List of winged words / V
Varus, give me back my legions!
While Publius Quinctilius Varus was retreating to his winter camp on the Rhine with three legions in AD 9, the Teutons under the Cheruscan prince Arminius lured him into an ambush and defeated him in the Varus Battle .
With the loss of three legions and as many cavalry units as well as six cohorts, the battle is considered one of the greatest Roman defeats. Varus took his own life on the battlefield. When Emperor Augustus found out about the defeat in Germania , he is said to have exclaimed, according to the biographer Suetonius :
- "Quintili Vare, legiones redde!"
- "Quintilius Varus, give the legions back!"
In Joseph Victor von Scheffel's song When the Romans Got Cheeky , this is ridiculed:
- "11. Only in Rome one was not cheerful,
but bought mourning clothes;
Just as
Augustus was sitting in the imperial hall at the midday meal ,
the mourning message came.
12. First
a piece of peacock got stuck in his throat because of the sudden shock ,
then he was beside himself
, 'Varus, Varus, be ashamed,
Redde legiones!' "
Father, I have sinned.
"Father, I have sinned" are the words of the prodigal son when he returns to his father.
A young man asks his father for his inheritance and squanders it. Then he remorsefully returns to the Father and says:
- "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you."
- " Πάτερ, ἥμαρτον εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ ἐνώπιόν σου. "
- (Father, hēmartōn eis ton ouranon kai enōpion sou.)
The father is so happy about the return of the prodigal son that he organizes a big party for him. When the older son complains about his father's behavior, the latter replies:
- “You have always been with me, what is mine is yours. Rejoice in the return of your brother, who was dead and has come back to life. "
Our father
In the Gospel according to Matthew and in the Gospel according to Luke there is the Our Father (Latin: Paternoster), a prayer that Jesus Christ taught his disciples. It is the only prayer that the Bible, with reference to Jesus, says that Christians should pray: “This is what you should pray for.” It is the most widespread prayer in Christianity. According to the original text of Luke it is divided into five, according to the Gospel of Matthew into seven requests (for spiritual [1–3] and bodily [4] goods as well as for averting evil [5–7]).
Father, forgive them!
“Father, forgive them; because they do not know what they are doing ! ” in the Gospel according to Luke the crucified Jesus asks his Father in heaven for his tormentors:
- But others were also led there, two evildoers, that they would be executed with him. And when they came to the place called The Skull , there they crucified him, and the evildoers with him, one on the right and one on the left. But Jesus said: “ Father, forgive them; because they don't know what they are doing! “And they distributed his clothes and threw lots for them.
On the altar of the British cathedral in Coventry is a wooden cross that the provost at the time had made from two burned roof beams after the German air raid. On the altar wall behind it is the following English inscription:
- "Father forgive."
- "Father, forgive."
Becoming a father is not difficult.
From the picture story Julchen in the Knopp trilogy by the bachelor Wilhelm Busch , the following insight comes as a preliminary remark:
- "Becoming a father is not difficult, but being a
father is very difficult ."
Busch adds:
- "The former is popular
because it is popular."
Below it says:
- "Then one morning he stands there
as a father and papa
And is happy from the
bottom of his heart that he was able to do this so well."
Then Busch describes the behavior of young children:
- "Because man as a creature
has no trace of consideration."
Being a father, on the other hand, is a guide with the subtitle Smart Advice for Fathers-to-be and Their Partners , which aims to ensure that many men are completely unprepared for their new role as fathers-to-be and later parenting fathers.
The state calls itself a fatherland whenever it is preparing to commit to human murder.
This statement comes from the third act of the play Romulus the Great by the Swiss playwright Friedrich Dürrenmatt , who observed that the term fatherland is often misused by political ideologies in order to generate enmity with other countries.
The comedy revolves around the last Western Roman emperor Romulus Augustulus , who despises his own culture for its cruel past and longs for the Germanic invasion , as this would mean the end of the Roman Empire.
When his daughter Rea asked whether one shouldn't love one's fatherland more than anything else in the world, Romulus replies:
- “No, one should love it less than a person. Above all, one should be suspicious of one's fatherland. Nobody becomes a murderer easier than a fatherland. "
In response to Rea's remark that it is about the fatherland, not a state, Romulus then says the above words.
The word fatherland originally means land that is likely to be cultivated and that belongs to the father. The term expanded over time until it encompassed the area of origin and affiliation of people and could even be personified.
Patriotic fellows
The derogatory term for the Social Democrats without patriotism is often attributed to Kaiser Wilhelm II himself and probably refers to the following sentence in the Communist Party's manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels :
- “The communists have also been accused of wanting to abolish the fatherland and nationality. - The workers have no fatherland. You can't take from them what they don't have. "
Hermann Hesse uses the term several times in his novel Der Steppenwolf , and the writer Adam Scharrer made it the title of a novel.
In April 2004, the expression was used by SPD politician Wolfgang Thierse as a swear word for German companies that relocate jobs abroad.
Venceremos.
Venceremos (Spanish: "We will win" ) is a political battle song from Chile , which was written in 1970 for the election campaign of Salvador Allende's movement. It quickly became so popular that it was the unofficial national anthem of Chile until the 1973 coup. In the Spanish-speaking world it has roughly the same meaning as the song We Shall Overcome in the English-speaking world.
The refrain goes as follows:
|
Venceremos, venceremos, |
|: Venceremos, Venceremos!
