The Norwegian rasepball potato dumpling, more so than the pitepalt and the kroppkaka, has an incredible diversity of regional name variations (Table 1). For example, “rasepball” is the name of the potato dumpling on the western coast near Bergen, “kumle” are found in the Stavanger region of Norway, and “kompe” is the name given to these dumplings in the South of Norway around Kristiansand. Many of these regional potato dumpling names from Scandinavia correspond to the words “klöße” and “Knödel,” which are the general German names for similar potato dumplings. Since other Scandinavian, flour-based balls and dumplings are known to be related to those of Germany, the etymological similarities between the potato dumplings of these two regions may provide insights regarding their migration and origin.

The word “Knödel,” meaning “noodle,” originated in Germany, and by the middle of the 15th century, its derivative “nudel” came to be associated with early, small flour dumplings¹¹. Finally, by the 17th century, the German word “klöße” or “klösse” emerged, which for the first time referred to large, lump-shaped dumplings that resemble the potato dumplings of Scandinavia¹¹. The etymology of this term probably refers to the shape of this class of dumplings, as “klösse” translates literally to “lump¹².”