Why do we say 'bless you' when someone sneezes?

Question

Where does this expression come from?

Answer 1

people used 2 think when u sneeze that your heart stops.. lol idk if thats the answer tho, my teacher told me that.

Answer 2

At one time people believed a man's soul could be inadvertently thrust from his body by an explosive sneeze, thus "Bless you!" was a protective oath uttered to safeguard the temporarily expelled and vulnerable soul from being snatched up by Satan (who was always lurking nearby). The purpose of the oath was to cast a temporary shield over the flung-out soul which would protect it just long enough to regain the protection of the corporeal body.

Conversely, the sneeze itself was the expulsion of a demon or evil spirit which had taken up residence in a person. Therefore, although the "Bless you!" was again a protective charm meant to protect the sneezer from evil, in this version it was meant to ward off the re-entry of an evil spirit which a tormented soul had just rid itself of.

The heart was believed to momentarily stop during a sneeze (it doesn't), thus the "Bless you!" was uttered either as a supplication for life to return or as a congratulation upon its successful restart.

Others claim an association of the practice with particular dire diseases (most often the bubonic plague, or "Black Death," as it is sometimes known). They say an infected person's sneeze was sure sign he'd soon be pushing up daisies, thus the "Bless you!" was intended as a benediction to the nearly-departed, a way of commending his soul to the care of God now that he was beyond the help of anything in the mortal world.

Answer 3

When there was the great plague in London people began to say 'bless you' when they sneezed because this was a sign of the plague people would die and as the majority of the population were christian it would be said to bless the person in the event that they would catch the plague so that they survive it.

Answer 4

I believe it is a 'leftover' for the days of the Plague. The first sign off the Plague was sneezing so people would say "God bless You" to pray you got better and this has been shortened over time to "bless you" as we know it today.

Answer 5

Remember Millhouse from 'The Simpsons'? He told Bart that when you sneeze your soul escapes. You have to say Bless You to make it go back.

My wife, however doesn't think too highly of our yellow friends. She tells me that in times of the plague or Black Death people sometimes dropped dead after sneezing. Your heart sets out for one beat and when you're weak and dying your heart might not recover from that 'shock'. So when someone sneezed and survived he was blessed.

I prefer Millhouse's explanation. Bless you anyway.

Answer 6

A long time ago people believe that the soul could escape the body during a sneeze, leaving the sneezer vulnerable to possession. Saying bless you protected from this.

Answer 7

Sneezeing was one of the signs of pneumonic plague, so when a person sneezed they were blessed as people thought they were going to die. The children's game ring-a-ring of roses comes from the 13th century when the plague swept through Europe. People carried posies of herbs to try and ward off the illness but "attishoo, attishoo, we all fall down" tells it all.

Answer 8

It has been theorized that this originated during the Black Death, sneezing was one of the symptoms of the bubonic plague. People responded to this by saying "God Bless You". Yes, there are modern day cases of the Bubonic Plague, it is quite freaky! Some lady in California early this year was diagnosed with an underdeveloped stage of it.

Answer 9

I heard when I was a kid that people say "bless you" to someone sneezing because people used to believe that sneezing was evidence of posession by a demon or the devil, so you say "bless you" to get rid of the evil spriits. I don't actually know if that's true, just what I heard.

Answer 10

A lot of people were close. A long time ago people thought that when a person sneezed that it was your bodies way of getting rid of evil spirits or demons. So they tried to say bless you quickly so that the spirit could not have enought time to reenter the person's body.

Answer 11

you have inadvertently hit on one of the "good", "old" life's secrets.

you should think far more about BoredLawyer's answer - Gesundheit, which of course has exactly the same meaning as "bless you" (and I don't mean literal translation). It is sometimes known as the "English disease"

This is truly, an example of the biggest conspiracy on the planet, but take my absolutely, worn out word for this, you've questioned something that will never be answered in a way that properly explains it because all the answers you receive will have completely "innocent" and "bland" explanations.

Even now, you're dismissing my answer as gobbledegook or crap but the big, media, politics, pagan world understands ...