Take the people out of their chains, strike out! |
Do not disparage the masters to me!
In the opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg by Richard Wagner of Schusterpoet says Hans Sachs to the open for new knight Walther von Stolzing:
- "Do not despise my masters and honor their art."
While Walther stands for the new, Sachs also stands for the preservation of the traditional in art. Wagner sees Sachs as the last appearance of the artistically productive folk spirit. Stolzing is the “innovator” as Wagner saw himself as too.
The weak are also powerfully connected.
In Schiller's drama Wilhelm Tell (I, 3), Werner Stauffacher, representative of the canton of Schwyz , says when he thinks about the uprising of the Swiss against the Reichsvogt:
- "Connected, even the weak are powerful."
William Tell from the canton of Uri, however, says:
- "The strong are most powerful alone."
Damn to all eternity
Damn in all eternity (English: From Here to Eternity ) is the German title of anovel by James Jones that was published in 1951 and filmed by Fred Zinnemann in Hollywood in 1953. The English title is a quote from the poem Gentleman Rankers (Common Soldiers from a Good House) by Rudyard Kipling . There it says at the end of the first stanza:
- "We're poor little lambs who've lost our way,
Baa! Baa! Baa!
We're little black sheep who've gone astray,
Baa - aa - aa!
Gentlemen-rankers out on the spree,
Damned from here to Eternity,
God ha 'mercy on such as we,
Baa! Yah! Bah! "
The novel describes how the soldier Prewitt in Hawaii was suppressed by his superiors shortly before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor .
Perish, go your way!
In Friedrich Schiller's tragedy The Fiesco Conspiracy in Genoa , there is a dialogue between Andreas Doria, the tyrannical Doge of Genoa, and the conspirator Fiesko, who wants to overthrow the tyrant. At the end of this scene a thoughtful Fiesko remains, who then persuades himself to continue the work he has begun:
- “ANDREAS great. Poor mocker! Have you never heard that Andreas Doria is eighty and that Genoa - happy? He leaves the arbor.
FIESCO looks after him in astonishment. Do I have to overthrow this man before I learn that it is harder to be like him? He takes a few steps up and down deeply. Now! I made up for size with size - we're done, Andreas; and now, ruin, go your way. He hurries to the back alley - drums sound from every corner. A sharp battle at the Thomastor. The gate is blown and opens the view into the harbor, in which ships lie, lit with torches. "
Dear audience, come on, find the end yourself!
This request comes from Bertolt Brecht's drama The Good Man of Sezuan and is intended to force the audience to make decisions. In the epilogue, an actor steps on the stage and justifies the open conclusion by saying that the audience should think about the consequences of what is depicted:
- “We stand disappointed ourselves and see
the curtain closed and all questions unanswered.
[…]
You yourself immediately thought about
How you can
help a good person to a good end.
Dear audience, come on, find the end yourself!
There must be a good one, must, must, must! "
Brecht's goal was to keep the audience in mind that they were in the theater, and the alienation effect also served him for this .
Damn it!
The phrase Verflixt und zugewäht (or "Verflucht und zugewäht") originated from a little student song in which it says:
I have a loved one,
she is beautiful, she shows me her apples, that's what happens to me.
But when my loved one confesses to me that I love fruit,
I cursed my pants and sewed it shut.
But the song also has a happy ending :
But when she cried too much,
I opened him up again.
To forgive but not to forget.
The request to forgive something, but to keep the subject of forgiveness in mind, goes back to an anecdote about the statesman Otto von Bismarck , which he tells in his book Thoughts and Memories . It's about the relationship with his old friend, Field Marshal Friedrich von Wrangel , with whom a long-standing rift was ended.
During the German-Danish War , Wrangel was initially in command of the Prussian-Austrian troops. However, he was quickly replaced in the course of the war, as he proceeded unauthorized, and was replaced at Bismarck's instigation. Wrangel delayed operations and banned the pursuit of defeated Danish troops.
It is said of Bismarck's relationship with Wrangel that, as a young envoy, Bismarck sat at the court table across from old Wrangel, with whom he had had a serious argument. The two did not speak a word to each other until old Wrangel said to Bismarck:
- "My son, can't you forget?"
Bismarck replied dismissively:
- "No!"
Then both were silent for a long time until Wrangel started again:
- "My son, can you not forgive?"
Then Bismarck held out his hand across the table and said:
- "With all my heart!"
John F. Kennedy is credited with: "Forgive your enemies, but remember their names."
Don't forget the best!
This warning is a recurring formula in numerous German folk tales . It's about a treasure hidden in a mountain, which you need a miracle flower (or something similar) to raise . Anyone who has discovered the flower and has penetrated the mountain with it is warned by a voice not to forget the best. This means the flower that opens the way back. If it is forgotten, the mountain closes and the treasure is lost. The love story of the Sonnenberg Castle tells of a shepherd and a sad damsel who opened the gate to the dwarf country for the shepherd:
- “And while he could hardly believe his luck and filled his pockets with the valuables, the girl's flower fell gently from his hat. 'Don't forget the best!' Warned the girl, and the shepherd was startled. He stuffed more gems into his hat, but again she said: 'Don't forget the best!' He also filled the hat with thick gold coins, and for the third time she said: 'Don't forget the best!' Her voice could hardly be heard, for she was choked with tears, and from the depths of the mountain the shepherd heard a muffled rumble. Cold horror seized him, and heavily laden with his new riches, he ran back down the dark corridors.
