Gesundheit

For the 19th century Polish rabbi, see Yaakov Gesundheit.

For the institute, see Gesundheit! Institute.

Gesundheit () (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. 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.

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 expression is also found in Jewish custom. Although not technically part of Jewish Law (Halacha), the custom of saying gezuntheit, tzu gezunt, labree'ut, 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.

Occasionally in popular culture, if a character in, for example, a cartoon says a particularly long or complex word or phrase, someone else will often sarcastically say "Gesundheit" in return, owing to the awkwardness of the way the word sounds.

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.

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.

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!

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.

In the Garfield Strip from 30.07.2007 Garfield says "Gesundheit" to a ball of wool.

Other Uses

In the Grand Theft Auto 3 PC videogame, the cheat to gain full health is 'gesundheit'.