In 1361, a granary on the road "usque cloacam" (up to the sewer) is first mentioned. "Cloaca" or "priveta" was the contemporary term for the Neue Mottlau (New Mottlau River). After it, the lane was called in 1378 "agger sicut itur ad privetam" (the embankment as one goes to the privy), and in 1385 it is mentioned as "via versus insulam" (road toward the island), where "insula" referred to the Werder. Apparently the lane was then only built up from the Grüne Brücke (Green Bridge) to the Hopfengasse (Hops Lane).

For this same section, from around 1440 the name "Yodengasse" (Jews' Lane) appears, still in use in 1643. Only after that date was the name transferred to what later became the Judengasse. In the section between the Hopfengasse and the Neue Mottlau, hop barns already stood around 1440. After them, this part of the street was still called Hopfengasse in the 17th century, just like the adjoining lane that still bears the name today.

A uniform designation for the entire lane came into use only after 1643. Even at the beginning of the 19th century the name was not entirely fixed: in 1805 it was called "Milchkannengasse or Lange Reihe" (Milk Jug Lane or Long Row). The name Milchkannengasse derives from a tower at the end of the lane that was called "die Milchkanne" (the Milk Jug) because of its shape. The bridge over the Neue Mottlau and presumably also the Milchkannentor (Milk Jug Gate) already existed in the 14th century.

History