Honi soit qui mal y pense

United Kingdom coat of arms

Electoral Saxon coat of arms with the blue and gold ribbon of the Order of the Garter

Royal coat of arms of Great Britain (1714–1801) with the ribbon of the Order of the Garter on a thaler of King George I as Elector of Braunschweig-Lüneburg , 1722

Honi soit qui mal y pense [ ɔni swa ki mal i pɑ̃s ] ( old French ; literally "be ashamed of those who think badly"), nowadays Honni soit qui mal y pense (from French honnir "to mock, despise, detest, Shame on someone ”), the former being etymologically related, is an Anglo-Norman idiom. The spelling honi is an old French variant of the spelling honni commonly used in French today . However, since there was no binding orthography at the time, there are also other spellings, for example Hony soyt quy mal y pense .

The sentence is the motto of the English Order of the Garter . Since the knightly decoration of the blue garter is part of the coat of arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, this lettering appears there together with the motto of the English royal family Dieu et mon droit "God and my law".

Word usage

A common German translation is:

"A rogue who thinks badly."

However, nowadays the word rogue is mainly understood in a smirkingly positive connection. Until the 19th century, however, this was a clearly negative synonym for petty criminals . The wording is more in line with today's usage:

“A scoundrel who thinks badly”, or “Be ashamed who thinks badly about it”.

Today the motto is used ironically in German, English , Italian and also in French to point out hidden motives or secret beneficiaries or to imply the former in the case of apparently unsuspicious or particularly moral acts.

origin

The Ceremony of the Garter (1901) by Albert Chevallier Tayler shows the legendary scene to which the foundation of the Garter is said to go back: King Edward III. shows the garter to his lover

The founder of the order, King Edward III, is considered to be the author of the sentence . of England (1312-1377). In the absence of findable documents from the time before 1416, legends emerged. According to the best known, Edward is said to have used these words at a ball for his alleged lover, the Countess of Salisbury , to return a garter that was lost during the dance, to the amusement of those present.

Presumably, however, the motto was intended to underline Edward's claim to the French throne - which was probably the main reason for donating the order. This is indicated in particular by the colors of the ribbon (blue and gold).

literature

• Michael Jones: Order of the Garter . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 5, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1991, ISBN 3-7608-8905-0 , column 131 f.
• Henriette Walter : Honni soit qui mal y pense: L'incroyable histoire d'amour entre le français et l'anglais. Robert Laffont, Paris 2001, ISBN 2-253-15444-X , p. 172.

Web links

Commons : Honi soit qui mal y pense  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

1. ↑ Michael Jones: Order of the Garter . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 5, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1991, ISBN 3-7608-8905-0 , column 131 f.