Heel money
Anyone who “ gives heel money ” flees without fighting or without paying, “ whereby one might compare the heels of an escapee, which quickly become visible in turns, with jumping coins ”. According to Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Wander : “ To flee in a disgraceful way ” The phrase has been attested since the 13th century, but its origin is unclear.
Attempts at interpretation
It could go back to the Alemannic legal usage of fines for refugees from the battle, since you could only see the heels of them. “ According to Alemannic law, anyone who left his fellow combatants in danger and thereby put his life in danger had to pay 160 solidus as a penalty because he had shown his heels to the enemy. "
Another possible origin could be from the Sachsenspiegel deduce where the man's abandonment by the wife in Wenden with the payment of a "versne pennige" could be settled. Here a derivation of the word from heifer would be closer, i.e. remuneration in kind from young cattle.
According to Wander, there should still be the meaning in Silesia: step on the foreman 's heels so that he walks faster.
Examples
- "The heel money is often the best coin"
- "Pay with scorched iron"
- "Do the landlord wolt have applied / Do draff ichs loch weyt vbers feldt, / With my heels I show that / What on the notches draws what"
- a modern version according to Lutz Röhrich : "If you don't get a head quota, you have to give money."
literature
- Duden idioms. Dictionary of German Idioms. 2nd, revised and updated edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim / Leipzig / Vienna / Zurich 2002, ISBN 3-411-04112-9 , article: Fersengeld .
Web links
swell
- ↑ a b c d Lutz Röhrich , Lexicon of proverbial sayings, Volume 1–4, Herder Verlag, Freiburg 1973.
- ^ Lutz Röhrich , Lexicon of proverbial speeches, Volume 1–4, Herder Verlag, Freiburg 1973; however with "change of meaning".
- ^ A b c d Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Wander : German Sprichwort Lexikon, Vol. 1–5, Akamedische Verlagsgesellschaft Athenaion, 1866; Reprint Augsburg 1987.