He found the gate and was glad to have escaped the eerie mountain. But when he emptied his pockets outside, he could search as long as he wanted, he found nothing but dead leaves. The gate to the dwarf kingdom had disappeared, and suddenly a deep pain seized him: He had been chosen to redeem the girl - he could have set her free if he had only taken her flower instead of the treasures. "'
Today the quote is mostly used in a different sense. This is what the Benedictine Father Anselm Grün calls his book with inspiration for every day Don't forget the best .
Arrest the usual suspects!
"Arrest the usual suspects!" (English: "Round up the usual suspects" ) comes from the 1942 film Casablanca and is the cynical description of the criminalistic approach of a police chief. When Major Strasser arrives at the airport and wants to call the control tower, he is shot by Rick. Renault instructs the approaching police officers to arrest "the usual suspects" and takes Rick's side.
This film quote is sometimes used today to justify a practice-oriented problem-solving strategy.
The Usual Suspects is a feature film that was shot in the United States in 1995 and directed by Bryan Singer. The main actors meet for the first time in prison for confrontation after being arrested as previously convicted suspects.
Lost labor of love
Verlorene Liebesmüh is the German title of Shakespeare's comedy Love's Labor Lost , in which a king (Ferdinand of Navarra), two dukes (De Longueville and Du Maine) and a marshal (De Biron) found a philosophical club whose goal it is for three years to avoid the sight of women. Shortly afterwards, however, the Princess of France arrives with her ladies-in-waiting Maria, Kathrine and Rosaline. Ferdinand “falls for” the princess, Berowne falls in love with Rosaline, Dumaine with Kate and Longaville with Maria.
The play ends with a party at which a messenger destroys the cheerful atmosphere with the news of the death of the King of France. The princess explains that they will leave that same evening and advises King Ferdinand to live as a hermit for a year, after which he can visit her again.
The first translation into German was published by Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz in 1774 under the Latin title Amor vincit omnia . Four years later, the drama appeared as Der Liebe Müh ist free .
Prodigal son
In the biblical parable of the prodigal son , Jesus tells of one of the two sons of a wealthy father who has his inheritance paid off and squanders it. When he remorsefully returns to his father, he is accepted by him again without reproach:
- " Πάτερ, ἥμαρτον εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ ἐνώπιόν σου. "
- (Father, hēmartōn eis ton ouranon kai enōpion sou.)
- "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you."
When the older son complains about the generous behavior of his father, who also slaughters a fattened calf to celebrate the return of his son, he replies:
- “You have always been with me, what is mine is yours. Rejoice in the return of your brother, who was dead and has come back to life. "
Paradise lost
The Lost Paradise (English: Paradise Lost ) is an epic by the English poet John Milton ,completed in 1663, whichdepictsthe biblical theme of the Fall and God's plan of salvation for mankind. It tells the story of the Fall, the temptation of Adam and Eve by Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden .
Satan and his entourage rebelled against God, were defeated and sent to hell as punishment. They set up the pandemonium there, the home of all fallen angels, and from now on they decide to fight God through cunning and deception instead of on the open battlefield.
Later, Milton wrote a sequel entitled Paradise Regained (Paradise Regained) , in which he tells how God gives an opportunity for the people to regain paradise. However, this sequel never achieved comparable prestige.
Heinrich Böll created the story Lost Paradise in 1949 .
Today the term Lost Paradise is mostly used to describe natural areas that have been destroyed by human activity:
- Travel report: Tuvalu - a paradise lost
- Nature - Paradise Lost: The forest looks black and is silent
- Commune experiment Friedrichshof - a lost paradise!
Veronika, spring is here!
Veronika, spring is here! was a hit by the vocal ensemble Comedian Harmonists , with which they had great success in the 1930s. The melody comes from the Austrian pop composer Walter Jurmann , the text was written by his compatriot Fritz Rotter . The quote is also the first and last line of the chorus:
Veronika, spring is here,
the girls sing tralala.
The whole world is bewitched,
Veronica, the asparagus grows!
Treason is only a matter of date.
The six heads represent the six leading roles he played in six different regimes.
The French politician Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord said to Tsar Alexander I at the Congress of Vienna :
- "Treason, Sire, is just a matter of date."
France was indeed a losing power at the Congress of Vienna, but Talleyrand skillfully negotiated first a say, then an important alliance position with England and Austria against Russia and Prussia, so that the former Entente was broken. In short: As a representative of the losing side, he managed to negotiate such favorable conditions that France did not have to suffer any territorial losses.
Andreas Diebold from Bayerischer Rundfunk sees this quote with reference to his personal pastry chef Marie-Antoine Carême :
- “It is quite possible that he had his master chef in mind. Indeed, poor Talleyrand was soon fobbed off; Carème was drawn to Tsar Alexander, of all people. "
Thomas Noetzel writes in an essay on the 20th century The Century of Betrayal :
- “Treason then becomes a machine of political uniformity and a matter of date. Anyone who fails to follow the general line of the party, who is not up to date with the latest ideological changes, falls under the charge of treason and is in mortal danger. "
If a political U-turn is taken, the suspects are subjected to a backward-looking examination of their conscience.
