The German Question, Part Eighteen

An Iron Hand and A Famous Expression

Most readers probably have never heard of this man, but he is certainly one of the more interesting characters in German history. His name was Götz von Berlichingen (proper first name was "Gottfried"). He was a knight who formed a band of mercenary soldiers who sold their services to various entities throughout the Holy Roman Empire (the Old German Empire) from about the early 1500s until about the middle of the century. When he wasn't fighting for someone else, he was essentially a robber baron, robbing various nobles, or capturing them and holding them for ransom. He also had quarrels with Church authorities, mainly in his home region of Württemberg (main city: Stuttgart) and in the neighboring region Franken (main city: Nürnberg, usually rendered as Nuremberg, in English).

He was involved in many wars and military actions, and in the early 1500s, he lost his right hand to cannon fire. He had an iron hand and lower arm made for him, which was far in advance of such devices for those times, especially since he could hold a sword in it. It is still in existence in Germany. The only thing I can say is, since it was made of iron, can you imagine how strong his upper arm was? Wow! His iron hand, his reputation for quarreling with Church authorities (who were often seen as supporting the wealthy and being corrupt), and his robbing of various nobles, made him a folk hero to many Germans.

To my knowledge, it wasn't until a couple of hundred years after his death (by natural causes in 1562), when his memoirs were published, that another event popularized von Berlichingen once again. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a prominent German writer born in Frankfurt, wrote a play about Götz. Using the memoirs, Goethe included a story where von Berlichingen was besieged by troops of the Bishop of Bamberg. When an officer read a request from the Bishop for Götz to surrender, he answered by saying that the bishop could...ah...kiss his....ah...behind! (It loses something in the translation..haha!!!)

WORD HISTORY:
He/His-This word traces back to Indo European "ki/ko," which meant "this," in the sense, "this here." This produced the Old Germanic offshoot "khi," which then gave Old English "he," when the "k" sound died out (likely not emphasized anyway). This became the third person singular form (male). It also gave Dutch "hij," Low German "he," the German dialect near the border with Holland "hae." Interestingly, the Indo European and Old Germanic root gave German the first part of their word for "today," which is "heu(te)," which literally means "this day," and it was "heudaeg" in Old English. His is simply the possessive form of "he;" that is, "he + s." This came from Old Germanic "khisa." It gradually replaced Old English "sin" (pronounced with a long i"), which was our word for "his." Modern German still has "sein" (long "i") for "his."