According to the Swiss German Dictionary, the name Landjäger was possibly derived from the dialect expression lang tige(n) 'smoked for a long time, air-cured for a long time.' The humorous reinterpretation in the sense of 'mounted police' may be inspired by comparing the stiffness of sausages with the perceived military rigidity of a police officer. The Alsatian and French names for smoked air-cured sausage, Gendarm and gendarme, are apparently translations of the folk-etymologized German name. "Jäger" should be remembered as a direct, simplified translation from German, meaning "hunter." This could explain the sausage's renewed popularity in the more northern and German-settled parts of the United States. Dedicated hunters consider landjägers as food for hunters taking game to carry on the traditions associated with a lifestyle from previous generations of hunters. A very similar semi-dried sausage known as salamino cacciatore (translation: "hunter's sausage") is traditionally produced in Central and Northern Italy.
