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A ''Muggeseggele'' or ''Muckenseckel'' is a humorous
Alemannic German Alemannic, or rarely Alemannish (''Alemannisch'', ), is a group of High German dialects. The name derives from the ancient Germanic tribal confederation known as the Alemanni, Alamanni ("all men"). Distribution Alemannic dialects are spoken by ...
idiom used in Swabia to designate a nonspecific very small length or amount of something; it refers to a housefly's scrotum. It has been called the smallest Swabian unit of measurement and plays a similar role in northern
Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
and
Franconia Franconia (german: Franken, ; Franconian dialect: ''Franggn'' ; bar, Frankn) is a region of Germany, characterised by its culture and Franconian dialect (German: ''Fränkisch''). The three administrative regions of Lower, Middle and Upper ...
. The term ''Muggeseggele'' has an iconic character and is one of the most preferred
Swabian Swabian or Schwabian, or ''variation'', may refer to: * the German region of Swabia (German: "''Schwaben''") * Swabian German, a dialect spoken in Baden-Württemberg in south-west Germany and adjoining areas (German:"''Schwäbisch''") * Danube S ...
idioms. In a 2009 readers' survey by ''
Stuttgarter Nachrichten ''Stuttgarter Nachrichten'' (''Stuttgart News'') is a newspaper that is published in Stuttgart-Möhringen, Germany. It sells together with the ''Stuttgarter Zeitung The ''Stuttgarter Zeitung'' (" Stuttgart newspaper") is a German-languag ...
'', the largest newspaper in Stuttgart, ''Muggeseggele'' was chosen as "the most beautiful Swabian word" by a large margin.


Etymology

The Swabian term for housefly is ''Mugg''. This is akin to ''Mücke'', the standard German word for mosquito. According to linguist Hans-Martin Gauger, the second element in the word ''Muggeseggele'' corresponds to the standard German ''Säckel'', meaning ''little sack''; the term, therefore, must have originally referred to the scrotum, like the Latin cognate ''saccellus''. This second element in the word occurs independently in Swabian German as ''Seckel'', which is used as a swear word and is thus a rare instance of a sexually themed abusive word in the German language, which mostly uses scatological swearing. In the case of ''Muggeseggele'', the sexual and abusive aspect is not at all present. On the contrary, it is mostly used to express a very small but distinctive distance or amount of substance, as in "the soup needs a Muggeseggele of parsley". It can be used in speaking to children and is deemed completely harmless (compare '' Bubenspitzle''). It is used in the TV series '' Ein Fall für B.A.R.Z.'', which takes place in
Fellbach Fellbach () is a mid-sized town on the north-east edge of Stuttgart in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of approximately 45.430 is the second largest town in the District Rems-Murr-Kreis. The area of the town is . Fellbach was fi ...
. German's public broadcaster SWR's children's website ''SWR Kindernetz'' (kids' network) mention the word in a ''Swabian dictionary'' that presents some peculiarities of the Swabian dialect to their young audience. Kindernetz uses the sentence ''A muggeseggele Zeit hätten wir noch!'' and translates it as ''Ein bisschen Zeit hätten wir noch'', meaning "We still have a tiny bit of time left".


Cultural importance and particular instances of usage

Wolfgang Wulz, president of the ''Verein Schwäbische Mundart'' (Association of the Swabian Tongue), has praised ''Muggeseggele'' and '' Lällebäbbel'' as prominent examples of distinctive and admirable Swabian expressions. Both foreign and German immigrants to Baden-Württemberg tend to include some of the specific dialect expressions in the course of speaking. They often do not adapt to the dialect, but show their desire to integrate into the local community by adopting key regional vocabulary. ''Muggeseggele'' is one of the words deemed funny and distinctive and used in that way as part of a cultural code. A cookery book honoring the relationship between the
twinned cities A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...
of Karlsruhe and
Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hal ...
contains a small glossary of Saxon and Alemannic words, including ''Muggeseggele''. An article in '' Süddeutsche Zeitung'' quoted Thomas Lindner, CEO of textile machinery company
Groz-Beckert The Groz-Beckert KG is part of the Groz-Beckert Group based in Albstadt- Ebingen in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany. Groz-Beckert is the world's leading provider of industrial needles, precision components and fine tools as well as systems and servic ...
in
Albstadt Albstadt () is the largest city in the district of Zollernalbkreis in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on the Swabian Jura mountains, about halfway between Stuttgart and Lake Constance. Geography Albstadt is spread across a variety of ...
-
Ebingen Ebingen is a town in the large district of Albstadt, district Zollernalbkreis, in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the river Schmiecha, a left-hand tributary of the Danube, south of Tübingen and west of Ulm. History E ...
and Speaker of Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau (VDMA) and the Chamber of Industry and Commerce in
Reutlingen Reutlingen (; Swabian: ''Reitlenga'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the capital of the eponymous district of Reutlingen. As of June 2018, it has a population of 115,818. Reutlingen has a university of applied sciences, which ...
, as saying: "At our Indian premises, everybody knows what a muggaseggele is." Groz-Beckert is a leading company in the production of textile needles and the term ''Muggeseggele'' is therefore used to stress exactitude and diligence as well as Swabian
cultural influence Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tylo ...
throughout the company. The term is used as an example of must-know Swabian vocabulary in courses of Swabian as a foreign language in Tübingen. The same applies for lectures and books written in Swabian. While ''Muggeseggele'' has often been used to refer simply to an extremely small measure, actual measurements of fly penises by an
entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...
at the Naturkundemuseum in Stuttgart gave an average length of .


English equivalents

A ''gnat's cock'' or a ''gnat's dick'' is a similar construction in the English language, but it has a more irreverent or obscene aspect. In Scot's English, a "baw hair" is a similar unit of very small distance. In Australia, the colloquial ''bee's dick'' is used.


See also

*
Beard-second Many people have made use of, or invented, units of measurement intended primarily for their humor value. This is a list of such units invented by sources that are notable for reasons other than having made the unit itself, and that are widely ...
The beard-second is a unit of length inspired by the light-year, but applicable to extremely short distances such as those in integrated circuits. It is the length an average
beard A beard is the hair that grows on the jaw, chin, upper lip, lower lip, cheeks, and neck of humans and some non-human animals. In humans, usually pubescent or adult males are able to grow beards. Throughout the course of history, societal at ...
grows in one second. Kemp Bennett Kolb defines the distance as exactly 100 
angstrom The angstromEntry "angstrom" in the Oxford online dictionary. Retrieved on 2019-03-02 from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/angstrom.Entry "angstrom" in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary. Retrieved on 2019-03-02 from https://www.m ...
s (10  nanometres), as does Nordling and Österman's ''Physics Handbook''. *
Hair's breadth A hair's breadth, or the width of human hair, is used as an informal unit of a very short length. It connotes "a very small margin" or the narrowest degree in many contexts. Definitions This measurement is not precise because human hair varies ...
*
Indefinite and fictitious numbers Many languages have words expressing indefinite and fictitious numbers—inexact terms of indefinite size, used for comic effect, for exaggeration, as placeholder names, or when precision is unnecessary or undesirable. One technical term for such ...
*
List of humorous units of measurement Many people have made use of, or invented, units of measurement intended primarily for their humor value. This is a list of such units invented by sources that are notable for reasons other than having made the unit itself, and that are widely ...
* List of unusual units of measurement


References

{{Use dmy dates, date=September 2017 Units of length Sexual anatomy Insect anatomy Swabia German words and phrases