Alexander Gauland writes in the Tagesspiegel under the heading Why other convictions? With reference to labor leaders who become traitors :
- "It's true what Talleyrand once said - betrayal is only a matter of date - but even this Master of Changes let at least a few years pass before he acted on the motto, what do I care about my chatter from yesterday;" Or to put it more finely with Adenauer: Who wants to prevent me from becoming smarter every day? "
Reconciling instead of dividing
“Reconciling instead of splitting” was the central motif of the German politician Johannes Rau , who, due to his Evangelical-Free Church background, was concerned with social equilibrium and campaigned for social justice. When he announced his candidacy for chancellor in 1987, Rau u. a. “Reconciling instead of dividing, being in love with success. I'm betting on victory with you. ” But as early as 1985, reconciliation instead of splitting was the motto of his“ Ahlen speech ”. With the words reconciling instead of splitting , Der Spiegel wrote its obituary for Rau. A political biography also has the phrase in the title. As Federal President, Rau convinced his critics with a balanced administration and, as an avowed Christian, always had Bible quotes ready. In his first speech in Berlin , Rau addressed the issue of integration and explained that immigration is both a burden and an enrichment.
Rau said in June 2004 about his tenure as head of state:
- “I wanted enmity to disappear, for reconciliation to succeed. I think I was able to make a difference. I am very happy about that."
The reverse “splitting instead of reconciling” was used in the debate about Thilo Sarrazin , Joachim Gauck or the Turkish-Israeli disputes and was also taken up by cabaret artists such as Hagen Rether and Volker Pispers .
Trust is good, control is better!
According to the Russian Language Institute , the sentence attributed to Lenin , “ Trust is good, control is better! “ Not his invention and does not appear in this form in any of his speeches and works. But he used the Russian phrase:
- Доверяй, но проверяй. - "Dowerjai, no prowerjai"
- "Trust, but check."
This was one of his favorite sentences and probably passed into German usage via a propaganda translation as Lenin's word.
The English version "Trust, but Verify" was often used by the US President Ronald Reagan when it came to the relationship between the USA and the Soviet Union.
Stay a while! You are so pretty!
This famous quote is from Goethe's drama Faust .
- “At the moment I will say:
stay a while! You are so pretty!
Then you may bind me in chains,
then I will gladly perish! "
The so-called Devil's Pact develops out of Faust's dissatisfaction with his life : Mephisto undertakes to serve Faust in this world, to fulfill all his wishes and to grant him deepest insights; for this Faust undertakes to hand over his soul to the devil if he gains satisfaction through Mephistus' service.
Confusion of feelings
Confusion of feelings is the title of a novella by the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig , published in 1927. This novella is something of a classic in homosexual literature, in which the emotional conflicts of a married professor are portrayed, while a student moves in who adores him as a scientist.
The student is originally enthusiastic about an enthusiastic lecture by the professor about Shakespeare's time and develops close contact with the professor and his wife. He lives in the same house and comes regularly for talks. The student, confused, observes the professor's violent mood swings. Proximity suddenly turns into cynicism. The novella describes this strange ambivalence from the perspective of the student who suspects that the spouse is a secret behind it all.
Forgive the hard word!
This phrase has probably become popular through the reports of the fictional newspaper correspondent Wippchen. The writer Julius Stettenheim had his fictional character report in falsified quotations and incorrectly used idioms about theaters of war that he never went to. This is where the Berlin saying “Don't do a little rocker” comes from when someone obviously cuts it open. In Wippchen's reports there are also variations such as:
- "Sorry for that harsh word!"
- "Forgive me if my words boil over!"
With this phrase one usually tries to soften a possibly offensive expression:
- "This Dix sucks - pardon the harsh word."
- “A stupid fellow, Herr von Schnaase. Forgive the hard word! " ( Ludwig Thoma : Altaich )
- "Georgette Heyer is - excuse the harsh word, as Wippchen would have said - not a rabbit this year; she has published no fewer than 38 novels so far. "
There is no end to much book-making.
These words are part of the closing remark under the biblical book of the preacher Kohelet , which warns against the exaggeration of wisdom and science and is often quoted in this context:
- “The words of the wise are like spikes, and like nails driven in are the collected sayings; they are given by a shepherd. And besides, my son, let me warn you: There is no end to the great amount of book-making, and much study is fatigue of the body. ” ( Koh 12:12 Elf )
A lot of book-making is no end - amiable and nasty things about books and those who live from and with them is the title of a book by Helmut H. Vorländer from 1987.
The baroque poet Georg Philipp Harsdörffer writes in the preface to his work Der Grosse Schauplatz - Lust- und Lehr- rich history :
- “The wise King Solomon in his preacher on the 12th Cap. verse. 12. says: There is no end to making a lot of books. Aiming special doubts about our last time / of which we read in Danieli's prophecy on verse 12. 4. That much will come in oneself / and find great understanding [...] From the above it is evident / that the prophet Daniel prophesies of this time of ours / in which there is no end to writing books / and cannot satisfy the talkative age of the world; how many good and bad books are to be written / and the useful and useless sciences are to be increased by much vain controversial pamphlets; in which one will work more with a lot of knowledge than with a good conscience. "
Much enemy much ore'!
This much-quoted motto of the early modern Landsknechtsführer Georg von Frundsberg describes the possibility of gaining even more honor against a numerically superior enemy.
