Butter the fish
Butter bei die Fisch (also: Butter an die Fisch ) is a phrase in the German language that originally comes from northern Germany . With the use of the term, the addressee is asked to get to the point (in the sense: to the essential). In a broader sense, the term is used to warn about something complete (in the sense of: don't do anything by halves ) or to issue a remuneration (in the sense of: first payment, then goods ).
origin
Traditionally in northern Germany fried or baked fish is seasoned with butter. This butter is only added to the hot fish shortly before eating so that it does not melt when it is served. So you can't start eating the fish until the butter has been put on. In a figurative sense, one asks with the phrase to get down to business. If the butter was missing, the dish was incomplete - it was only half a deal .
Since butter used to be a luxury product, many could not afford adding it to fish. The phrase should therefore also be understood as an invitation not to save on the most important things. Anyone who didn't offer butter with the fish was skimpy. “Has he ok butter bi de fishes?” (Or in variations such as: hat dai ok bueter bi de fishes? ) Was a widespread question about the solvency of a customer in the Hanseatic League . The statement that someone had butter in the fish could also mean that he was wealthy or lived well.
The phrase was later adopted in the Rhenish language .
The linguist Heinz Küpper dated the creation to the middle of the 19th century.
grammar
The phrase butter at / near the fish is grammatically incorrect in standard German . Originally the North German expression was "have butter at the fish"; In Low German , the articles “de” and “dat” are common, the dialect has its own grammar. It was only the linguistic adaptation to high German expressions that led to the incorrect formulation, which has nevertheless become part of everyday language use. Until the turn of the century , “bei” was still written as “bey”. In this sense it meant under , between , to or near .
In the Rhineland the original expression butter is still used today for de fish (also with fish in singular form). Colloquial or dialect peculiarities sometimes persist in other regions.
Further use (selection)
- Butter bei die Fisch is a video series by SV Werder Bremen .
- Butter bei die Fisch (How the sea flowed into our language) is a book by Rolf-Bernhard Essig .
- Butter by the fish is a song of versengold .
- Slammin 'Salmon - Butter the Fish! is an American comedy film
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stefanie Schlünz, twisted idioms: I'll bathe the soup for you! , January 8, 2020, t-online.de
- ↑ a b Manuel Brito u. a., Insights and bearings: Festschrift for Dr. Juan Sebastián Amador Bedford , ISBN 978-8-47756-713-4 , Servicio de Publicaciones, University of La Laguna , 2007, p. 41
- ↑ Celine Norden, but now butter for the fish! , July 13, 2017, Ostsee-Zeitung
- ↑ Lisa Volkmann, Proverbs with animals explained: This is where these animal phrases come from , April 30, 2016, News.de
- ↑ Rolf-Bernhard Essig , "Butter bei die Fisch" - Where does that come from? , April 11, 2019, SWR Knowledge
- ^ "Butter bei die Fisch" , website of the Stade Marketing und Tourismus GmbH
- ^ Butter , in: Lexicon of proverbial speeches , digital library volume 42, cf. Lutz Röhrich , Lexicon of Proverbial Sayings, Volume 1, Herder Verlag , p. 286
- ↑ Heinz Küpper , dictionary of German colloquial language
- ↑ a b Draw the ass card… , May 16, 2008, Deutschlandfunk Kultur
- ↑ Kai Lachmann, A cat's throw away , October 23, 2017, Hamburger Abendblatt
- ^ Butter , in: Rheinisches Mitmachwörterbuch , LVR Institute for Regional Studies and Regional History
- ↑ Frank Hellmann, Stagnation on the Weser: Werder Bremen is sinking into gray mediocrity , July 29, 2019, Frankfurter Rundschau
- ↑ Interview with Malte Hoyer , metal.de
Web links
- Butter with the fish at the phrase index