Like God in France

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The adverbial definition like God in France can be found in the phrase “to live like God in France ” (also “ to live like God in France ”) and in this context has the meaning of a “glorious life in joy” or “a carefree life in Abundance". Colloquially and in literature, “like God in France” is also varied and associated with other activities or other geographical names.

There is agreement that the phrase has its origins in German , but whether it originated in the 18th or 17th century or even earlier is not clear.

Guesses about the origin

There are various statements that try to explain the origin of the phrase "(live) like God in France". But they contradict each other or can be refuted by even earlier evidence. The exact origin is therefore unknown.

Maximilian I ( Apophthegmata by Julius Wilhelm Zincgref)

In an early edition of Georg Büchmann's collection of quotations, Winged Words , it is claimed about Maximilian I :

“In Zincgref-Weidner's 'Apophthegmata' (Leipzig 1693) it says: When he (Maximilian I, died 1519) had a confidential conversation with some of his people from one and the other country and kingdom, he also fell among others this judgment: 'If it were possible that I could be God and have two sons, the eldest God after me and the other king in France would have to be.' The phrase 'like God in France', which is only used in Germany, can only be explained from this anecdote. "

Franz Helbing stated in 1903:

"How God live in France - is said for a good life, the origin and the reason of this saying is unknown. A claim by Emperor Maximilian I, which Büchmann quasi cited as an explanation, can hardly [be related] to it ... "

In a later edition of Büchmann's Winged Words , the Apophthegmata origin is clearly revoked:

"Another explanation, according to which the saying goes back to Maximilian I (...), is unfounded."

French Revolution

Kurt Krüger-Lorenzen explains the phrase from the time of the French Revolution of 1789, in the

“God was deposed and the cult of reason took the place of Christianity. One imagined God, as it were, retired, who could now live so particularly carefree and happy in France ”.

An explanation of this kind can be found as early as 1859 in Der Erzähler: an entertainment paper for everyone .

Hermann Schrader claims in Der Bilderschmuck der Deutschen Sprache in Thousands of Popular Sayings (1894) that this German saying was already known before 1794:

"It goes without saying that the word was not created in France, but in Germany, even before the 18th Floreal (May 7, 1794)."

In the later edition of Büchmann's Winged Words , the origin at the time of the French Revolution is left undetermined:

"... is sometimes explained from the time when God was deposed by the French Revolution and had nothing more to do in France."

Mixing of older idioms

The Duden explains the colloquial idiom as "in abundance, carefree living", and suspects mixing with older expressions such as "live like a god" and "live like a gentleman (clergyman) in France", the latter referring to the comfort of the French clergy Medieval allusions.

Early uses in German

Late 18th and early 19th centuries

  • 1773 - 16 years before the French Revolution (1789–1799) - Moritz August von Thümmel used a variant with “Herrgott” in Wilhelmine, a prosaically comical poem in which he had the “furiously departing Elisabeth” say:

“Now I am happy and ugly at the same time.
I
feel as courageous as our Lord God in France, As small as milk in all my limbs.
The bitch won't come back to me anytime soon. "

  • 1802 is the mention:

"... that's the saying: he lives like God in France - more than ever aptly"

in the three-volume travel report My trip to France in 1800 and 1801 by the pastor and author Heinrich Christoph Steinhart . The winged word was therefore already known as a proverb back then and is mentioned in German in a Hungarian book the following year.
  • In 1814 , during the Wars of Liberation , a Prussian volunteer who camped near Neuilly reported:

“The trellises are the first to serve as good firewood; Food and wine have been brought in and we learn to thoroughly understand the phrase, which we have not yet understood: "How God live in France". "

This report is quoted by Friedrich Christoph Förster in 1864.

“There you have a lot of fun there, you have all sorts of amusements, you live in sheer lust and pleasure, as right as God does in France. You dine from morning to evening, and the kitchen is so good ... "

  • In 1830 , a rarer variant ("like a god") was found in an entertaining publication:

"So the parasite lives like a god in France, eats and drinks, is lively and happy, and thanks Heaven that there are fools whose weaknesses he knows how to use."

  • In 1846 the saying was listed in a collection of proverbs without comment.

Yiddish - "lebn vi Got in Frankraykh"

The proverb appears in the early 20th century in Yiddish as "lebn vi Got in Frankraykh" in definition, be carefree '(Yiddish: זאָרגלאָז zorgloz) and got to the rehabilitation of Dreyfus in 1906 (and up to the 1930s) a special importance for the Jews in France.

There were already similar expressions with the same meaning in Yiddish: "lebn vi bay Got hintern oyvn" (live as with God / in God's house behind the stove) and the late 19th century known "lebn vi Got in Odes" (live like God in Odessa). The residents of Odessa had a reputation for being liberal free thinkers - they were even referred to as heretics - which was also expressed in their tolerance of the Jews living there.

Adoption in other languages

English - "live like God in France"

An early mention of the phrase is found in an English war report from 1914, probably translated.

French - "vivre comme Dieu en France"

The German version is mentioned in French literature in 1905. The phrase translated into French was first found in a French history and literature journal around 1918, whereby it was stated that the winged word is a common German phrase. Corresponding French idioms are given.

Italian - "vivere come Dio in Francia"

In Italian , the idiom did not appear until the 1920s ("vivere come Dio in Francia", "felice come Dio in Francia").

Dutch - "leven as God in Frankrijk"

She is also known in Dutch . In 1858 this idiom was traced back to the French Revolution in a Dutch proverbial dictionary.

Other uses

Instead of “live…”, other verbs in literature, advertising and travel reports are also determined adverbially by “like God in France” (in German phraseology, contrasting: intra- and interlingual approaches , it is demonstrated using exactly this example): “food ...”, “ dine ... "," feel ... "," drink ... "," enjoy ... "etc.

