Götz von Berlichingen – The “Iron Hand” of the Renaissance (2019)

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

26 points·behoove··9 comments

Apart from being renowned for his iron hand, he was also known for the Swabian salute: "Leck mich am Arsch" (akin to expression "kiss my arse", but literally "lick me on the arse")

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_salute

And very common German phrase to this very day! Good to now time travlers can still use, and understand, insults as far back as the 15th century!

In all fairness, in Götz von Berlichingen it reads:

> Er aber, sag’s ihm, er kann mich im Arsche lecken

He may lick me on my arse

Which is for a German reader a tad less offensive then "Leck mich am Arsch"

I always thought it is more offensive, because he is telling him to lick him _in_ his arse, not on...

Inspirational to hear about people who defy the odds to live larger than life dreams. I wonder if they were less rare before the 1900s - maybe I just don't meet the types of people whom I would put in the same bracket as von Berlichingen, or if I do, maybe I am either unaware of or discount the courage and achievement of people I meet in day to day life.

A translation of his autobiography into English recently came out. https://antelopehillpublishing.com/product/the-autobiography...

I wonder if he inspired Kentaro Miura for the creation of Gutz in Berserk

Miura himself said it was chance https://www.skullknight.net/forum/index.php?threads/what-miu...

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