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German verbs differentiate between a human eating (essen) and an animal eating (fressen). The statue uses the animal form of the verb, thus the statue representing some kind of human doesn't make a lot of sense to me. From the name, the Ogre/monster explanation of its origin would fit, but many of the others would seem to require "essen". All of this is obviously "original research"... Are there any sources which discuss this distinction and might shed additional light? --Sam (talk) 20:00, 9 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
From a quick read of the de.wp version and a Google search, Kinderfresser appears to have been a common term/theme starting back in the Middle Ages. OR from me: I would think that any monster, including humanoid ones, would take fressen, which I've always heard in my head as gobble or devour. On that note, I think we might consider changing the en translation given in the lede to "Child Gobbler". Erictalk20:44, 9 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
As a native Swiss German speaker, I can confirm that "fressen" would be used for any kind of monster; it's also used for humans, either to express disdain for gluttonous eating, or more general in slangy, slightly vulgar talk. The Duden dictionary, in its article on "fressen", has also an example "(salopp, meist abwertend von Menschen) er frisst für drei", that is: "(casual, most often pejorative for humans) he eats/gobbles for three". Gestumblindi (talk) 19:55, 25 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]
