Re: Kruzitürcken!

Isabelle Cecchini wrote:

[...]

The online Leo dictionary tells me that "Kruzitürcken!" might be
translated into English as "Gadzooks!" and Google has remarkably few
hits for it --36 last time I counted, and only some in pages originally
written in German.

I wonder first about the etymology of "Kruzitürcken" in German. Might it
mean something like "Crucify the Turks"?

Wiktionary gives this:

[translated quote]
The Kuruc [1] and the Turks laid siege to Vienna. They were therefore the
enemies of the Viennese. Thus the word is a mixture of "Kuruzen" (Kurucs)
and "Türken" (Turks) in the negative sense.
[end quote]
<http://tinyurl.com/3c3zcf>

[1] [Wikipedia quote]
The kuruc (Hungarian: kuruczok/kuru*** [sg. kuruc(z)], Slovak: kuruci [sg.
kuruc]) was a term used to denote the armed anti-Habsburg rebels in Royal
Hungary between 1671 and 1711.
The kuruc army were mostly composed of Magyars, Slovaks, Ruthenians and some
Romanians; the leading nobles were usually Magyars.
[end quote]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurucs>

OTOH, the following agrees with Leo:

[quote]
English translation:Damn it!
Expression liked in Bavaria. "Kruzzi" = crucify, "Türkn" = turks. In
(fairly) Eastern parts of Europe Turks have not been liked for centuries
(since they tried to integrate Eastern Europe into their empire).
[endquote]
<http://www.proz.com/kudoz/1087070>

And rather more importantly, I wonder about the recognition factor of
such an uncommon (except that it mightn't be) German oath to an
English-speaking readership.

It seems to be a mild, old-fashioned oath, possibly used occasionally in
Bavaria or Austria. The discussion in the last reference includes:

[quote]
1) [from the person asking for help] It is for a commercial (just so that
the producer (Ami) can understand what is meant in the German commercial -
not actually for production). A very famous SWABIAN!!! soccer player keeps
missing a goal - and "curses" while talking to the audience. I think they
are just trying to make fun of his accent (which is a pain in the *** to
render in English)

2) [one of the answers] If you want to get the regional flavour [...] you
might have to ask a Yorkershireman or a Texan to make your readers get the
idea.
[endquote]

Dr. Aman would be the obvious source of more enlightenment, though I suspect
the expression is under-qualified for inclusion in "Letter to Petey".

--
Les
.