{"id":3456,"date":"2019-11-14T12:24:49","date_gmt":"2019-11-14T11:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"\/blog\/?p=3456"},"modified":"2019-11-14T12:24:49","modified_gmt":"2019-11-14T11:24:49","slug":"hit-the-mark-figures-of-speech-about-the-crossbow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/blog\/2019\/11\/14\/hit-the-mark-figures-of-speech-about-the-crossbow\/","title":{"rendered":"Hit the Mark? Figures of Speech about the Crossbow"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hit the Mark?<\/h1>\n

Figures of Speech about the Crossbow<\/h2>\n

Sandra Marquardt | 12 November 2019<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018My God! The apple\u2019s cleft straight through the core.\u2019
\n<\/strong><\/span>\u2013 Gessler in William Tell: A Drama <\/em>by Friedrich von Schiller (1804).<\/p>\n

When bailiff Gessler compels Wilhelm (William) Tell to shoot an apple from his son\u2019s head with a crossbow, he both figuratively and literally hits the mark.<\/em> In German, we could say that he \u2018struck the black\u2019 (\u2018ins Schwarze getroffen\u2019). The origin of this expression is to be found in marksmanship; it refers to the black centre of a shooting target. Sandra Marquardt, trainee collection and project assistant for the exhibition The Crossbow<\/em><\/a><\/strong> \u2013 <\/em><\/strong>Terror and Beauty<\/em><\/strong>, explains here which other German medieval figures of speech are also linked to crossbow shooting.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We often employ idioms in our use of everyday language without being aware of their original meaning. In German, \u2018far from it\u2019 (\u2018weit fehlen\u2019), \u2018to apply too much tension to the bow\u2019 (\u2018den Bogen \u00fcberspannen\u2019), or \u2018to strike the black\u2019 are all common turns of phrase. The provenance of such expressions is frequently ambiguous, so that various, vying hypotheses can emerge about their origins. Figures of speech usually can\u2019t be taken literally, since this wouldn\u2019t reflect the speaker\u2019s intent. They are established turns of phrase that typically conjure up an image and which are used to express practical worldly wisdoms.<\/p>\n

The expressions just mentioned originated in marksmanship, as our current exhibition The Crossbow \u2013 Terror and Beauty<\/em> makes clear. Far from it <\/em><\/strong><\/span>implies, in this context, that an archer failed to hit his target, or in other words that he \u2018missed\u2019. Nowadays, however, the expression also suggests that someone is incorrect or has gone too far. If one applies too much tension to the bow<\/em><\/strong><\/span>, they too have \u2018overdone it\u2019. If we take the saying literally, it divulges its origin to us: Too much tensile force on a crossbow string could result in the bow breaking, which, particularly in the case of steel crossbows, carried a high risk of injury.<\/p>\n

\"Bow

Bow breaking during fowling. Image 34 from the Theuerdank of Maximilian I. Augsburg, 1519 \u00a9 DHM<\/p><\/div>\n

To hit the nail on the head<\/em><\/strong><\/span> (\u2018den Nagel auf den Kopf treffen\u2019) bears the same origin as the expression to strike the black<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: If we take the expression literally, we might assume it suggests a carpenter should hit the nail on the head while hammering, rather than his thumb. Yet this expression probably also originated in the 16th century, in marksmanship. There was a nail at the centre of historical shooting targets. It served to affix the target but was also the principal goal. If the arrow or bolt ricocheted away, the archer had \u2018hit the nail on the head\u2019, or in other words \u2018struck the black\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"Crossbow

Crossbow (Halbe R\u00fcstung) presumably of champion marksman Ulrich Krell from Saxony (Dresden), 1570\u20131580 \u00a9 DHM<\/p><\/div>\n

A facsimile of a fowl shoot in Dresden (1660) illustrates the origins of the expression to shoot down the bird <\/em><\/strong><\/span>(\u2018den Vogel abschiessen\u2019).<\/em> It pictures a wooden bird, which crossbowmen are aiming at and shooting down piece by piece. At the end, whoever hit the last remaining shred of wood would have been the winner \u2013 he had shot down the bird.<\/p>\n

\"Bird

Bird shooting in Dresden 1660 (reproduction 1906) \u00a9 Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin \u2013 Preu\u00dfischer Kulturbesitz, Kartenabteilung<\/p><\/div>\n

The looser unfortunately only shot<\/em> down<\/em><\/strong> the goat <\/strong><\/em><\/span>(\u2018den Bock abschiessen\u2019). The poorest marksman received a non-monetary consolation prize. This could have been a billy goat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hit the Mark? Figures of Speech about the Crossbow<\/h2>\n

Sandra Marquardt, trainee collection and project assistant for the exhibition \u201cThe Crossbow \u2013 Terror and Beauty\u201d, explains here which other German medieval figures of speech are also linked to crossbow shooting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1870,900,977],"class_list":["post-3456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-allgemein-en","tag-crossbow","tag-hunt","tag-middle-ages"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3456"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3459,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3456\/revisions\/3459"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}