Peterwagen

German

ein Peterwagen

Etymology

A term arising in the Nachkriegszeit. Probably by the chosen call name Peter +‎ Wagen, being motivated by the English patrol car – since radio calls were used for communication between police stations and police cars in Hamburg from 1946, first present in the radio cars of the British military government. In the German Democratic Republic and successor lands it is called by a different radio call name Toniwagen. In the 1950s–1970s one used the term Ottowagen in Oldenburg. A similar term for a police car is grüne Minna, Grüne Minna, which was already used in the 19^th century for horse-driven paddy wagons.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpeːtɐˌvaːɡn̩/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

Peterwagen m (strong, genitive Peterwagens, plural Peterwagen)

1. (informal, Hamburg) patrol car
   • 1996, “Silberfische in meinem Bett”, in Außen Top Hits, innen Geschmack, performed by Fettes Brot:

     Steig ich umweltbewußt um auf mein Fahrrad / Die Entscheidung stellt sich sehr bald als grober Fehler raus / Denn zwei Straßen später bremste mich ein Peterwagen aus

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Declension

Declension of Peterwagen [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Peterwagen	die	Peterwagen
genitive	eines	des	Peterwagens	der	Peterwagen
dative	einem	dem	Peterwagen	den	Peterwagen
accusative	einen	den	Peterwagen	die	Peterwagen

Further reading

• “Peterwagen” in Duden online
• “Peterwagen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Peterwagen”, in Polizeihistorische Sammlung Paul, 2004