@cicerone imposter,
c.i. ,
as mctag already explained , it is the symbol of a water-carrier who
sold " potable " water by the bucket until a central filtration system was installed in the city after the last major cholera outbreak in 1892 .
up until then , " non-potable " water would simply be fetched out of the many canals criss-crossing the city .
as children we were still being admonished during the 1930's " don't drink any water !!! " . milk , fruit-juices , lemonade , tea etc. ( and alcohol-free malt-beers ) , were the drinks given to children .
( even today i'm not particularly fond of drinking water - try and figure that one out ) .
here are some websites with further explanations :
http://www.hummel-lsv.de/hummel.shtml
Quote: Why Hummel Hummel?
In the 19th century Georg Daniel Christian Hummel having to carry water buckets has always been accompanied by a bunch of children shouting his name. His successor Johann Wilhelm Benz has been treated in the same manner even so his last name was different. Being upset of this he angryly answered "mors, mors" which has the meaning of "kiss my ass" (mors (north German slang) = ass). Hummel turned to be the Hamburg original. Today you see his picture painted on the trucks of the Hamburg waterworks. There also is a monument of him downtown Hamburg.
The complete wording
"Hummel, Hummel, Mors Mors"
has become a typical battle cry for Hamburg.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_cholera_pandemic
Quote: The fifth cholera pandemic was the fifth major outbreak of cholera that occurred in the years 1881-1896 starting in India.[1][2] The 1892 outbreak in Hamburg, Germany was the only major European outbreak; about 8,600 people died in Hamburg. Although generally held responsible for the virulence of the epidemic, the city government went largely unchanged. This was the last serious European cholera outbreak.