With his well-drilled troops, Frundsberg won important victories. In 1513 he defeated a fourfold superior Venetian army at Creazzo . His motto "Much enemy, much honor" comes from this battle .
The quote is used today in different contexts:
- "Much enemy much ore. Ups and downs in the life of Bill Clinton " (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
- "Bundeswehr: a lot of enemy, a lot of honor, but less salary ..."
- "Much enemy, much honor: Russian President Putin dreams of old strength." (Die Zeit)
A lot of noise about nothing
Much Ado About Nothing (English: Much ado about nothing ) is the German title of a comedy by William Shakespeare , it is in a piece of intrigue, slander and confusion. In the end, however, love and truth triumph over deception and falsehood.
The play title is often quoted when trying to mark something as exaggerated:
- "A lot of noise about nothing. The diet increase has been canceled. "
- "The job reference - Much Ado About Nothing?"
- "Much Ado About Nothing - CO 2 Compromise by the EU"
There were a lot of stones and little bread.
This is a quote from the poem Swabian customer of Ludwig Uhland , is described in the comically as Emperor Barbarossa and his army on a crusade was. The ballad begins with the following verses:
When Emperor Rotbart came
to the holy land
with praise , he and the pious army had to go
through a deserted mountain range.
Great trouble arose there.
There were many stones and little bread.
And many a German rider
has done the drink there.
The horses got so weak in the stomach that
the rider almost had to carry the mare.
With this formulation, Uhland refers to a passage from the Gospel according to Matthew , where it says:
- “ 8 For whoever asks receives; and whoever searches there will find; and whoever knocks there will be opened. 9 Which of you men if his son asks him for bread, who will give him a stone? 10 or, if he asks him for a fish that offers him a snake? "
Thank you very much for the flowers!
This is the title of a song by Udo Jürgens , which became famous because it was played in the opening credits of the television series Tom and Jerry :
- "Thank you
for the flowers,
thank you very much, how nice of you."
This song actually has no relation to the series, apart from the fact that the tomcat Tom tries to lure Jerry with a bouquet of flowers during the opening credits; however, the chorus also appropriately says: "Sometimes life with you likes to play cat and mouse" .
The words “Thank you very much for the flowers!” Are a thankful answer for a compliment or praise received, but are also used ironically if you have been criticized or insulted.
Forty centuries look down on you.
Napoleon Bonaparte said verbatim to his troops in a speech before the Battle of the Pyramids on July 21, 1798:
- "Soldiers, be aware that forty centuries look down on you from these pyramids."
- ("Soldats, songez que du haut de ces pyramides quarante siècles vous contemplent!")
In context it sounded like this:
- "Soldiers! You have come to this area to wrest it from barbarism, to bring civilization to the East and to free this beautiful part of the world from the yoke of England. We will fight. Remember that 40 centuries look down on you from these monuments. "
- ("Soldats! Vous êtes venus dans ces contrées pour les arracher à la barbarie, porter la civilization dans l'Orient, et soustraire cette belle partie du monde au joug de l'Angleterre. Nous allons combattre. Songez que du haut de ces monuments quarante siècles vous contemplent. »)
The pyramids were built between about 2620 and 2500 BC. In the 4th dynasty . Strictly speaking, it was more than 40 centuries, namely 4,299 to 4,418 years.
In fact, Napoleon's soldiers could not see the pyramids at all, because they were still a day's march away. It is probably a subsequent heroization, which Napoleon only dictated in exile on St. Helena.
People of poets and thinkers
For the standing phrase from the Germans as "people of poets and thinkers" see Poets and Thinkers .
People without space
People without space is the title of a novel by the writer Hans Grimm from 1926. The title of this colonial novel, which justified the German expansion policy, became a National Socialist catchphrase.
In the novel, Grimm, who himself lived in South Africa for a few years, propagates the acquisition of living space as a solution strategy for the problems of the German republic. The novel developed into one of the best-selling books of the Weimar Republic . The slogan “People without space” offered itself as a catchy formula with which all problems of the republic were causally attributed to an alleged lack of space. Grimm's novel and its reception acted as a resonance intensifier of a mood that could be described as “collective claustrophobia”, which was taken up a little later by the National Socialists in their ideas of “living space in the east”. Grimm is even considered a favorite author of Hitler.
It should be added, however, that Grimm himself did not dream of living space in the east, but rather of classical colonialism of the imperial era:
- "German people [need] space around them and the sun above them."
Peoples of Europe, keep your most sacred goods!
This is the title of a picture that the history painter Hermann Knackfuß made based on a design by Kaiser Wilhelm II as a gift to the Russian Tsar Nicholas II .
Illustrated Archangel Michael (the patron saint of the Germans), who, surrounded by a number valkyrie-like women who symbolize the peoples of Europe ( Germania , Britannia , etc.), a in dark storm clouds are approaching floating on a European landscape from the East Buddha points .
With this allegorical painting, Wilhelm II wanted to call on European Christianity to a common struggle against the yellow peril and godless Buddhism .
Folks, hear the signals!
The refrain of the International , the battle song of the international labor movement, begins with these words. The whole refrain is in the French original:
- "C'est la lutte finale:
Groupons-nous, et demain,
L'Internationale
Sera le genre humain!"
The German version of the chorus is:
- "Nations, hear the signals!
On to the last stand!
The international
fight for human right! "
The refrain is so well known that the words are repeatedly quoted in other contexts:
- "Monitoring WLAN traffic. Nations, hear the signals. "
- "Nations, hear (and see) the signals!"
