Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Word Origins 91. All right. The word
origin today is God bless. You, you know what we say...especially when somebody
sneezes. You know , achoo and then you say God bless you.
So how did that start ? This is what this video is about. That origin. All right. So
let's look at the note first. Now you could tell someone God bless you and you
know really mean or hope or wish that God actually blesses someone. Puts a
blessing on someone. So it does have that meaning too. But really the one that we're
going to focus on today is about the sneezing. So the second very common
meaning is what is often said to someone when they sneeze while you know, speaking
English. So in speaking English we say God bless you.
Usually after someone sneezes. All right. Let's continue. Many other languages
often may say something. Some similar responses about God. Maybe something
about God or wishing someone good health is a very very common one. Or long life,
etc. After people sneeze. So there's a lot of ideas about this. All right. Let's
continue. Here are some common examples like salute in Italian.
Gesundheit in German. That's a funny one. Sometimes people in English say it's
just very funny sounding and you know we kind of like it. It's almost a way to
laugh. Achoo , gesundheit. Okay. Which also means health too . . Salud or
dio te bendiga I think is Spanish and then also in the Spanish-speaking world.
Some countries not all of them. Spanish-speaking world may actually like
if somebody sneezes three times. They .. some say they may say Jesus which is
Jesus after the first sneeze. Maria after the second sneeze. Because
that's you know, Jesus , his mother's name was Mary and the way to say that in
Spanish is Maria. For the second sneeze and Jose for the third sneeze. So
basically they are saying Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. You know, if you sneeze three times in a
row. Okay let's continue. Some people think the origin of the saying God bless
you after a sneeze may have started in one of the earlier outbreaks of , during
the 6th century. Some of the symptoms of the beginning of the bubonic plague. Now
this is not the famous one I think like you know, later on.
I don't know around the 12th or 13th century that knocked off half od Europe.
This was still another big one , but this was a lot earlier. This was during the
sixth century. So one of the signs of course was a coughing and sneezing. And
at that time, Pope Gregory the first was the Pope and many say Pope Gregory the
first suggested people start to say basically God bless you. Yeah. When people
sneeze as a way to protect them from the disease or death. So some people say that
he actually coined the term. I don't know 100% if that's correct , but some people
do claim it Pope Gregory the first is the one that said that... told people to
start saying that. All right. Let's continue. In earlier times , maybe even before this.
Some cultures believed evil spirits may be released from the body during a sneeze
and people would say God bless you as a way of preventing it. So this is another
idea about it. Or there is a third one. And I had heard this one before.
There is another theory that this custom started due to a rumor and former belief
that a person's heart temporarily stopped before a sneeze. And saying God
bless you was a way of wishing them health. I think it might skip a beat but
it doesn't really stop. But anyway but people believe that. So that was another
reason that maybe the reason why we say God bless you. And then just very
commonly. I'll just give you the one example. This would be typical . Remember,
this is how we spell the sound for a sneeze in English. You know. So we say
A-C--HOO. So we actually spell it ACHOO Oh. That's how we ... if you wanted to spell
out of sneeze. It's usually spelled out as achoo and of course then somebody
would say : God bless you. Anyway I hope you got it. I hope it was clear. I hope it was
informative. Thank you for your time. Bye- bye.