Motto
A house motto , also known as a saying inscription , is a type of house inscription that is characterized by certain essential characteristics and is attached to the facade of buildings. In contrast to building inscriptions or pure building statements , house statements contain topics that are independent of the building process, as evidenced by appropriate folklore studies by the Vincke house inscription group . The client often expresses his attitude to life in it. Many old half-timbered houses carry such house sayings carved into a wooden beam over the entrance or over the gate openings of old barns in the form of Bible sayings , blessings, warnings, statements of envy or the like.
Emergence
House sayings - as well as house inscriptions - can be found more often in areas where houses were built in timber, such as half-timbered houses . This is because inscriptions are easier to cut into wood than chiseled into stone. This tradition existed in the German-speaking area during the early Middle Ages when cities were formed. Inscriptions in Latin were attached to churches and public buildings , but only a minority could understand them. With the end of the Middle Ages, a real house inscription culture emerged in Germany . Since then, the inscriptions have been written in German. Therefore, they are still legible and understandable today, as the sayings have been written in the Latin script that is still used today since the 16th century . They experienced their heyday from the 16th century. The end of the development was the end of the construction of half-timbered houses in the 19th century. For almost half a millennium , house sayings were a custom that hardly any house builder could escape. In addition to the house motto, there are also other types of house inscriptions. Building inscriptions and building statements contain information about the building or comment on it. The house inscription also includes signs and symbols.
purpose
The tradition of providing buildings with inscriptions at the main openings (entrance, driveway, exit) is not related to the ordinances of the Romans . The emergence of a house inscription culture in the German-speaking area seems to be of pagan origin and, from the perspective of house inscription research, was originally an expression of a demand for protection. The motto had a decorative character, as it was regularly attached to a place on the house facade that was clearly visible from the street. The intention was to get the viewer to read and think about the saying. The house motto is above all a personal commitment in which the author shares his life motto and his life experience with others. A hidden purpose of the house inscription was also to honor the building (and its owner or builder). In the building inscription, next to the year of construction, the name of the house builder and his wife were often mentioned. Special events such as wars, famines, floods and epidemics also found their expression in house sayings. However, sayings with a religious character predominate, expressing the residents' deep piety and devotion to God. In today's restoration of old (half-timbered) buildings, the earlier slogans are usually restored and painted in color.
Thematic groups
A motto is articulated and contains:
- Protection concerns
- Trust in God
- Praises
- Virtues
- general wisdom
- Envy sayings
- Branding inscriptions
- historical inscriptions
- mystery
- Chronograms
Examples:
- The Lord's blessing makes one rich without labor or labor
- God keep this house and everyone who comes and goes there
- I do not build from lust and splendor, necessity made me do it
- Nothing is done so beautifully, so comes someone who despises it '
- Those who trust God have built in heaven and on earth
- Anno 1284.
- On the day of Johannis et Pauli
- It was June 26th
- Notched with allerly Farve by a pipit
- Been CXXX children uttered
- Inland Hameln born
- To Calverie lost his head
House motto of the Frutighaus pictured above :
- Lord, we want to listen to you and trust you, strengthen the confidence in us
- Give us your grace and blessings and turn away from your Straaff judgment
- I, Peter Rieder, built this house for myself.
- Built by Peter Rieder and Susanna Pieren in 1771
- The highest god this house from fire and ... (illegible)
House sayings on the gable of hall houses , popularly known as Lower Saxony house, are almost mandatory . They are usually located on the main beam above the gate entrance.
At the Frutighaus in the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland , the (almost always religious) motto is still part of the building culture today.
literature
- The house inscription research of Anton Tumbrägel and Joachim Widera. Good friends and important inscription researchers In: Yearbook for the Oldenburger Münsterland 2015, pp. 152–172.
- Eaten early. Johannes Thomes and his important collection of inscriptions from the Osnabrücker Land In: Heimat-Jahrbuch Osnabrücker Land 2016, pp. 162–171.
- Joachim Widera: Possibilities and Limits of Folklore Interpretations of House Inscriptions. Frankfurt am Main 1990, ISBN 3-631-43023-X .
- Theodor Tebbe: The Vincke house inscription circle. Life and work of Johannes Vincke, Johannes Thomes, Anton Tumbrägel and Joachim Widera Dinklage 2015, ISBN 978-3-00-049296-9 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ See the in-depth explanations of the history of the motif on peregrinatio vitae , the motif of life as a pilgrimage at http://www.hausinschriften.com
- ↑ The oldest evidence of the legend of the Pied Piper of Hameln (in Low German ). http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Folk-lore_-_A_Quarterly_Review._Volume_3,_1892.djvu/236