The voice of the people is God's voice.
The Latin phrase Vox populi vox Dei means “People's voice (is) God's voice”. The sentence is sometimes quoted to justify popular rule, but often also as an ironic comment on the outcome of elections.
The sentence appears, among other things, in a letter from the French theologian Petrus von Blois , in which he reminds the clergy of the importance of the community's judgment on them:
- "Scriptum est: quia vox populi, vox dei."
- "It is written: Because it is the voice of the people, it is the voice of God."
Full steam ahead!
This catchphrase for carefree going off comes from a telegram that Kaiser Wilhelm II wrote in 1894 after the explosion of the main steam pipe on the naval ship Brandenburg with several fatalities and in which it said:
- “We are all in God's hands.
I will donate a memorial plaque to the garrison church in Kiel to commemorate the fallen, and by the way: Full steam ahead! "
Four years earlier, after Bismarck's dismissal, Wilhelm said:
- “The office of officer on watch on the ship of state has fallen to me. The course remains the same, and now 'full steam ahead!' "
Full pot, Hoshi!
This sentence comes from the German dubbing of the American film Bill & Ted's crazy journey through time . The slogan "Party On, Dude!" Used in the original sound is widespread in English-speaking countries, while the German version is limited to the youthful slang of the 1980s and the rock music scene.
Completely detached
This description of weightlessness comes from the hit Major Tom , which Peter Schilling sang in 1982 and whose refrain reads as follows:
- "Completely detached
from the earth,
the spaceship floats
completely weightless."
The well-known song title is quoted today in different contexts:
- "VW share speculation: Completely detached from corporate performance"
- "Reach your goal completely detached - sailing.no-time, sailing by sailors for sailors."
From the little tree that other leaves wanted.
This is the title of a poem by Friedrich Rückert from the Five Little Fairy Tales to Sleep For My Little Sister . From the little tree that other leaves wanted begins as follows:
- “A tree has stood in the forest
in good and bad weather;
From bottom to top it
only had needles instead of leaves;
The needles that pricked,
The tree said:
'All my comrades
have beautiful leaves on,
and I only have needles,
nobody touches me;
May I wish whatever I want, I wish
I had leaves of pure gold. ""
Like the other trees, the coniferous sapling would like a dress of leaves, light green in summer, golden in autumn, ice glasses in winter. But its green leaves are eaten by goats, the golden one is stolen by the robber, the glass one is blown by the wind. In the end, it gets its needles again.
The title is quoted when someone feels disadvantaged and always has new wishes.
Stream and streams are freed from the ice.
This verse, often applied to a political thaw, can be found in Goethe's drama Faust I :
- “The stream and brooks are freed from the ice
by the lovely, invigorating gaze of spring;
Hope grows in the valley;
The old winter, in its weakness,
withdrew into the rough mountains. "
It's easy to guess from the secure port.
These words are spoken by the fisherman Ruodi zu Tell in Friedrich Schiller's drama Wilhelm Tell in response to his request to drive Konrad Baumgarten, who was persecuted by the bailiff's captors, across the stormy sea:
- "Trust in God and save the afflicted!"
This quote is used to express that someone can easily give advice when they are not in the dangerous situation that they are in.
There is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.
"Du sublime au ridicule il n'y a qu'un pas" (There is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.) Napoleon Bonaparte said several times on his flight from Russia to his ambassador in Warsaw , Dominique Dufour de Pradt . Also in the Memoires de Mme de Remusat it says:
- "Bonaparte has often said that there is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous."
Napoleon only gave an often expressed thought its permanent form. The writer Jean-François Marmontel wrote as early as 1799:
- “En géneral le ridicule touche au sublime” (“In general, the ridiculous touches the sublime”) .
And Thomas Paine stated in 1794:
- "When writers and critics speak of the sublime, they don't see how close it borders on the ridiculous."
Take from the tribe
The phrase jokingly or negatively characterizes a person who is always concerned about his own advantage. Possibly there is a corruption of the Israeli root name Benjamin in the Old Testament.
Blown by the wind
Gone with the Wind is a novel by Margaret Mitchell that is set in the southern United States during the Civil War of the 1860s and the Reconstruction that followed . The book was first Dead Your Heavy Bag or Tomorrow is Another Day ( "Tomorrow is another day") loud. The title Gone with the Wind ultimately usedcomes from the third stanza of the poem Non Sum Qualis eram Bonae Sub Regno Cynarae by the English poet Ernest Dowson. There it says:
- I have forgot much, Cynara! gone with the wind.
In the novel, after conquering her hometown, Scarlett O'Hara wonders whether her house is still standing or whether it was blown by the wind that swept through Georgia (or if it too is "gone with the wind" that swept through Georgia) .
To learn from the Soviet Union means to learn to win.
This slogan was the motto for German-Soviet friendship, as it was propagated in the GDR by the Society for German-Soviet Friendship (DSF) as a mass organization. The 3rd DSF Congress in 1951 had the slogan “ To learn from the Soviet Union means to learn to win” , followed by “circles for evaluating Soviet experiences”, which were supposed to impart knowledge about the culture and society of the Soviet Union to GDR citizens.
It was verbally horned (using the Saxon dialect of several GDR functionaries): "To learn from the Soviet Union means to learn sick."
