Spotted in Deutsches Hopfenmuseum in Wolnzach, Germany. The shoes were worn by a worker processing hops. When a bag was filled, a worked would jump into it, stomping down the hops to make sure the bag was full. When I dug this out, I wondered if these could have been called Hopfenstopgen boots. That’s because in Hop Queries Vol. 4, No. 6, I wrote about dry hopping in Germany in the 19th century. That was called Hopfenstopfen, which can be translated at hop plug.
Simon Moosleitner, a subscriber in Germany, suggested there is more to think about, writing:
“I would give it a slightly different translation. You’re definitely right with translating Stopfen as plug or bung. However, in this case the word Stopfen is a nominalization of the verb to stopfen (you may notice the difference in capitalization, in German nouns are always written with a capital letter).
“The verb stopfen has a slightly different meaning. It is used when repairing clothes or to be more precise darning socks. But more importantly it’s the same word (potentially even etymologically) as to stuff. Whether you want to say one stuffs a pillow with feathers or food into oneself, the word stopfen can always be applied. Hopfenstopfen is therefore the act of stuffing beer with hops, which I guess is an even more fitting term now with all the hazy beers around.”
