I was speaking to an old Swiss gentleman today about deer - it started off on a Wildbuffet menu at a place I sometimes go to for a beer and snack while waiting for my train home.
For 85 chf you get Hirsch, Reh, Wildschwein and Gemse plus lots of trimmings. Gotthart hotel in Brugg. Expensive.
I remembered Roe deers in Scotland And Berkshire and asked him if there was a connection between the words of roe and reh.
I know there are more than two diferent species - red deer, fallow deer, roe deer and that a doe is a female deer (which is probably Reh in german), and that Hirsch is a stag.
If you try to look this up in the dictionary, roe comes up with reh.
Do we have roe deer here in Switzerland?
I showed him photos of the 2 variants, but be did not seem to seem to understand the species.
Anyone know the real name of a roe deer in German?
"German": Reh, "Dutch": Ree, "English": Roe (or Roe Deer) are all the exact same animal.
Reh is both used for the species as well as the females. The males are "Rehbock".
Works the same for similar animals:
- Sheep: Schaf; Male sheep: Schafbock
- Goat: Ziege; Male goat: Ziegenbock
In order to confuse the bloody foreigners have all German speakers decided to do the exact opposite when it comes to stags:
Species: Hirsch
Male: Hirsch
Female: Hirschkuh.
Roe deer
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_deer
Deer in general
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deer
They are much smaller.
Spent 5 years fishing with a poacher in scotland - so I do know the diference.
They have totally diferent characteristics.
Reh: Male = Bock Female = Ricke / Geiß
Hirschkuh / Hirschbock are words not to be used for rehe.
I got curious as for which pictures you showed him given that "Reh" and "Roe" are the exact same animal?
For issues that are prone to ambiguity I find Wiki quite useful as translator:
Look the thing up then switch language. For anything fauna and flora compare the Latin names just to make sure.
Sorry, but any Reh is also a Hirsch.
Hirsch: Cervidae. That's basically everything in a forest with antlers of some sort including reindeer, moose and what not else. That's not my personal opinion btw: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirsche
Reh: Capreolus capreolus. Two steps down in the tree from "Hirsch". Essentially a very specific small type of Hirsch.
The only reason restaurants differ is because a deer and say Rothirsch taste very differently.
Same family. But not the same variant. Roe deer are really small.
Nope. Roe deer are exactly what the German word "Reh" means: Capreolus capreolus. Anything else is a Hirsch.
As I said before - I thought Hirsch was a Stag. A male deer of any variant. The Swiss guy I spoke with seemed to agree with me on this point.. meat tastes better.
So the menu (with pictures) was :-
Hirsch - basically a stag with 9 point antlers. Red deer maybe. Not sure.
Reh - looked like his wife
Some Asterix wild pig
Gemse - presume it is Goat with dodgy horns (hopefully not protected)
Hope the salad and dessert are good and no animal was harmed in making this menu
Thanks for the some help in the explanation.
Now I have some ammo to ask the boss about the source of his a discretion buffet.
Cheers
Usually either red deer or fallow deer. The latter is a bit more common I think.
And a "Saubock" is a cussword and does not exist in the real world.
Sorry, couldn't resist ... anyway a male hog would be an Eber while a male wild hog (also on the menu these days) would be a Keiler.
Not wanting labour a point.
But if you put Hirsch into most english german dictionaries - it comes up with Stag.
Probably explains the confusion.
If you would have read your own link, you would have come across this.
Das Wort „Hirsch“ geht über althochdeutsch hir(u)z wie lateinisch cervus auf die indogermanischen Wurzeln kerud- (Gehörnter, Geweihter, Hirsch) und *ker, was „Horn“ oder „Geweih“ bedeutet, zurück.[40] Insofern ist das männliche Tier der Hirsch, nicht fälschlicherweise der Bulle. Die Benennung der Geschlechter ist biologisch nicht eindeutig. Bei Arten, deren Name auf „-hirsch“ endet, werden Weibchen oft Hirschkuh genannt, veraltete Bezeichnungen dafür sind Hinde oder Hindin. Jungtiere werden als Hirschkalb bezeichnet. Bei den als „Rehe“ bezeichneten Hirscharten tragen Männchen hingegen die Bezeichnung Bock, Weibchen heißen Ricke oder Geiß und Jungtiere Kitz. Für Rentiere wiederum werden manchmal die samischen Bezeichnungen Sarves für das Männchen und Vaia für das Weibchen verwendet.
But you already said sorry
We don't know how his wife looks, but feel free to provide pictures :P
Gems and Goat are different animals.
Gems (Rupicapra rupicapra) is chamois in english according to dictionaries, and yes it's a caprine. Not very commonly eaten I think (never tasted it myself) and hunting is more restricted.
Just spoken to a Swiss hunter.
The female Hirsch is a Hirschkuh. (Cow)
Reh is a Roe and are smaller. The Hirsch live high up mountains, the Roe/Reh lower down.
Still does not explain what a stag is. But it is getting clearer. Unless a Hirsch is like red deer male.
Anyway - thanks for the investigation. Been interesting and solved a 17 year old misconception.