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Gesundheit (German pronunciation (help· info)) (IPA pronunciation: [ɡəˈzʊnthaɪt]) is the German and Yiddish word for health. When a person sneezes, German and Yiddish speakers typically say Gesundheit! to wish them good health, serving much the same purpose as "bless you" in English, except without the religious overtones. The expression arrived with early German immigrants, such as the Pennsylvania Dutch, and doubtless passed into local English usage in areas with substantial German-speaking populations.^[1] The expression is first widely attested in American English as of 1910, about the time when large numbers of Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi Jews immigrated to the United States. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wiktionary (a portmanteau of wiki and dictionary) is a multilingual, Web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in over 150 languages. ... Rabbi Yaakov Gesundheit (1815-1878) was the chief rabbi of Warsaw from 1870 to ca. ... The Gesundheit! Institute, located outside of Hillsboro in rural West Virginia, was founded by Hunter Patch Adams in 1972. ... Image File history File links DE_Gesundheit. ... Articles with similar titles include the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ... Yiddish (ייִדיש, Jiddisch) is a Germanic language spoken by about four million Jews throughout the world. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Look up Bless you in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Pennsylvania Dutch (perhaps more strictly Pennsylvania Deitsch or Pennsylvanian German) are the descendants of German immigrants who came to Pennsylvania prior to 1800. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... For other uses, see American English (disambiguation). ... Languages Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian, English Religions Judaism Related ethnic groups Sephardi Jews, Mizrahi Jews, and other Jewish ethnic divisions Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim (Standard Hebrew: sing. ...

Often the word, when used in an English context, is mispronounced as [ɡəˈzʊntaɪd] or [ɡəˈzʊntaɪt], and misspelled as "gazoontite" or "gazoontide".

Use

Gesundheit is also used in Australia. It was imported to South Australia through the Evangelical Lutheran refugees who fled the established Lutheran church in the east of Germany. These Silesian immigrants spoke their own language until the two World Wars caused a dramatic decline in the use of German in Australia. Gesundheit was used until recent times by the majority English speaking population. Its usage seems now to have declined. The Lutheran movement is a group of denominations of Protestant Christianity by the original definition. ... Silesia (Czech: ; German: ; Latin: ; Polish: ; Silesian: Ślónsk) is a historical region in central Europe. ... A world war is a war affecting the majority of the worlds major nations. ...

The expression is also found in Jewish custom. Although not technically part of Jewish Law (Halacha), the custom of saying gezuntheit, tzu gezunt, labreeyut, or God bless you is considered a mannerly custom. It is written in the Talmud that the patriarch Jacob was the first person to become ill before passing on. Before that, people would sneeze and die. When God infused the soul into Man, He "blew it" into Adam's nostrils. Thus, when it came time for the soul to be returned to its Maker, it would leave through the same portal it arrived. Halakha (הלכה in Hebrew or Halakhah, Halacha, Halachah) is the collective corpus of Jewish law, custom and tradition regulating all aspects of behavior. ... Bless you is a common English expression used to wish a person well after sneezing. ... The first page of the Vilna Edition of the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Berachot, folio 2a. ... For other senses, see Patriarch (disambiguation). ... Jacob Wrestling with the Angel – Gustave Doré, 1855 Jacob or Yaakov, (Hebrew: יַעֲקֹב, Standard  Tiberian ; Arabic: يعقوب, ; holds the heel), also known as Israel (Hebrew: יִשְׂרָאֵל, Standard  Tiberian ; Arabic: اسرائيل, ; Struggled with God), is the third Biblical patriarch. ...

Origin

There are different theories regarding the origin of this phrase. One idea is that the expression stems from the Middle Ages when the Bubonic Plague was threatening European health. In this case the person saying gesundheit was actually wishing good health upon themselves, since they may have been infected by the one who sneezed. The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... The bubonic plague or bubonic fever is the best-known variant of the deadly infectious disease caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis. ... A European is primarily a person who was born into one of the countries within the continent of Europe. ...

Superstitions date back as early as Ancient Greece (ref. Herodotus, History 440 BC). The soul was thought to leave the body through the nose upon death, so a powerful sneeze was thus considered an ominous event. The Temple to Athena, the Parthenon Ancient Greece is a period in Greek history that lasted for around three thousand years. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Histories of Herodotus by Herodotus is considered the first work of history in Western literature. ... Centuries: 6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC Decades: 490s BC 480s BC 470s BC 460s BC 450s BC - 440s BC - 430s BC 420s BC 410s BC 400s BC 390s BC Years: 445 BC 444 BC 443 BC 442 BC 441 BC - 440 BC - 439 BC 438 BC... The soul, according to many religious and philosophical traditions, is the self-aware essence unique to a particular living being. ...

Modern German-speakers interpret the saying as wishing someone to regain his health soon by overcoming his current cold. This popular etymology is backed up by the reply Danke! ("Thanks!") in response to Gesundheit! commonly uttered by the one who sneezed. If you hear someone sneezing in Germany, someone will immediately say Gesundheit!, to which the sneezer will reply by Danke!

However, any thoughts of soul-evasion or demons by sneezing are unheard of in modern-day Germany, even though in some rural areas, superstition has it that a sneeze is an affirmative omen in that something that has just been said is correct, or that one is doing or considering the right thing, giving rise to the Missingsch saying Si(eh)ssu, is wahr! (comparable to English "See, told ya!") used in conjunction with Gesundheit! Missingsch is a Low German-colored regiolect of German, retaining Low German sentence construction and calques of Low German idioms into Hochdeutsch. ...

Trivia

In April 2007, the retail electronics chain The Sharper Image was forced to remove posters for their Hybrid GP air purifier. The posters contained the blurb "End Gesundheit In Our Lifetime", as this literally translated to "End 'in good health' in our lifetime" the ad met with protests from German Americans. The offending ad was removed from all Sharper Image stores one day after it debuted. The Sharper Image Corporation NASDAQ: SHRP,founded by Richard Thalheimer, is a speciality retailer that operates throughout the United States. ... German-Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry. ...

Footnotes

1. ^ Random House Word of the Day (9/23/1997).