Thursday 4 March 2010

Word: Prosit

Origin: Latin prodesse, meaning: be useful, be advantageous, benefit, profit.

Meaning: In Norwegian it is said after someone sneezes, and it's origin hails back to the belief that the sneeze is an omen, and by saying prosit it can be turned to good. Alternately, there is the belief that when a person sneezes the soul is trying to leave the body, only by countering it with a timely "prosit" can this be avoided.

The Germans use prosit as a toast, by the way.


Source: Wikipedia

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