Blue blood

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The term “blue blood” (also “blue blood” , adj. “Blue blood” , as a phrase “having blue blood”) is still used internationally today to refer to people who descend from noble families or belong to the aristocracy .

etymology

According to one hypothesis, the expression is based on the fact that deeper veins in light-skinned people appear bluish. The supposed 'blue color' of the blood is due to the fact that the red (long-wave) part of the light penetrates much deeper into the tissue and is absorbed by the blood , while the blue (short-wave) color part of the light is more strongly reflected by the skin and hardly into it Tissue can penetrate.

The assumption is often made that the expression has its origin in Castile in the Middle Ages. Under the Moorish rule in Spain (711–1492), the term “azure blue blood” ( Spanish “Sangre azul” ) was applied to the upper class, descended from the Germanic Visigoths . Their bluish shimmering veins would have looked like blue blood flowed through them to the dark-skinned local population and the invaded Moors. Later the term was related to the upper classes of the nobility and specifically to the Spanish royal family. This derivation probably appeared in the 19th century, but contemporary evidence is completely lacking. Another argument against the hypothesis is that in early modern Spanish sangre goda (“Gothic blood”) was more commonly used as a term for “pure” blood , while sangre azul can only be proven later. The poet José de Vargas Ponce (1760–1821) even contrasts sangre azul with the more valuable sangre goda :

"No mi mujer visite a todo el mundo
De sangre azul por ser de sangre goda"

"My wife should not associate with the whole world of blue blood because she is of Gothic blood."

In the European aristocracy, fair skinnedness was considered the ideal of beauty . Tanned skin as a sign of the people exposed to the sun and working outdoors was frowned upon by the nobility. In order not to appear “peasant” under any circumstances, the noble gentlemen avoided any contact with the sun by wearing hats and umbrellas or by staying in their houses. This is where the term “noble paleness” comes from. For the Spanish aristocrats, it was all the more difficult to maintain their fair skin under the southern European sun. They kept and cultivated their “noble paleness” through marriage connections with northern European noble houses.

One hypothesis says that Castilian aristocratic families of the Middle Ages used the name themselves to emphasize their "purely Spanish" origin, free of Moorish and Jewish ancestors. This hypothesis cannot be substantiated by contemporary sources either.

According to another hypothesis, the term “blue blood” originated at the time of the Crusades in the Middle East . In this case, too, this designation would go back to the local population, for whom, due to the light skin of the crusaders, it looked as if they had blue blood in their veins. There is no evidence for this hypothesis either.

In fact, all sources point out that “blue blood” as a loan translation goes back to Spanish sangre azul , but the evidence does not go any further than the 18th century. The earliest literary evidence can be found around 1780 with Nicolás Fernández de Moratín (1737–1780) and 1808 with José de Vargas Ponce.

Use of the term in Europe

According to the Bertelsmann dictionary , “blue blood” was considered a Germanic quality. For example, the French writer Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869) would have written “about the red blood of the French and the blue blood of the Teutons”. It was not until the beginning of the 19th century that "blue-blooded" came to Central Europe as a synonym and as an alleged characteristic of the nobility and aristocracy. “Blue blood” as a name for people from the nobility first appeared around 1800 (as the year 1810; according to Röhrich, 1991.) in German-speaking countries “as a slightly disparaging description for the rulers von und zu”.

According to Leonardo ( WDR ), the phrase "blue blood" looks old-fashioned today; in France ( “le sang bleu” ) it is hardly used any more and is considered extinct in England ( “blue blood” ). According to Bertelsmann, “blue-blooded” is used more ironically these days .

Ideologically, the restrictive marriage rules were exaggerated by the belief in a “divine power” of “good blood”, which, it was believed, was reinforced by marriage and procreation with owners of equal or equal “noble” blood. This ideology, which is also believed by the people, goes back to the expressions still used today such as “of noble blood” or “blue blood”.

game

  • 1987: Blood Royale - English strategic board game for building a dynasty in the 14th century.

literature

  • Robert Steimel: "... in the front line!" A brief history of the German nobility. Steimel, Cologne-Zollstock 1959, p. 48.
  • Christiane Wanzeck: On the etymology of lexicalized color word combinations. Investigations using the colors red, yellow, green and blue (= Amsterdam publications on language and literature. 149). Rodopi, Amsterdam - New York 2003, ISBN 90-420-1317-6 , pp. 290-315.

Web links

Wiktionary: blue-blooded  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d See “blaublütig” in the Bertelsmann dictionary. (See web links . Accessed June 27, 2011.)
  2. ↑ See also: Dictionary for idioms, idioms, idiomatic expressions and word combinations: query for blue blood .
  3. ↑ Have blue blood in your veins at geo.de, accessed on August 13, 2019.
  4. ↑ Mark Benecke : Why do the veins shimmer blue through the skin, even though blood is red? In: Spektrum.de . October 18, 2002, accessed December 9, 2018 .
  5. ↑ so z. B. also with Miguel de Cervantes : El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Volume 2. Gabriel de Sancha, Madrid 1797, p. 57 ( digitized in the Google book search).
  6. ↑ a b José de Vargas Ponce: Proclama de un solterón. 1808. Quoted from: Leopoldo Augusto de Cueto (Ed.): Poetas Líricos del siglo XVIII. Rivadeneyra, 1875, p. 605 ( digitized in the Google book search).
  7. ↑ Blue blood - the blue-blooded nobility. In: Marlene and Mathias Stadler: Colors and Life - Online. Retrieved June 27, 2011.
  8. ^ Antonio Domínguez Ortiz: Sociedad y estado en el siglo XVIII espãnol. Ariel, 1976, p. 357 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  9. ↑ Lutz Röhrich: Lexicon of the proverbial sayings. Keyword: blue. 1991.
  10. ↑ a b broadcast Leonardo of the WDR on April 28, 2011. (See web links . Accessed on June 27, 2011.)