The geographical parameters can also be found changed: the author Daniel Goeudevert uses a variant of the idiom as the title for his book Wie Gott in Deutschland. A declaration of love . In The Rich and the Super Rich in Austria, Georg Wailand refers to Austria as the phrase: "... to give those invited the impression of how God lives in Austria."

There are many more examples of this kind, especially in the culinary literature of specific regions.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Büchmann - Winged Words , Droemer Knauer, Munich / Zurich 1979, ISBN 3-426-24434-9 , p. 250.
  2. ↑ a b Duden: live like God in France
  3. ^ Franz Helbing: Apophthegmata: deutscher citatenschatz . O. Hendel, 1903, p. 66.
  4. ↑ Kurt Krüger-Lorenzen: German idioms and what's behind them. Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich (4th edition, 1986), p. 114.
  5. ^ The narrator: an entertainment paper for everyone . Beck, 1859, p. 72.
  6. ↑ Hermann Schrader: The picture decoration of the German language in thousands of popular idioms: According to origin a. Meaning explained . Felber (Weimar), 1894, pp. 345-346.
  7. ^ Moritz August von Thümmel: Wilhelmine, a prosaically comical poem . MG Weidmanns Erben und Reich, 1773, p. 29.
  8. ^ Heinrich Christoph Steinhart: My trip to France in 1800 and 1801 . Maurer, 1802, p. 197.
  9. ^ József Zoltán, György Gaal: Népi szórakozások a reformkori Pest-Budán . Fővárosi Szabó Ervin Könyvtár, 1803, p. 89.
  10. ^ Friedrich Christoph Förster: Newer and most recent Prussian history: (Since the death of Friedrich II up to our day.); With the use of many previously unpublished sources and oral information from important contemporaries. History of the Liberation Wars 1813. 1814. 1815: Represented according to partly unpublished sources and oral explanations of important contemporaries, as well as many contributions from fellow combatants, with information about their own experiences; 2nd vol . Hempel, 1864, p. 1067.
  11. ^ Heinrich Heine: Complete works by Heinrich Heine . e-artnow, December 4, 2013, ISBN 978-80-268-0035-4 , p. 1189.
  12. ^ The black ghost: 1830, Jan. - March 1830, p. 285: Eduard Oettinger: Schedule of a parasite .
  13. ↑ The German folk books collected and restored in their original authenticity by Carl Simrock. With woodcuts , volume 5. Brömer, 1846, p. 184.
  14. ^ A b Ignaz Bernstein , BW Segel: Jewish proverbs and sayings . On commission at J. Kauffmann in Frankfurt a. M., 1908.
  15. ^ Esther Benbassa: The Jews of France: A History from Antiquity to the Present . Princeton University Press, July 2, 2001, ISBN 1-4008-2314-5 , p. 135.
  16. ^ Pascal Ory : Dictionnaire des étrangers qui ont fait la France . Robert Laffont / bouquins / segher, 2013, ISBN 978-2-221-14016-1 , p. 735.
  17. ↑ Steven J. Zipperstein: The Jews of Odessa: A Cultural History, 1794-1881 . Stanford University Press, 1985, ISBN 0-8047-1251-4 , p. 1.
  18. ↑ Peter Kosta, Holt Meyer, Natascha Drubek-Meyer: Jews and Judaism in literature and film in the Slavic-speaking area: the epoch of genius . Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 1999, ISBN 3-447-04170-6 , p. 184.
  19. ^ The National Review . WH Allen, 1915, p. 614.
  20. ^ Société d'économie politique et d'économie sociale de Lyon: Compte rendu analytique des séances 1905, p. 197.
  21. ^ Revue critique d'histoire et de littérature, recueil mensuel 1918, p. 277.
  22. ↑ Rivista d'Italia . Società editrice dante alighieri, 1927, p. 671.
  23. ↑ Franck Resplandy: L'étonnant voyage des mots français dans les langues étrangères . Bartillat, 2006, ISBN 2-84100-371-X , p. 130.
  24. ↑ Pieter Jacob Harrebomée: Spreekwoordenboek der nederlandsche taal: of Verzameling van nederlandsche spreekwoorden en spreekwoordelijke uit drukkingen von vroegeren en lateren tijd . Kemink en zoon, 1858, p. 195.
  25. ↑ Csaba Földes: German phraseology contrasting: intra- and interlingual approaches . Julius Groos Verlag, 1996, ISBN 3-87276-759-3 , pp. 163-164.
  26. ↑ Eating like God in France: Germany's most famous health resort Bad Kissingen has benefited from its “Association of Kissinger Cooks” for 100 years . Bayerischer Rundfunk, Studio Franken, 2004.
  27. ↑ Merian . Hoffmann and Campe, July 1997, p. 8.
  28. ↑ Sebastian Dickhaut, Cornelia Schinharl: French Basics: Everything you need to feel like God in France… . GRÄFE UND UNZER Verlag GmbH, August 6, 2012, ISBN 978-3-8338-3030-3 .
  29. ↑ Drink like God in France: Interesting facts about French Wine . Sopexa, 1980.
  30. ↑ Thomas Platt: Gourmet Barometer Germany: How we understand how to live . Ch. Links Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3-86153-336-7 , p. 96.
  31. ^ Daniel Goeudevert: Like God in Germany. A declaration of love , Econ, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-430-13262-2 (TB 2004 ISBN 3-499-60938-X ).
  32. ↑ Georg Wailand: The rich and the super-rich in Austria . Hoffmann and Campe, 1981, ISBN 3-455-08763-9 , p. 153.