I took German for a few years in high school and I noticed that the phrase “Groß Gott!” (“Great God!”) kind of sounds like the English expression “Great Scott!” Unable to come up with an explanation for the origin of “Great Scott,” I began wondering if perhaps it’s a corruption of the German phrase as we also see in “Pennsylvania D(e)ut(s)ch.” While I am nowhere near fluent in German, it seems to me as if the two phrases would have roughly the same meaning and the same use.
So, what is the origin of “Great Scott!” and does it have anything to do with my “Groß Gott!” hypothesis?
“Gruss Gott” mean’s “God’s Greeting,” and was the salutation of choice back in the day in Bavaria and Austria. It’s considered old fashioned and quaint now.
It’s best known these days as the name given to a particular type of illustrated postcard from the 1890s-1910s period, which generally had a scene of a German town or scenery, with “Gruss Gott auf (name of town here).”
…says the origin is “…is almost certainly American of Civil War era, at the latest”
and that he (Quinion) and various other researchers, think the reference is to General Winfield Scott. Apparently, it was common for the soldiers to make a “Great _____!” comment, filling in the blank with their commander’s name.
Has to be true. Same thing happened with Germany’s 17th century naval officer - Reichadmiral Balzuvfier.
I heard both “Grüß Gott” and " “Grüße” in areas of southeastern Germany, Switzerland and Austria fairly recently. It may be considered quaint by others in Germany, but has hardly fallen into disuse.
I stand corrected: my info came from someone who got funny looks for using “Gruss Gott” in North Germany–but it looks like that was just because they thought he was a Bavarian.
Seems like “Gruss Gott” is South Germany/Austria, and “Moin” in the north, with “Mahlzeit” being used around midday.
Germans seem to be either tragically hip or terribly quaint with very little middle ground.
Mahlzeit was heard very commonly at the place I worked in Gross Gerau (sort of on the hypotenuse of the triangle formed by Mainz/Wiesbaden, Darmstadt and Frankfurt).
Yes, I’m aware of that. That’s why I used “Groß Gott” instead of “Grüß Gott” - “Great God!” (even if that is only the literal translation) would make more sense than “God’s greetings.”
Ah, thanks for the info. I knew my hypothesis was too good to be true. It seems as though I’m not the only one who’s considered that. I guess my question now is how it spread from a small group of soldiers to more widespread use. I assume at least part of it is because “Scott” sounds a bit like “God” but it still seems like specialized slang to me.
If an expression literally meaning “Great God!” were used, wouldn’t it have to be Großer Gott–i.e., grammatically correct as to gender and case? That gives you an extra syllable between the /s/ and /g/ sounds…it wouldn’t sound like Great Scott unless you were really slurring your speech, for example around Oktoberfest.