By God's grace
The divine right is a justification for monarchical claims to rule. The term developed from the title addition Dei Gratia ("by God's grace"). It starts with the Carolingians , especially Charlemagne , who saw his rule as Roman emperor in the Middle Ages legitimized by the church and who understood his empire as a unity of state , church and religion .
In 1 Corinthians (15:10) Paul testifies that he owes what he is to divine grace:
- "But by God's grace I am what I am."
By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered
This is a quote from a letter written in prison by the theologian and resistance fighter Dietrich Bonhoeffer in 1944 . The poem Faithfully and quietly surrounded by good powers was intended as a Christmas greeting for his fiancée, parents and siblings and later became famous as a hymn text. The last stanza says:
- “Wonderfully safe from good powers,
we confidently await what may come.
God is with us in the evening and in the morning
and most certainly every new day. "
The poem speaks of consolation in a family situation that is shaped by Nazi rule and war: Several family members are imprisoned, his twin sister went abroad because of her Jewish husband, the son died.
A new epoch in world history is starting from here and today, and you can say that you were there.
At the so-called cannonade of Valmy on September 20, 1792, the French revolutionary troops forced the Prussian-Austrian troops to retreat and then began their victorious advance to the Rhine.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , who witnessed the cannonade accompanied by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach , reports on this battle in France, which he wrote down 30 years later . On the evening of the defeat, the dejected people asked his opinion. Shortly afterwards the republic was proclaimed in France .
From nothing, comes nothing.
This saying goes back to the thesis formulated in Latin, which can be found in the writings of Aristotle , Lucretius and Thomas Aquinas :
- "Ex nihilo nihil fit."
- "Nothing arises from anything."
The idiom is used to indicate that nothing happens without commitment. This is the name of an advertising campaign for the well-known product Tesa , which is headed with the motto "Nothing comes from anything" :
- “A strong brand like Tesa needs constant updating - nothing comes from anything. That is why we are again doing a broad-based TV campaign this year for the new generation of scooters, power strips and scotch tape. "
In contrast, creatio ex nihilo (Latin: creation from nothing) denotes the doctrine that the creation of the world as the work of the Creator God is absolutely free of preconditions. The only passage in the Bible that explicitly speaks of "creation out of nothing" is in the 2nd Book of the Maccabees ; There it says:
- “I ask you, my child, look at the sky and the earth; see everything that is there and realize: God created it out of nothing, and this is how people come into being. "
From pillar to post
The phrase “run / run / be sent from Pontius to / to Pilate” describes an aimless journey, since Pontius and Pilate are one and the same person.
The phrase can be traced back to the fact that Pontius Pilate sent Jesus to the tetrarch Herod Antipas . He was supposed to judge Jesus, but ridiculed him and sent him back to Pilate for judgment:
- " 7 And when he learned that he was under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was in the days even to Jerusalem. 8 But when Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad; for he would have liked to see him long ago, for he had heard a lot from him and hoped he would see a sign from him. 9 And he asked him many things; but he answered him nothing. 10 But the chief priests and scribes stood and accused him harshly. 11 But Herod and his servants despised and mocked him, put a white robe on him, and sent him back to Pilate. 12 Pilate and Herod became friends with one another to that day; because before they were enemies. "
On the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk website , this phrase is explained as follows:
- “Anyone who is sent from pillar to post will run into emptiness, because there is no way between pillar and pilate; because Pontius and Pilate are one and the same. And when we walk from pillar to post ourselves, we have lost our bearings. Pontius Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent, but he did not acquit him, he was a coward, sent Jesus to King Herod and he sent him back again. "
From time to time I like to see the old man.
The disrespectful words "From time to time I like to see the old man" come from the monologue Mephistus in Goethe's drama Faust I (Prologue in Heaven) . The devil says this after he has made a bet with God for Faust's soul - that is why "the old man" also refers to God:
- “From time to time I like to see the old man,
and take care not to break with him.
It is really nice
to speak of a great gentleman so humanely to the devil himself. "
Today the line is often quoted with ironic reference to the boss.
People read it differently at the table.
This saying comes from Schiller's drama Wallenstein (Die Piccolomini) , in which the "imperial generalissimo" Wallenstein wants to assure himself in writing of the unconditional support of his generals and has a corresponding document written for them to sign at a banquet. At the beginning, the document is read out, which contains an important reservation clause ("as far as our oath given to the emperor will allow it"). This is missing in the second version. General Tiefenbach misses the clause and says:
- "I can tell you read it differently at the table."
The saying became a catchphrase that is quoted in connection with a striking change of heart.
Outpost of tyranny
Outposts of tyranny (ger .: outposts of tyranny ) is a political buzzword that of Condoleezza Rice in her confirmation hearing for appointment as US Secretary of State before the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations used to describe a number of countries whose governments the human rights disregard:
- The world should apply what Natan Sharanski called the marketplace sample: “A person who cannot enter the center of any marketplace in any city and freely express his or her opinion there without fear of being arrested, imprisoned or physically harmed lives in a society of fear, not a society of freedom. We must not rest until everyone who lives in such a 'society of fear' has achieved freedom. ":
These are the following countries:
The North Korean government took offense at the classification and declared that it would stay away from the six-nation talks as long as the US did not apologize.
