>The Kapuzinerstrasse and the Rheinstrasse are linked by the Hänleingaesschen, the Scharfensteinergaesschen and the Färchergaesschen.

Old names (or spellings) no longer in use, but they give us an idea of what trades were pursued in them.

Scharfensteiner (lit: sharpening stone) would have been the place to go to have your knives sharpened

Färchergässchen was where the ferrymen lived – virtually everything between the Rheinstrasse and the river is reclaimed land – and they provided the infrastructure for trade between the settlements on the opposite banks of the river.

And you’d buy your poultry in the Hänleingässchen.(Competition for the fishermen and river folk who dominated this part of town.)

And a Gasse is an alleyway (as the Robert Palmer fans among us will be aware).

And a Gässchen is an even narrower alley.

And here’s a really cool website that delivers the semantic relationships of the word.

Amazing what you find out when you look closely…..

23 Mar This entry was published on 23 March, 2007 at 07:00. It’s filed under Uncategorized and tagged Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.