Hundewurst

[Douglas G. Wilson]

In Jonathon Green's slang dictionary under "hot dog" there is something to
the effect that German-Americans referred to smaller and larger sausages
(ca. 1860) as "Hundewurst" (= "dog sausage") and "Pferdwurst" (= "horse
sausage") respectively. I don't find this material elsewhere immediately
and I don't find either word in my dictionaries (I haven't searched the big
library). Is the story well-verified? If so, were the terms (which look
transparently obscene to me) used as slang or as general terms? I wonder
whether the butcher would feel comfortable asking the local housewife
whether she prefers a big horse-sausage or a little dog-sausage.

Web search turns up "Hundewurst" at numerous German dogfood-related sites:
apparently it's a "sausage" made for dogs.

-- Doug Wilson