Knickerbocker

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Every once in a while I come across interesting bits of etymology. Today the word was "Knickerbocker". It's amazing to read all the words and history connected to that word. See the Wiki article at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knickerb...
"The name "Knickerbocker" first acquired meaning with Washington Irving's History of New York, which featured the fictional author Diedrich Knickerbocker..."

New York Knickerbockers
New York Knicks
Knickerbocker Beer
Cholly Knickerbocker
Knickerbocker Club
knickers
Knickerbocker Beer Show
Diedrich Knickerbocker
Herman Knickerbocker

I suppose the name is in the phone book too! LOL

Oh my goodness, there's lots more info at:
http://www.knic.com/Kn_Hist.htm
"KNICKERBOCKER HISTORY (Some Thoughts On The Origins Of The Name)"
"One more suggestive quotation from Mr Irving's History of New York, when the sober mood has given way to the whimsical, and he tells of the gathering of the outlying Dutch clans when they assembled on the Bowling Green at New Amsterdam ready to help Governor Stuyvesant win a victory over the Swedes at Fort Casimer 'Lastly came the Knickerbockers of the great town of Schaghticoke where the folks lay stones upon the houses in windy weather lest they should be blown away. These derive their name as some say from KNICKER to shake and BECKER a goblet, indicating that they were sturdy tosspots of yore, but in truth it was derived from KNICKER to nod and BOEKEN books; plainly meaning that they were great nodders over books.' "

And there are these books:
Knickerbocker's History of New York
by Washington Irving

A History of New York, from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty (Volume 1); Being the Only Authentic History of the
by Washington Irving

A Knickerbocker's History of New YorkKnickerbocker: The Myth Behind New York
by Elizabeth L. Bradley

PS-Believe it or not, this whole thing started out with my search for "Ruppert Beer". I was led to the bio of Jacob Ruppert, a brewery owner who went on to own the New York Yankees.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Ru...
In the original link above it says: ""Knickerbocker Beer" brewed by Jacob Ruppert".

I still haven't found much online about Ruppert Beer except for lots of Google images at:
http://www.google.com/search?q=rupper...

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Ah, I found a bit more about Ruppert Beer at:
http://beernexus.com/beerinNYhistory....
Excerpts:
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"Jake Ruppert was born in NY in 1842, son of immigrants from Bavaria. His father, Franz, owned a small brewery on the west side of Manhattan. ... By the age of twenty he was confident enough in his knowledge to ask his father’s permission to start his own brewery. ...

"Jake bought a piece of property... and built a tiny fifty square foot building. It was there that he made his first batch of beer. He aptly christened the structure The Jacob Ruppert Brewery.
...
[Jake's young son] "emerged in 1890 as the brewery’s general manager. ... He took particular interest in the refinement of the brewery’s flagship brands, Knickerbocker and Ruppert’s Extra Pale ... he was personally made a New York State Colonel ... by then Governor David Hill.

"In 1913 the Rupperts made their final great expansion. On the same site that three decades
earlier old Jake had constructed his first brewery, Colonel Jake built an enormous, modern plant of 2 million barrels capacity. Speakers at the dedication called it the finest brewery in world. It was valued at over $30 million and employed more than 1,000 men. The Colonel’s brewery was now an integral component of the entire New York economy.

"As the profits rolled in Colonel Jake took a small part of the money and bought the New York American League baseball team, the Yankees. ... the ballpark became the single largest seller of Ruppert beer in the nation.

"Sadly, with Prohibition on the horizon things would soon forever change for both Ehret and
Ruppert. The passage of the 18th Amendment would definitively end these golden days of New
York beer."
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[Joy H., Group Founder]

More here re the Ruppert/Knickerbocker beer brewery:
http://brookstonbeerbulletin.com/beer...
"...today is the birthday of Jacob Ruppert, Sr., father of his more famous son Junior or Jake, who founded the famous New York brewery in 1867. Ruppert’s most famous brand was Knickerbocker, a Dutch name that eventually became a term for New Yorker (and where the basketball “Knicks” got their name)."