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The distribution area of ​​the greeting (including Grüezi) corresponds roughly to that of Upper German (dark green on the map).

Grüß Gott is a greeting , more rarely a farewell greeting in the Upper German- speaking area , especially in Catholic countries, but also in the Protestant part of Württemberg and Franconia . With some variants, the greeting is the most common form of greeting in parts of southern Germany, Austria and South Tyrol . Closely related is the reformed Swiss grüezi or grüess-ech .

Shape and origin

Grüß Gott is an abbreviation of grüß [e] dich Gott, compare the dialect variants griaß di (God) “greet you (God)” or griaß eich or griaß enk (God) “greet you (God)”. There is thus a present subjunctive ( optative ). Semantically and formally, the same language area knows numerous parallel constructions, for example God protect you (said when saying goodbye), God help you (said after sneezing) or God pays you (thank you).

The original meaning of the greeting is “May God meet you kindly” or “God bless you”. People from the more northern German-speaking area usually only know the form grüß Gott without you and incorrectly interpret the greeting as an invitation to greet God, which is why they sometimes respond with sarcastic comments, e.g. B. When I see him; Hopefully not soon or no, I won't do that .

Ludwig Zehetner expressed the theory that there could be a loan translation from Irish, since greetings with similar content and this word order would also exist in Ireland. Only in Ireland and in the southern German-speaking area in the former mission area of ​​the Irish monks is the greeting "the formula 'Grüß Gott'" included. Hans Ulrich Schmid and other linguists have shown, however, that there are also blessings as greetings in other languages ​​and that the first written testimony to greet God came into being many centuries after the Irish missionary work in Bavaria.

Word mark

The dialect variant griaß di was protected by a German company as a word mark for certain product groups in 2011 . Although attempts have already been made in Germany to protect the word mark but not approved, this time it was possible to protect the expression as an EU trademark at the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). However, this entry was deleted at the request of a third party.

reception

For the Jews in the Upper German-speaking area, the question was whether the often empty phrase "Grüß Gott" was a violation of the commandment, "You should not abuse the name of the Lord your God". Since the greeting goes back to blessings with which the biblical Boaz and his reapers had already greeted each other in the field ( Ruth 2,4  EU : Boaz “said to the reapers: The Lord be with you! They answered: The Lord bless you ! ”), The“ Grüß Gott ”was compatible with the Ten Commandments .

The artist Ursula Beiler designed a 5 to 6 m long black sign with the outlined red-white-red inscription GRÜSS GÖTTIN . This was set up in 2008 on the motorway near Kufstein, in the meadow, around 2.5 m high, visible to drivers driving from Germany to Austria, and dismantled before the permit expired on Friday, January 29, 2016 at the end of the month. The blackboard sparked controversy in terms of content and was temporarily removed because the artist had Asfinag's approval , but had forgotten to obtain another approval from the Kufstein district authority. Once the table was expanded from unknown to "GRÜSS GOTT IN TIROL".

literature

See also the references in the article Grüezi .

Web links

Wiktionary: grüß Gott  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. Atlas of everyday German language
  2. ↑ German Dictionary , Volume IV, Section I, Part 6, Column 1013 f., Article greets Meaning B5 ( online )
  3. ↑ Cf. in the Marian prayer "Greetings (= blessed) are you, Mary, full of grace".
  4. ↑ Ludwig Zehetner: Basst scho! Words and phrases from the dialects and the regional high-level language in Old Bavaria, Volume 1. edition vulpes, Regensburg, 2009, p. 139 ff.
  5. ↑ Hans Ulrich Schmid: Bairisch: The most important in brief.
  6. ↑ Wolfgang Näser: Why do people say “Grüß Gott” in Bavaria? , Collection of materials for an inquiry from the BR, August 2000
  7. ↑ German company patented "Griaß di" on ORF on August 7, 2012, accessed on August 7, 2012
  8. ↑ Gunda Trepp: The last rabbi. The unorthodox life of Leo Trepp . Darmstadt 2018, p. 84.
  9. ↑ http://tirol.orf.at/news/stories/2754928/ “Grüss Göttin” sign leaves Kufstein, orf.at, January 29, 2016, accessed January 29, 2016.
  10. ↑ http://tirol.orf.at/news/stories/2741189/ Controversial sign from unknown "extended" orf.at, November 8, 2015, accessed January 29, 2016.
  11. ↑ http://tirol.orf.at/news/stories/2662583/ Goodbye for "Grüss Göttin" orf.at August 11, 2014, accessed January 29, 2016.