Zetermordio

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Zetermordio or Zeter und Mordio is an interjection of an eloquent exclamation that originally stems from medieval court practice. It stands for the urgent or loud call for help.

etymology

The word Zeter is believed to have originated from a contraction of the words ze æchte her ("here for retribution"); the caller obliged his fellow citizens to help. Mordio is a cry for help, which is derived from the word murder , and has been used in this - modern but weakened - sense probably since the 19th century. For the Alemannic-Rhenish language area this phrase is covered with Zetermordio , in Low German it corresponds to jodute , in Hessian Heila and in Franconian-Upper German area wapen (“weapons!” Or “to arms!”).

The exclamation "Zeter" as a call to the neighbors can be found, for example, with Hans Sachs as "zetter, waffen, help save me / you love night bawrn"

Use in court cases in the Middle Ages

In the trials of the Middle Ages the prosecutor formally shouted "Zeter (mordio)" at the beginning of the trial. In the Sachsenspiegel , a legal book from the 13th century, it says: “so fure en before the judge and schry obir the guilty zcether obir mynen morder und ober des land morder, ader wy der ruch geschen”, roughly: “so lead him in front of the judge and shout about the guilty party "scream" about my "(ie the accuser)" wrongdoer and about the national criminal, or how the [legal] breach happened ".

Use as a general exclamation of pain

The term also has a meaning outside of judicial practice as a rather general cry for pain and in this case is often combined with the exclamations “woe” or “oh”. For example in “zeter ah / wo sal ich blyben” (meaning: “Oh my, where should I go”).

literature

  • LL Hammerich: High German "Zeter", Low German "Jodute". In: Journal for German Philology. 56/1931, pp. 274-281.
  • J. Stosch: Supplements and corrections: emergency screams. In: Journal for German Word Research. 3/1902, p. 361.

Web links

Wiktionary: Zeter und Mordio  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Article Zetermordio. In: Lutz Röhrich: Lexicon of the proverbial sayings. Volume 5, Freiburg / Basel / Vienna 1994, p. 1769 f.
  2. ↑ a b zeter 1). In: Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm (Hrsg.): German dictionary . tape 31 : Z-Zmasche - (XV). S. Hirzel, Leipzig 1956, Sp. 809 ( woerterbuchnetz.de ).