Guten Rutsch

[Peter Richardson]

Lutz Roehrich often has Hebrew sources for German sayings in his Lexikon
der sprichwoertlichen Redensarten, but he doesn't give any for "Guten
Rutsch." He says only that the connotation of a slow, almost unnoticeable
slide over into the new year is at the base of the expression, attested
since about 1900. Apparently related: "einen Rutsch(er) machen" 'take a
little trip' is attested in the Saxony/Thuringia/Berlin area since the
middle of the 19th Century.

I'd be suspicious of the Hebrew connection as well; I think your note
about the bad phonological fit is correct.

PR

On Wed, 1 Jan 2003, Mark A Mandel wrote:

> A German friend on another list sent New Year's greetings with an
> etymology I find suspicious. Here is her posting with my reply. (I am
> bcc-ing her on this post.)
>
>         >>>>>
>
> #Oh, and then I have something cute for the linguists on this list.  In
> #Germany, we say "Guten Rutsch" on New Year's Eve.  It literally means "Good
> #Slide".  Sounds sort of science fiction-y, doesn't it?  Well, it really comes
> #from "Rosh" (= Hebrew for "beginning").  Handed down over centuries,
> #it changed into a German word that doesn't make too much sense in the
> #context.  Somehow, I feel a deep satisfaction that we have a - however
> #truncated - Hebrew word in our language.
>
> Lovely, and thank you. Sad to say, I have to be at least a little
> suspicious, (1) because it sounds almost cute (which in etymology is
> often a red flag), and (2) because the only reasonably likely route I
> can imagine is via Yiddish, and for that to make its way into general
> German usage doesn't seem too likely to me. And (3) why should Hebrew
> [roS] "rosh", which fits perfectly well into German phonology (it would
> be spelled "rosch"), be distorted into "rutsch" [rUtS]? Do you have any
> information on this?
>
>         <<<<<
>
> Comments, anyone?
>
> -- Mark A. Mandel
>