Segen
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Segen is a German word translating to "blessing, benediction; charm; prayer; spell, incantation".
It is in origin a loan from Latin signum sīgnāre "to make a sign", viz. the
The medieval church used the Segen (the sign of the cross with a spoken formula) liberally, intended as an act with protective effect, putting the person or thing blessed under the protection of God. Nor was the action reserved for priests or clerics, but any Christian was permitted to make the sign of the cross and invoke the protection of God. Thus the Segen came to be seen as the inverse of the curse (Fluch), magical acts with the power to either protect or harm. The concept of Segen thus became the continuant of the incantation formulas of the
Use of such formulas was partly encouraged by the Church, as they did superficially involve an expression of piety by the invocation of God, Christ or the Virgin Mary, but at the same time their magical use was viewed with scepticism and was sometimes repressed.[1]
By the time of the
si (landstreicher) kunnen sagen vom vinstern sternen und tuond die lüt segen lernen für den donder und den hagel |
they [vagabonds] know tales of dark stars and teach people spells [segen] for [to control] thunder and hail. |
— Des Teufels Netz v. 6367 (15th century)
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This early modern usage survives in dialectal variation throughout the rural parts of German-speaking Europe. For German-speaking Switzerland, the Schweizerisches Idiotikon 7,444 "Sëgeⁿ" records some two dozen compounds in -sëgeⁿ, in some of which Segen takes the meaning "prayer" and in others "spell, charm". A notable concept in Swiss folklore is the Alpsegen (Alpe(n)sëgeⁿ, Alpsëgeⁿ 7,451), a folk religious custom in Alpine Switzerland where every night a prayer must be sung over each
References
- ^ Grimm, Deutsches Wörterbuch citing "E. H. Meyer myth. 23"."[clarification needed]