7

Google translate (and other sources) tell me that the correct spelling of Strudel in German is simply "Strudel".

However, I've often seen it written in English texts as strüdel. So, is this a mistake, or is this an alternate, but correct, spelling in German as well?

Improve this question
6
  • 2
    It's either a mistake or sort of a pun, since umlauts are often associated with German language (although other languages have diaereses) as well - such as the strudel is associated with Austrian/German cuisine.
    – Arsak
    Dec 11, 2018 at 16:31
  • 7
    This would be a prototypcial question for consulting a dictionary.
    – Christian Geiselmann
    Dec 11, 2018 at 17:13
  • 4
    Heavy Metal Strudel of course.
    – Janka
    Dec 12, 2018 at 2:40
  • 3
    This questions shouldn't be deleted because of the great answers (especially Huberts). The question is not "How is strudel spelled correctly?" but rather "Why can I find the wrong form in written English?"
    – Ingo Bochmann
    Dec 12, 2018 at 9:50
  • 4
    Reopened because the OP clearly stated they did use a dictionary but were still confused about this frequently used weird spelling.
    – Takkat
    Dec 12, 2018 at 11:34

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
7

That is simply wrong.

Maybe the author was trying to build the plural (the singular pieces close to the pictures are correct, the wrong spelling is consistently used in the two places on the page - title and "more" link at the page bottom - where Strudel connects with "recipes"), but Strüdel is not the correct plural. It's Strudel like in Singular.

Improve this answer
3
  • Like “Huhn” - “ Hühner”? Could be...
    – Stephie
    Dec 11, 2018 at 16:36
  • Good point about plural vs. singular intention, given the point @Stephie made that none of the individual recipes used the umlaut.
    – Ben Hocking
    Dec 11, 2018 at 16:40
  • @Stephie Rather like "Pudel" - "Püdel".
    – Christian Geiselmann
    Dec 11, 2018 at 17:14
11

Some English speaking people who don't speak German don't understand the meaning of the dots on a, o and u, but they can see, that those dots are typical for German language. German language also often is perceived as sounding hard, and therefore in the 1970ies some heavy metal bands began to use umlauts in their names because those umlauts gave their names an even harder image:

  • Blue Öyster Cult
  • Motörhead
  • Mötley Crüe

This kind of usage is called metal umlauts or röck döts, and those metal umlauts made german umlauts popular even to people who was not fans of heavy metal music. So many English native speakers, who have no idea of german language may think:

If it is German, it must have umlauts.

I think Apfelstrudel was known in USA even before Arnold Schwarzenegger, but it was him (also in the 1970ies and 80ies) who made Apfelstrudel really popular in USA (baked by his mom), and he came from a German speaking country (Austria) and has a heavy German accent.

Soon the German word Apfelstrudel turned into the English-German mixture apple Strudel, but instead of keeping the first letter of Strudel in upper case (which in fact really is very typical for German language), they used a lowercase s, but added dots to the u to make it look more German. And so the English röck-döts word

strüdel

was created. When I search for "strüdel -strudel" today, Google reports 22.300 results.

So, this special spelling is neither correct German, nor is it correct English. But you will find it relatively often, but only on English websites.

Improve this answer
11
  • 3
    Do you have a reference for the claim that Schwartzenegger made Apfelstrudel famous? History makes me doubt that a bit. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_language_in_the_United_States))
    – Stephie
    Dec 11, 2018 at 17:22
  • 2
    Yes, metäl äpple strüdel. If you can somehow prove your hypothesis that strüdel is an outflow of this, then this is my favourite answer. (Isn't strudel (with schnitzel) in Sound of Music, or even earlier?)
    – LаngLаngС
    Dec 11, 2018 at 17:31
  • 3
    Objection! ö and ü are much more typical for Turkish than for German. Something like müdürmüsünüz (= Are you the boss?) is totally normal in Turkish. The only circumstance that makes Americans believe that these graphs are typical German is that they know even less Turkish.
    – Christian Geiselmann
    Dec 11, 2018 at 23:06
  • 3
    Objection Number 2: Arnold Schwarzenegger does not have at all a German accent. What he has is a very prominent Austrian accent.
    – Christian Geiselmann
    Dec 11, 2018 at 23:08
  • 4
    @ChristianGeiselmann Objection to your objection 1: The train of thought is not umlauts => German but German => umlauts.
    – Jan
    Dec 12, 2018 at 1:51
2

It's spelled Strudel

no matter what,

Improve this answer
1
  • 4
    Incorrect: Das also war des Strudels Kern! So it can take other forms ;)
    – 0xC0000022L
    Dec 12, 2018 at 14:31
-2

Strudel (without the umlaut) is the correct spelling in German. Pronounced "schtroodel" With the umlaut it is americanus ignoramus spelling. With the umlaut, it would be pronounced "schtreedel".

Improve this answer
3
  • Erm... nope? The “ü” should be pronounced as such. Metal umlauts are simply ignored and spoken like the vowel without the diacritics („dots”).
    – Stephie
    Jan 6, 2020 at 6:39
  • 1
    So the BBC is American now?
    – Carsten S
    Jan 6, 2020 at 7:32
  • 1
    I would agree with "shtroodle" but there's no equivalent for ü in English. "Schtreedel" is definitely wrong
    – infinitezero
    Jan 6, 2020 at 7:33

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.