bastard
Bastard is an old name for a illegitimate child , originally a fixed term of feudalism to the designation for that of a nobleman conceived in extramarital connection, but he legally recognized child. If the father's confirmation was missing or if the father was not a nobleman, an illegitimate child was called a banker or a cone . The term bastard was later used as a dirty word .
In biology and breeding , bastard is an outdated term for a hybrid .
history
The word bastard goes back via Middle High German bast (h) art to old French bastard , derived from the Latin bastum (pack saddle). The further origin of the word is not clear. The term mainly applied to sons who were conceived by women of lower class, with whom the noble father was usually not married. Bastards in the West usually retained their mother's status and did not have the privileges of legitimate children. And they were legally recognized by the noble father and entitled to its Wappenbild to lead, actually but only enclosing a bastard thread or equivalent, the illegitimacy indicating Beizeichens such as the "break-in" ( bastard crest ).
However, if a nobleman's wife was sterile or all of his descendants died prematurely, a bastard could inherit, just as a nobleman could appoint other close relatives as his heir.
These principles are still valid today in families who value their descent from ruling families, and have often been used as a motif for stories and films, for example in The Little Lord .
Disparaging use of language
Even in the early modern period , the name was in no way perceived as dishonorable or offensive. Rather, it was used by the fathers and also by the persons concerned, who were proud of their paternal noble descent.
The word was later generally applied to people who were perceived as inferior, and accordingly also used as a swear word. The use as a swear word goes back to the fact that bastards were "unclean blood" from the point of view of nobles, that is, inferior to real nobles. In addition, extramarital relations were assessed as sinful, especially by the Catholic Church (see adultery in Christianity ). The swear word bastard was rarely used in German in the recent past, but has experienced a renaissance in the last decade.
See also
literature
- Alfred Blömer, The Illegitimate Child in Family Research. In: Communications from the West German Society for Family Studies , Volume 45, Volume 100, Issue 8 October – December 2012, pp. 235–242
Individual evidence
- ↑ Duden "Etymologie" :, Dictionary of Origin of the German Language, 2nd, completely revised and expanded edition by Günther Drosdowski (Ed.) ( Der Duden; Volume 7 ), Mannheim; Vienna; Zurich: Dudenverlag 1989, ISBN 3-411-20907-0 , p. 66
- ↑ Duden online: Bankert
- ^ Gerhard Wagenitz : Dictionary of Botany. Morphology, anatomy, taxonomy, evolution. 2nd, expanded edition. Nikol, Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-937872-94-0 .
- ↑ “... the place of the procreation of the illegitimate in the circles of the muleteers. Designation for the offspring of two different breed individuals, i.e.: mixed breed. ... “, pocket book for criminalists 1952 p. 142, Verlag Deutsche Polizei GmbH, Hamburg
- ↑ a b Duden online: Bastard
- ↑ Eduard Freiherr von Sacken : Katechismus der Heraldik, Grundzüge der Wappenkunde , Leipzig 1893, p. 141
- ↑ Bernhard Peter: The bastard thread and other signs of illegitimate birth ( online ; accessed on July 21, 2014)
- ↑ Hans G. Trüper , Unequal descendants of Bremen canons and land nobility in the 16th and 17th centuries .
- ^ Johann Samuel Publication : Allgemeine Encyklopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste , Volume 1, 1822, p. 61.