The President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki , who is taking a conciliatory course towards neighboring Zimbabwe , was similarly unhappy . Robert Mugabe himself reacted abusively to Rice's title during the election campaign:
- “Condoleezza Rice is a girl of slave descent. She should know that the white man is no friend. ... She says Zimbabwe is one of the five or six outposts of tyranny in the world. Of course she has to speak to her master (US President George W. Bush, the editor). "
Advance praise
This term goes back to a formulation in a poem by Heinrich Heine with the title Plateniden (based on the writer August von Platen ) from the second book of the poetry collection Romanzeros . In this poem Heine says of Friedrich Schiller , Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and Christoph Martin Wieland , the "true prince from Genieland" :
- “True princes from Genieland pay in
cash what they eat,
Schiller, Goethe, Lessing, Wieland
have never asked for credit.
Did not want any ovations
from the public on credit ,
no advance laurel
crowns, did not boast bold and clumsy. "
Heine's term has entered everyday language and is still often used today:
- "Russia: advance praise for Medvedev"
- "Lots of early praise for new coaches"
Safety first
This saying goes that in view of a delicate project, such as the handling of a box of porcelain, prudent, safety-conscious actions are to be preferred so that no porcelain is broken.
Over! Oh over!
The String Quartet No. 14 in D minor D 810 Death and the Maiden by Franz Schubert was composed to a poem by Matthias Claudius , which begins with the following verses:
- "Over! Oh over!
Go wild boneman!
I'm still young, go dear!
And don't touch me. "
Death replies to the girl's request
- "Give me your hand, you beautiful and delicate figure!
I am a friend and do not come to punish.
Be of good cheer! I'm not wild,
you should sleep gently in my arms! "
Over! Oh over! is the title of a chamber music concert in Potsdam's Nikolaisaal about early death.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Joseph Victor von Scheffel : When the Romans got naughty . Quoted from: ingeb.org
- ↑ Gospel according to Luke , 15 : 5.11–32
- ↑ Gospel according to Matthew , 6 : 9-13 and Gospel according to Luke 11 : 2-4
- ↑ Gospel according to Luke , 23 : 32-34. Quoted from: bibel-online.net
- ↑ Quoted from: Wilhelm Busch: Julchen. ( Memento from March 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) at: buecherquelle.com
- ↑ Quoted from: home.arcor.de ( Memento from July 9, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
- ↑ Quoted from: poemhunter.com
- ↑ Friedrich Schiller : The Fiesco Conspiracy to Genoa . 5th elevator. Quoted from: zeno.org
- ↑ Quoted from: hochmeisterkirche.de
- ↑ Quoted from: wiesbaden.de
- ^ Gospel according to Luke , 15 : 11–32
- ↑ ingeb.org
- ↑ Bayerischer Rundfunk, Historical Archive: HF / 35471.2 Das Kalenderblatt, Andreas Diebold, Marie Antoine Carème is born on 8 June 2006. see. https://www.br.de/unternehmen/inhalt/geschichte-des-br/Findbuecher-schulfunk-100~attachment.pdf p. 146
- ↑ literaturkritik.de
- ↑ tagesspiegel.de
- ↑ See wdr.de/tv accessed March 21, 2011.
- ↑ Johannes Rau: “Reconciling instead of splitting” is still relevant. ( Memento from January 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) at: spd.de/aktuelles. Retrieved March 21, 2011.
- ↑ Jürgen Mittag, Klaus Tenfelde (Ed.): Reconciling instead of splitting. Johannes Rau . Oberhausen 2007, ISBN 978-3-938834-28-2 .
- ↑ Johannes Rau in June 2004, quoted by ORF , January 27, 2006, orf.at
- ^ SPD against Sarrazin: Split instead of reconciliation . In: Focus , April 28, 2011. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
- ^ Daniel Bax: Split instead of reconciling . In: the daily newspaper February 21, 2012. Accessed March 21, 2012.
- ↑ Malte Lemming: Counterpoint: Gauck has to split instead of reconcile . In: Der Tagesspiegel , March 12, 2012. Accessed March 21, 2012.
- ↑ Thomas Seibert: Counterpoint: Keep dividing instead of reconciling . In: Der Tagesspiegel , September 2, 2011. Accessed March 21, 2012.
- ↑ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe : Faust I
- ^ History made palatable . In: Die Zeit , No. 13/1962.
- ↑ Quoted from: zeno.org
- ↑ Gospel according to Matthew , 7, 9. Quoted from: bibel-online.net
- ↑ Quoted from: Thank you very much for the flowers. ( Memento from February 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) on: udojuergens.de
- ↑ Johannes Willms: Napoleon. A biography. Beck, Munich 2005.
- ↑ Quoted from: eugen-richter.de
- ↑ Quoted from: nthuleen.com
- ↑ Quoted from: garten-literatur.de
- ↑ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe : Faust I , Before the Gate, verse 903ff.
- ↑ pbsreport.de
- ↑ 2. Book of the Maccabees . 7.28
- ↑ Luke , from 23.7 to 12. Quoted from: bibel-online.net
- ↑ From pontius to pilate. ( Memento from March 1, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) on: mdr.de
- ↑ The Piccolomini , Fourth Act, Seventh Appearance.
- ↑ Source: Archive of the committee, date of discovery: November 4, 2006 ( Memento of February 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ MKÜ: Failures of a Despot , in: Die Welt, April 2, 2005.
- ↑ Quoted from: gedichte.xbib.de