Seven things

Seven things are belongings in small numbers, manageable possessions or household items that are more or less untidy together in a certain place or as luggage . In the phrase pack his belongings , the term has been used since the 17th century. He alludes to the fact that a few possessions can be quickly packed up or gathered up in order to “leave, move out or disappear in a hurry.” The phrase pack your belongings is to be understood as being thrown out.

The fact that in addition to a series of symbolic and mystical meanings in modern Europe seven is ascribed to the fact that it is manageable goes back to the Austrian priest Arnold , who wrote the poem Von der Siebenzahl in the first half of the 12th century . Starting from the gifts of the Holy Spirit , he transferred the seven charisms - wisdom, insight, advice, strength, knowledge, piety and fear of God - to other principles without any recognizable order, such as the seven petitions of the Our Father , seven seals of the Apocalypse , the seven stars or the seven days of the four phases of the moon .

The Siebensachen find a correspondence in Bavarian-Austrian dialects. Seven plums or seven plums referred to the genitals or sexual intercourse in the euphemism . The cover word developed further into the matter , both in use for the object and for the act.

Expressing Backbeermus the belongings are in the Low German language designated where Backberen the word for dried pears or more generally for dried fruit respectively dried fruit is. Housed mess or -gekocht yields the mixed fruit jam . In idioms it says: "Pack dien Backbeermus tosom!" Or "Sai smiet jümehr Backberen tusomen un heiraadt."

Correspondences can also be found in Dutch : zijn biezen pakken , in English : to pack up one's traps and French emballer son saint-frusquin .

Web links

Wiktionary: Siebensachen  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

1. ^ Lutz Röhrich: Lexicon of proverbial speeches , Volume 4, Herder Spectrum, Freiburg am Breisgau 1991, ISBN 3-451-04400-5 , p. 1474
2. ↑ Hellmut Rosenfeld:  Arnold. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 378 f. ( Digitized version ).
3. ↑ Michaela Plötzl: Mathematische Wortschätze ( Memento from February 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on September 30, 2012
4. ↑ Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Wander (ed.): Deutsches Sprich emphasis-Lexikon , Volume 5. Leipzig 1880, digitized on zeno.org
5. ↑ plattmakers.de: Back Beer , accessed on September 30, 2012