"Gesundheit"

[Eleanor Rose]

​

The image above shows a man, Edison engineer Fred Ott, sneezing. It was featured in Harper's Weekly on March 24, 1894 and described as "the entire record of a sneeze from the first taking of a pinch of snuff to the recover" using "eight-one prints taken in about two seconds." The photographer was identified as William Kennedy-Laurie (1860-1935). This image caught my attention and got me thinking. What do you say when someone sneezes? If you say anything, it's most likely, "Bless you." It turns out that is the number one response in the United States.

But, one of the stranger responses is the second-most-popular in the United States: the German word gesundheit, which translates to "health." This word appears to have gained steam as a sneeze response in the mid-19th century. There are excerpts from newspapers using phrases like "wishing her gesundheit": not in response to a sneeze, just as sort of a congratulatory thing. It was also a popular toast over drinks.

The congratulatory use of gesundheit seems to have faded, but the word never really left. Perhaps folks just think it's a fun word to say. One thing's for sure. Sneezing is universal. No matter who we are or where we live, foreign particles tickle our nose and at some point, cause a sneeze. Of course saying "Bless you" is not the only appropriate response. Heck, maybe no response is really called for at all.

@FarawayFriend and @luinrina , do Germans say, "Gesundheit," when someone sneezes? I'd be curious to hear from any of our members outside the U.S. and those of us who live in the states. Perhaps different geographical areas have other common responses.

 

[luinrina]

@FarawayFriend and @luinrina , do Germans say, "Gesundheit," when someone sneezes?

Yes, we do. My grandma says "Hatschi" - which is really only the sound you make when you sneeze - but everyone else I met so far always says "Gesundheit". And people respond with "thank you".

When I started learning English and first heard "Bless you", I've wondered where that phrase came from in connection with sneezing. "Bless" translates as praising someone, most often in connection with God, so to me it sounded like it didn't fit. But I've gotten used to it over time and didn't question it anymore. And right now, when looking for translations of the German translations for "bless" (confusing, I know!) to write this post, I found a sentence for "bless" - wishing someone that God blesses them with e.g. health. And then it fits again as a response to someone sneezing.

Thanks for sharing that thread with us, Ellie. Finally an old puzzle of mine is solved.

 

[FarawayFriend]

As @luinrina says - yes, we do! If someone is sneezing his/her health might be in peril, so we wish him/her "Gesundheit" to prevent him/her from falling ill.
But it is not entirely regarded as good manners. Notably sneezing in public is actually bad behaviour and so it is regarded as bad manners to comment on the bad behaviour of someone else.
I did not know that, but an elderly colleague, a real lady, told me so in the beginning of my career as a librarian: " you are not supposed to say "Gesundheit" if a reader sneezes in your presence!"
But I don't pay attention to it. Some sneeze so loud, you almost get a heartstroke from the sudden "hatschi" and in that way, my own "Gesundheit" means "you are forgiven for having shocked me"
Btw, some of the more playful, joking people say "Beauty" and my own Dad, an outspoken man from Berlin, used to say jokingly "Gesundheit - Gott stärke Dein Bankkonto", meaning "Health - and may God strenghthen your bank account".
You see, we wish what we feel is most needed!

 

[huskerblitz]

Dr. 'Patch' Adam's created the Gesundheit Institute and was the subject of a movie starring Robin Williams.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

They still say it around here- several waves of heavy German immigration. I'll say it once in awhile when someone sneezes just to see if there's a reaction and there generally isn't one- just ' Thank You '.

 

[lupaglupa]

No Germans in my family at all but I heard it as much as bless you when I was growing up.

 

[DBF]

Perhaps folks just think it's a fun word to say.

I have always said "Gesundheit" - just for that reason. The various expressions on the man's face as it goes frame to frame just goes to show us the "power" behind the sneeze.

 

[luinrina]

Some sneeze so loud, you almost get a heartstroke from the sudden "hatschi" and in that way, my own "Gesundheit" means "you are forgiven for having shocked me"

I agree. Especially if you don't see that sneeze coming. But great meaning of your "Gesundheit" then!

A friend of mine is a very loud sneezer. She just cannot do it quietly. She told me once she had to sneeze (loudly) in the office and then continued working, when all of a sudden her boss asked her from behind "didn't that hurt?" She almost fell out of her chair, she jumped that much at the sudden address.

 

[JOHN42768]

Bless you always seemed to be the common response. The use of snuff to cause one to sneeze has always been a mystery to me. Having a lot of allergies, it is not uncommon for me to sneeze 15-20 times in a row. I find this to create a irritated throat many times. So why snuff?

 

[FarawayFriend]

A friend of mine is a very loud sneezer. She just cannot do it quietly

It's a bit off, but my brother and two buddies once started a project of listing all sounds people make while sneezing. The most exotic one came from the father of one of his friends. His sneeze sounded like "Hah-wuchhelm". And I would love to hear my American friends pronounce that...

Once, when we were in Australia and did a 4day group tour in Kakadu NP there, an Australian woman told us that in her school it was forbidden to sneeze during lessons! If students did it, that would earn them demerits that could even lead to the student being expelled! If you felt you had to sneeze (and that is really a force of nature in my eyes, no matter how elegantly you manage to do it) you had to press a point between upper lip and nose and that was supposed to make the need to sneeze go away. After I heard that I practiced it for quite some years now, but sometimes it works and sometimes it does not. I think I would have had no chance to graduate from that college...

 

[lupaglupa]

Pressing your upper lip should make a sneeze go away. Conversely, if (like me) you like to sneeze you can look at the sun or a light and that will bring a sneeze on.

My mother worked with a woman who had a very high-pitched sneeze and she always sneezed four of five times in a row. If sounded hilarious.

 

[Rusk County Avengers]

The old wise tale I've heard most often with the origin of "bless you" is because of the common belief that your heart stops when you sneeze, and you say "bless you" because God "blessed you" with continued life when you sneezed instead of having a heart attack or some other death.

At least that's what I've always heard from older folks.

 

[Rusk County Avengers]

I will say, I've heard gesundheit a lot when someone sneezed. Usually among a few older folks, and a few times down where Germans settled in the 1840's. (Which reminds me, "Texas German" is practically a dead dialect now, as WW2 and the harsh anti-German feeling of that era killed it.)

EDIT: Usually I've heard gesundheit butchered as k-sund-tite. I'm in the Deep South and Texas after all.

 

[Mrs. V]

My Mother in Law would sneeze several times in a row. Her sneeze sounded like "Weeee-choo!" Very high pitched.

 

[lupaglupa]

The old wise tale I've heard most often with the origin of "bless you" is because of the common belief that your heart stops when you sneeze, and you say "bless you" because God "blessed you" with continued life when you sneezed instead of having a heart attack or some other death.

At least that's what I've always heard from older folks.

That's the same thing I've heard. And I'm betting the old wives would love become "old wise"

 

[Mike Serpa]

Some people here who speak Spanish say Salud.

 

[LoyaltyOfDogs]

Wishing a sneezer "health" because the sneeze might signal the start of some illness makes perfectly good sense. The belief that the heart stops during a sneeze reminds me of a story I read many years ago. Apparently, it was once believed that sneezing expelled the soul from the body, so people said "bless you" to protect the soul until it returned. I think I'd read that this belief arose during the Middle Ages.

 

[FarawayFriend]

it was once believed that sneezing expelled the soul from the body

When I hear my significant other sneeze, I tend to believe that!