mildred_of_midgard: (Default)
mildred_of_midgard ([personal profile] mildred_of_midgard) wrote in [personal profile] cahn 2019-12-19 11:03 am (UTC)

Re: Katte's Death: The Documentary Hypothesis

He explains about the universal French education of German nobility, Prussia full of Hugenots etcs., but assures his readers that Old Fritz had "a true German mentality" (whatever that is, and he spells it "teutsch" not "deutsch", which is what ultra 19th century nationalists loved doing - Heinrich Heine often spoofed that habit hilariously") despising anything "welsch". (This German term does not mean Welsh people from Great Britain, thoiugh the origin of the word is actually related; in the 19th century, it's generally used as a derogatory term for anyone of Latin descent, primarily, though not exclusively, the French and Italians.

This was super interesting to me: the only part I was familiar with was that "Welsh" is a derogatory term meaning "foreigners"; a large number of ethnonyms either mean "all the people that count as people" or "those awful foreigners", depending on whether you get to name yourself or your neighbors you.

(Also, Preuß uses the expression "der einzige König" right in his first sentence which cracked me up.)

...One king to rule them all, one king to find them, one king to bring them all, and in the--Enlightenment?--bind them. :P

Post a comment in response:

If you don't have an account you can create one now.
HTML doesn't work in the subject.
More info about formatting