In this post we have already listed proverbs in German about red hair. Some of them are similar to those from other countries, especially those about the notorious red-bearded man. 😁
Recently, I found more proverbs in German (from Germany, Austria and Switzerland) in the book Sprichwörter der germanischen und romanischen Sprachen - Zweiter Band (by Ida von Düringsfeld and Otto von Reinsberg-Düringsfeld), the second volume of a two-volume collection of European proverbs. They are very interesting and feature a new entry: the notorious... alder tree! 😄
- Die rothen Leute haben sieben Häute, sechs Mal mehr als andre Leute
Redheads have seven skins, six more than other people (from Switzerland)
- Rothaarigen sind entweder recht gut oder recht schlimm
Redheads are either completely good or completely bad (from Switzerland)
- Rothes Haupt, böses Blut
Red head, evil blood
- Rothe Leutchen, Teufelshäutchen
Häutchen means membrane, film, thin coating. So, the proverb could be translated as: Red-haired people have a devil’s skin/coating (from Switzerland)
- Rother Bart und Erlenbogen geraten selten, ist nicht erlogen
Here the word Erlenbogen is not very clear. Erlen means alder and Bogen arch, curve, bow. However, Erlenbogen is similar to Ellbogen, elbow. We could translate it as: A red beard and an arch made of alder rarely succeed, this is not a lie.
- Erlenholz und rothes Haar sind auf gutem Boden rar
Red hair and alder wood rarely are from a good soil
- Rothes Haar und Erlenholz wachsen auf keiem guten Boden / Rothe Haare und Erlenholz, die wachsen auf keinem guten Grund
Red hair and alder wood rarely grow from a good soil/ground
I have no idea what the problem with the alder is. 😅 According to what I read on the internet, alder is very resistant to unfavorable conditions and for this reason it is used for biological environmental remediation, that is, for the recovery of quarries, mining sites, and burned areas. So, probably, these proverbs refer to the alder's ability to grow even on "bad" soils.
I have some more proverbs in German, but since they are in old German, I have to find a way to translate them.
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| The notorious alder tree |
Tons of Italian proverbs about red hair (in dialect too!)
Russian proverbs about redheads and a decree from Peter the Great
More ancient proverbs about red hair
European proverbs about red hair
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