Saunigl
Saunigl or Saunigeln was a 19th-century Austrian card game of the shedding type in which the last player left with cards was the Saunigel and risked suffering a beating by the first player out. It may be related to modern Fingerkloppe in which losers also receive a physical punishment, albeit on a lesser scale.
Name
[edit]The world Saunigel in the Austrian dialect is recorded as early as 1784 and meant "sow hedgehog",[1][a] but was also a pejorative term for a "dirty person" as well as a card game in which the last player left holding cards in hand was called the Saunigl.[3]
The game is mentioned during the 19th century in Viennese publications but also in a Carinthian dictionary and dialect dictionary for the region south of the Enns.[4][3]
History
[edit]The game is recorded as early as 1814 in a Viennese play where a poor poet is likened to a Saunigl player, suggesting the game would have been well known at the time.[5] In Doctor Faust's Mantel (Müller 1819), Fledermaus says "We have work to do, we're playing Saunigl."[6] It is also recorded in the German translation of Jacques Offenbach's operetta Les Deux Aveugles where Jerzabek says he can play Preferance, Mariagel, Saunigl, Black Peter and Macao. Despite losing a large sum in Tarok, he ventures to play again. [7]
In 1870, Saunigeln is described alongside Schanzeln, Zwicken, Brantln, Mauschln and Schmaraggln as a popular card game in southern Germany, played with German-suited cards.[8][b]
Play
[edit]No detailed description is given, however several sources say that the last player with cards loses and is called the Saunigl.[c] One source says that the winner, the first player out, beats the loser with a cloth twisted into a whip.[9] Another says the game bears great similarity to Ecarté.[10]
Poem
[edit]In the 1860 poem The Playing of Cards (Das Kartenspielen) by J. B. Moser, there is the following description of Saunigl:[9]
|
Bei jenem Spiel, das's Kind, was kaum recht laufen kann, schon kennt, Refrain: Drum glaub ich auch etc. |
In that game – which even a child who can barely walk already knows – Refrain: I think so too, etc. |
Footnotes
[edit]- ^ Saunigel is a compound of Sau and Igel, the "n" being a Fugenlaut - joining letter.[2]
- ^ All are recognised card games apart from Schmarragln which may have been purely a skittles game.
- ^ See for example, Castelli (1847) and von Sonnleiter (1811).
- ^ Originally a twisted cloth for beating someone, like a towel whip. See Kaltschmidt (1834), p. 697.
- ^ a large loaf made for All Saints Day. See Kretzenbacher (1959), p. 103.
References
[edit]- ^ Korabinsky (1784), p. 126.
- ^ Verein für Geschichte der Deutschen in Böhmen (1895), p. 115.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Castelli (1847), p. 226.
- ^ Lexer (1862), p. 148.
- ^ Gewey (1814), p. 4.
- ^ Bäuerle (1819), p. 55.
- ^ Offenbach (1838), p. 29.
- ^ Schatzmayr (1870), p. 47.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Moser (1860), pp. 47–48.
- ^ Ebersberg (1870), p. 298.
Bibliography
[edit]- _ (1895). Verein für Geschichte der Deutschen in Böhmen, Prague.
- Bäuerle, Adolf (1819). Doctor Faust's Mantel. Vienna: Grund.
- Castelli, Ignaz Franz (1847). Wörterbuch der Mundart in Österreich unter der Enns. Vienna: Tendler.
- Ebersburg, Ottokar Franz (1870). Tage-Buch des Kikiriki.
- Gewey, Franz-Xaver-Carl (1814). "Die" Jungfrau von Wien. Vienna: Wallishausser.
- Kaltschmidt, Jakob Heinrich (1834). Kurzgefaßtes, vollständiges, stamm- und sinnverwandtschaftliches Gesammt-Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache. Leipzig.
- Korabinsky, Johann Matthias (1784). Beschreibung der königl. ungarischen Haupt-, Frey- und Krönungsstadt Preßburg. Volume 1. Preßburg: Korabinsky.
- Kretzenbacher, Leopold (1959). "Altsteirischer Allerseelenbrauch" in Blätter für Heimatkunde, 33rd Year, Issue 4. Graz: Historischer Verein für Steiermark.
- Moser, Johann Baptist (1860). Advokat und Klient. Vienna: Jacob Dirnbäck.
- Offenbach, Jacques (1838). Die beiden Blinden. Operetta. Berlin:
- Von Sonnleiter, Ignaz (1811). Idioticon Austriacum, das ist: Mundart der Oesterreicher, oder Kern ächt österreichischer Phrasen und Redensarten. 1st edn. Vienna: Wimmer. p. 120.
