Someone sneezes in the checkout line, and three strangers say “bless you” almost in unison. It's one of the most automatic bits of politeness we have. But why do we bless a sneeze and not a cough or a hiccup?
Nobody knows for certain. Saying something after a sneeze is a very old custom found in many cultures. The most famous origin story, about a pope and a plague in Rome, appears to be legend. The modern habit probably grew out of several overlapping superstitions reinforced over time, rather than from any single decree.
The Pope and the Plague
The most widely repeated story goes like this. In the year 590, a plague struck Rome. Pope Gregory I, also known as Gregory the Great, supposedly ordered constant prayer and told people to bless anyone who sneezed, since sneezing was often seen as an early sign of the illness.
By AD 750, the story continues, saying “God bless you” after a sneeze had become customary. It's a tidy explanation, but the Pope Gregory tale appears to be apocryphal, meaning it can't be trusted as real history.
Souls, Spirits, and a Stopped Heart
Other explanations come from old folk beliefs. Some people believed a sneeze could briefly throw the soul out of the body, or leave the body open to the Devil or evil spirits. A quick blessing worked as a kind of shield. The Irish folk story “Master and Man,” collected by the poet William Butler Yeats, includes this idea.
Another popular idea is that the heart stops beating during a sneeze, and the blessing urged it to start again. Both beliefs have been documented as folk explanations, but neither has any basis in how the body actually works.
Older Than the Medieval Church
Acknowledging a sneeze goes back much further. In ancient Greece and Rome, a sneeze was treated as an omen from the gods, good or bad depending on the circumstances. In 401 BC, when the Athenian general Xenophon urged his soldiers to fight the Persians, one soldier sneezed just as he finished, and the sneeze was taken as a favorable sign from the gods.
Romans had their own replies, such as Salve!, meaning “be well,” and Iuppiter conservet, meaning “may Jupiter preserve you.” What made a sneeze special was that it was sudden and involuntary, as if it came from somewhere beyond the person.
What People Say Around the World
Most cultures with a sneeze response wish the sneezer good health. The German word Gesundheit, which some Americans and Canadians also use, simply means health, as do Spanish salud and Italian salute.
Others wish for a long life. In Mandarin Chinese, people may say bǎi suì, meaning “a hundred years,” and in Turkish, çok yaşa means “live long.” In some East Asian traditions, nothing is said at all, and the sneezer may simply excuse themselves.
Some responses are religious, like the English “bless you.” The phrase “God bless you” has long been used as a blessing in churches, too, and when parting or signing off a letter, not just for sneezes.
So the next time you say “bless you,” you're keeping alive a habit with roots in ancient omens, medieval faith, and old superstitions. Whatever its true origin, it's a small kindness, and that's reason enough to keep saying it.
