Why Do We Say ‘Bless You’ After a Sneeze?

“Achoo!” “Bless you!” This automatic response to a sneeze was likely ingrained in you as a child, but why do we call attention to this bodily function through a blessing? Several theories attempt to explain this time-honored custom, but the real answer is murky — and varies around the world.

One theory is that, in the Middle Ages, people thought a sneeze momentarily stopped the heart, so blessing someone would stimulate the heart to resume its essential pumping. Another is that medieval people believed a sneeze caused someone to expel their soul through their nose for the few seconds it would take the devil to snatch it, and blessing someone would protect the soul.

However, it has not been conclusively established that people in the Middle Ages actually believed a sneeze was an indication of either a heart stopping or a soul being snatched, so these theories may be fanciful.

Another theory based on Pope Gregory I has more historical weight, but it’s still unfounded. Here’s the story: During the Roman plague of 590 CE, Pope Gregory, also known as Gregory the Great, sought to use the intercession of prayer to prevent the spread of the bubonic plague in Rome, which caused rapid death. Centuries before the advent of antibiotics and modern germ theory, he urged the faithful to say “God bless you!” when someone sneezed — the first sign that someone might be catching this dreaded disease.

Now here’s the truth: Pope Gregory I did serve as pope during some of the Roman plague of 590. (He succeeded Pope Pelagius II, who died during the plague.) It’s true that he called for prayers in Rome in response to the plague, but there’s no evidence he ever used the expression “God bless you” in response to someone sneezing, or that he urged the people of Rome to do so.

So, why do we say “God bless you” (or simply “bless you”) when someone sneezes? (And why not when someone coughs, or hiccups, or has another bodily function?) The history remains unclear, but these days, saying that blessing when someone sneezes has no religious connotation and is merely a polite way to be supportive of someone who may be feeling or falling ill. You’re wishing them good health, with or without divine intervention.

This notion is backed up by some of the alternative exclamations in languages around the world. In ancient Rome, if someone sneezed, the appropriate response was the Latin Salve, meaning “be in good health.” Both Greeks and Romans viewed sneezes as significant omens from the gods. Sneezing to the right was considered lucky, while sneezing to the left was an omen of bad luck or doom.

A few modern languages likewise promote health in response to a sneeze. All of these responses translate to some variation of “health” or “be healthy”: Salute (Italian), Salud (Spanish), Saúde (Portuguese), Zay gezunt (Yiddish), Bood zdaróv (Russian), andSănătate (Romanian). And in Hawaiian, Ola means “live.”

Then, of course, there’s the German Gesundheit. During a wave of German immigration to America, between 1840 and 1914, German-speaking people brought with them their customs and traditions, one of which was to say “Gesundheit” when someone sneezed. Doing so became popular among the masses, and though that popularity waned during World War II, “gesundheit” (Americanized as lowercase) had a resurgence thereafter.

Even native English speakers still commonly offer “gesundheit” — German for “health” — instead of “bless you.” It continues the trend of wishing good health to someone who has just sneezed, coming from gesund (“healthy”) and -heit, a suffix denoting a state of being.