German in English I
Updated: Mar 7
Gesundheit!
Bless you? Gesundheit? In the American melting pot, you hear bits of the various ingredients still in the mix. Sneeze, and someone may wish you health, gesundheit (“guh-ZOONNT hite”)- the -sund- part is related to our ‘of sound health’. Myself, I still automatically say gesundheit.
We toss around Scandinavian words like fjord or Japanese ones like tsunami. The beautiful mustang horse gets its name from the Spanish. Your New England chowder? It’s thought to come from Quebecois French chaudière ‘bucket’. It all goes into the stew.
Why did we take a spin through some of the words that German immigrants brought across the sea?
Don’t get fresh with me!*