Etymology of "Holding Thumbs"

[Marieke Martin]

Hi,

we also say it in German, so it might have been imported into South Africa.
In the online Wiki dictionary it says:

ursprünglich wohl zu einer Geste bei Gladiatorenspielen im alten Rom, bei
der die Zuschauer durch Einschlagen des Daumens in die Finger um Gnade für
einen gestürzten Kämpfer bitten konnte (s. Plinius, „Historia naturalis“
[28, 25]: „Pollices, cum faveamus, premere etiam proverbio iubemur“ [„Schon
das Sprichwort fordert uns auf, den Daumen zu pressen, wenn wir jemand
geneigt sind.“])[1]. Der Brauch ist auch noch im Mittelalter zu finden, als
man dieselbe Geste zum Abhalten von Hexen und Dämonen verwendet hat, was mit
der heutigen Bedeutung in Verbindung steht, da man sich bei drohendem Unheil
ebenso „die Daumen hält/drückt“.

It comes from a gesture the audience could make during gladiator games, to
ask for mercy for the fighter who had fallen. (s. Plinius, „Historia
naturalis“ [28, 25]: „Pollices, cum faveamus, premere etiam proverbio
iubemur“). Also in the middle ages this gesture was used to hold back
witches and demons, which leads to its use today, when we do it to keep away
the 'bad stuff', i.e.

usually actually people do it to hope for a good thing.

Cheers,

Marieke

2009/12/18 Richard J Senghas <Richard.Senghas at sonoma.edu>

> I encountered a similar expression (holding thumbs as expression of hoping
> for good luck) when living in Sweden during 2006-2007, so I wouldn't be at
> all surprised if the expression is common across several of the
> Scandinavian/Germanic languages.  I wonder if finding this expression in
> South Africa might have been a bit of diffusion/language-contact that
> corresponds to European trade or colonial activities in Africa (perhaps
> Dutch?).
>
> -RJS
> ======================================================================
> Richard J. Senghas, Professor            | Sonoma State University
> Anthropology/Linguistics                 | 1801 East Cotati Avenue
> Coordinator, Human Development Program   | Rohnert Park, CA 94928-3609
> Richard.Senghas[at]sonoma.edu            | 707-664-3920 (fax)
>
>
>
> On 17 Dec 2009, , at 5:56 PM, SLA Webmaster wrote:
>
> > A query from a visitor to our website:
> > "Could you please help direct me to the etymology for the South
> > African idiom "I'm holding my thumbs for you"? It means good luck.
> > It's my understanding that crossing one's fingers harkens back to
> > evoking Christ's cross, as does touching wood. What is the cultural
> > root for holdling one's thumbs? Thank you!" -- Dave
> >
> > Can anyone help Dave?
> >
> > (A similar expression exists in French: «je te tiens les pouces» means
> > something akin to "I'm hoping you'll get what you want." -- Alex)
> >
> > --
> > Alex Enkerli
> > SLA Web Guru
> >
>