Dienstmann

The term Dienstmann first surfaced in the Middle Ages as a Germanicization of the Latin word ministerialis,[1] for men, who served at a court and, in the course of time, were raised to be armigers with a social status similar to that of free knights (Ritter).

Unlike ministeriales, they held a lower social rank equivalent to the English serf.

[3] Later, the term described was used to describe a hired man who, in public service or in a private household, was contracted to perform time-limited functions of all types in return for a fee.

Well-known fictional Dienstmänner are the Dienstmann, Alois Hingerl, in Ludwig Thoma's Satire Ein Münchner im Himmel or Hans Moser and Paul Hörbiger, the Dienstmänner in the film Hallo Dienstmann.

As a so-called Berliner Original, the Dienstmann, Ferdinand Strumpf, went under the name, Eckensteher Nante.