 "2002-08-15T17:42:04Z")

</div>

[Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/pumper.htm) says that it’s most likely from “pumper”, meaning “fart” plus “Nick”, a name for the Devil. In other words, it’s bread that would make the Devil himself fart.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@Jabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jabba)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2002, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-pumpernickel-get-its-name/124056/3 "2002-08-15T17:43:29Z")

</div>

Chambers dictionary gives  
Ger.; orig a term of abuse (‘Smelly Nick’ or ‘Farty Nick’), possibly then applied to the bread because of its gas-creating effect on the digestive system

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2002, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-pumpernickel-get-its-name/124056/4 "2002-08-15T17:59:34Z")

</div>

We’ve covered this in a previous thread, so you mifght try Searching for that – it was in response to a Staff Report about a spurious origin for pumpernickel a couple of months ago.

As I said in response to that, “pumpernickel” was German slang for a peasant – obviously an upper-crust disparaging term – the poor folks were “goblin farts”. “Pumpernickel bread” is thus the black bread they ate, made without refined flour. This seems a much more likely origin for the term than others I’ve heard.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2002, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-pumpernickel-get-its-name/124056/5 "2002-08-15T19:25:04Z")

</div>

Thanks, y’all, and I **do** remember the thread now. I haven’t used the search engine here, because the last time I tried that, it told me I wasn’t putting in enough words and couldn’t search for me.

I **do** appreciate the responses!

Quasi