"" (; ''white sausage equator'') is a humorous term describing the supposed cultural boundary separating

Southern Germany Southern Germany () is a region of Germany which has no exact boundary, but is generally taken to include the areas in which Upper German dialects are spoken, historically the stem duchies of Bavaria and Swabia or, in a modern context, Bavaria ...

from the northern parts, especially

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

from Central Germany. It is named for the

Weisswurst A Weisswurst (German ''Weißwurst'' , literally ''white sausage''; bar, Weißwuascht) is a traditional Bavarian sausage made from minced veal and pork back bacon. It is usually flavored with parsley, lemon, mace, onions, ginger and cardamom, ...

sausage of Bavaria, and has no precise definition. A popular one is the linguistic boundary known as the

Speyer line In German dialectology, the Speyer line or Main line (Main River) is an isogloss separating the Central German dialects to the north, which have a stop in words like ''Appel'' "apple", from the Upper German dialects to the south, which have an ...

separating

Upper German Upper German (german: Oberdeutsch ) is a family of High German dialects spoken primarily in the southern German-speaking area (). History In the Old High German time, only Alemannic and Bairisch are grouped as Upper German. In the Middle High G ...

from

Central German Central German or Middle German (german: mitteldeutsche Dialekte, mitteldeutsche Mundarten, Mitteldeutsch) is a group of High German dialects spoken from the Rhineland in the west to the former eastern territories of Germany. Central German di ...

dialects, roughly following the

Main River Main rivers () are a statutory type of watercourse in England and Wales, usually larger streams and rivers, but also some smaller watercourses. A main river is designated by being marked as such on a main river map, and can include any structure o ...

; another is a line running further south, more or less along the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

, or between the Main and the Danube, roughly along the

49th parallel north The 49th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 49 ° north of Earth's equator. It crosses Europe, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean. The city of Paris is about south of the 49th parallel and is the large ...

circle of latitude.

References

Duden The Duden () is a dictionary of the Standard High German language, first published by Konrad Duden in 1880, and later by Bibliographisches Institut GmbH. The Duden is updated regularly with new editions appearing every four or five years. , i ...

''Deutsches Universalwörterbuch'', 6th edition,

External links

definition on Indigo Magazine, p.57

Interview
with

Oktoberfest The Oktoberfest (; bar, Wiesn, Oktobafest) is the world's largest Volksfest, featuring a beer festival and a travelling carnival. It is held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It is a 16- to 18-day folk festival running from mid- or ...

innkeeper Wiggerl Hagn at

Deutschlandradio Kultur Deutschlandfunk Kultur (; abbreviated to ''DLF Kultur'' or ''DKultur'') is a culture-oriented radio station and part of Deutschlandradio, a set of national radio stations in Germany. Initially named ''DeutschlandRadio Berlin'', the station was re ...

Cultural boundaries German cuisine German culture {{germany-cuisine-stub

See also

References

External links