Backes

Central Franconian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbakəs/

Etymology 1

From contraction of Middle High German bachūs (“baking house”).

Noun

Backes n (plural Backesse)

1. (chiefly historical) bakehouse, a bakery for self-consumption, operated either privately or corporately

   Wo e Bräues steht, do bruch kee Backes stohn.

   You can meet your calorie requirement by drinking beer just as well as by eating bread.

   (literally, “Where there stands a brewery, there needn’t stand a bakehouse.”)

Alternative forms

• Bakes (western Moselle Franconian)

Etymology 2

Derived from Back (“cheek”), possibly as a pun on etymology 1 above. Cognate with Dutch bakkes, bakhuis (“face”), which compare. The Dutch is not associated with fatness. This sense in Central Franconian was likely reinforced through influence by Baches (“fat and graceless man, glutton”), itself from Latin Bacchus (“god of wine”). Note that Luxembourgish has Bakes (“bakery”) versus Backes (“fat person”), but Bak (not *Back) for “cheek”.

Noun

Backes m (plural Backesse)

1. (chiefly western dialects) a chubby-faced person, especially a well-fed child

German

Etymology

From contraction of Backhaus (“bakery”). Compare the Central Franconian word above.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbakəs/

Proper noun

Backes m or f (proper noun, strong, genitive Backes' or (with an article) Backes, plural Backes)

1. a surname