Nassauer
A Nassauer is a person who allows himself to be tolerated by other people for no consideration , for example by living with someone without paying rent or constantly eating there without contributing anything to the meal .
It differs from the Schnorrer in that it can be endured continuously over a longer period of time , while the Schnorrer only repeatedly asks for small gifts. He is not a cheater as his actions are obvious to everyone involved.
Etymological hypothesis
"Nassauer" as a designation for a person who makes permanent use of services without consideration is attested in this meaning in 1864 for Berlin . The word could be a joking transformation of the Berlin term wet , which means "free". The Berlin term comes from the Rotwelschen wet , which is derived from the West Yiddish nossenen and means "to give".
It is possible that the name " Nassau " itself, which includes the city of Nassau an der Lahn, the noble house of Nassau and several historical states such as the Duchy of Nassau and the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau , has their associated people in a different meaning than "Nassauer" are referred to, no direct reference to Nassauer content .
Legend of origin
The widespread story of the free dinner of the Nassau students is considered to be a later invented legend of origin .
Since the Duchy of Nassau did not have its own university , Duke Wilhelm von Nassau-Weilburg signed a state treaty with the Kingdom of Hanover on October 29, 1817 . The Royal Hannoversche Georg-August-Universität Göttingen thus became the Nassau State University. In order to give the students an incentive to start studying in Göttingen, 200 to 300 kilometers away, the Duke granted grants through the Nassau Central Study Fund in the form of free meals.
The scholarship holders could therefore eat for free at a Göttingen contract economist. Legend has it that if a student in Nassau did not take advantage of this offer, a stranger, unauthorized person, who posed as Nassauer, would often take his seat and the free meal. This is how the student expressions "nassauer" and "Nassauer" arose. These words refer to uninvited guests who ate and drank at the expense of and instead of others, namely the Nassauer.
literature
- Volker Schmidt: Nassauern !? - Why not just Nassauer "nassauer" . In: Yearbook for the Limburg-Weilburg district 2020 . The district committee of the district of Limburg-Weilburg, Limburg-Weilburg 2019, ISBN 3-927006-57-2 , p. 99-109 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Nassauer. In: German Proverbs Lexicon .
- ↑ a b Friedrich Kluge : Dictionary of the German language . 24th edition. Continued by Elmar Seebold. de Gruyter, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-11-017473-1 , p. 646.
- ↑ Nassauer . In: Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon . 6th edition. Volume 14, Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1908, p. 436 .
- ^ Christian Spielmann : History of Nassau . Plaum, Wiesbaden 1910, p. 290.