• PonyOfWar@pawb.social
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      3 days ago

      Very little resemblance to German either. Words with “äa” aren’t a thing, neither are words that end in “zs”.

      • Meldrik@lemmy.wtfM
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        3 days ago

        Not the spelling yes, but both “Hagen” and “Das” is German.

        • PonyOfWar@pawb.social
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          3 days ago

          Coincidentally yes, Hagen is a place name and das means “the”. In that combination it’s absolute gibberish though and Häagen Dazs’ founder probably had no idea about those meanings. He was trying to make it sound Danish. In his own words:

          “The only country which saved the Jews during World War II was Denmark, so I put together a totally fictitious Danish name and had it registered,” Mattus told me. “Häagen-Dazs doesn’t mean anything. [But] it would attract attention, especially with the umlaut.” Source