Hereditary enemy

Michael Wening : True picture of the magnificent Victoria as seen by the Christians against the hereditary enemy . Engraving illustrating the Battle of Gran (1685)

Erbfeind is a German term that has been used since the 16th century. It appears for the first time in 1587 in the Theatrum Diabolorum as a name for the devil . To this day it is considered, among other things, as a veiled name for the devil. In the time of the Turkish war in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Turks were referred to as "enemies of the Christians". Since the Napoleonic Wars , the term was transferred to France (→ German-French hereditary enmity ).

In general terms, the term today means “people who have been fought as a constant enemy for generations” or “opponents who have long been hated”.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Friedrich Kluge: Etymological dictionary of the German language . Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, 2019, ISBN 978-3-11-154376-5 ( google.de [accessed on July 18, 2020]).
↑ ^a ^b hereditary enemy who. In: www.duden.de. Retrieved July 21, 2020 .
↑ Wirsching, Hélène Miard-Delacroix : From hereditary enemies to good neighbors: A German-French dialogue . Reclam Verlag, 2019, ISBN 978-3-15-961514-1 ( google.de [accessed on July 18, 2020]).

[Kluge-1] Friedrich Kluge: Etymological dictionary of the German language . Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, 2019, ISBN 978-3-11-154376-5 ( google.de [accessed on July 18, 2020]).

[Duden-2] hereditary enemy who. In: www.duden.de. Retrieved July 21, 2020 .

[3] Wirsching, Hélène Miard-Delacroix : From hereditary enemies to good neighbors: A German-French dialogue . Reclam Verlag, 2019, ISBN 978-3-15-961514-1 ( google.de [accessed on July 18, 2020]).