Why Do People Say 'Bless You' When You Sneeze?

We can cut right to chase here and state that nobody knows for sure where this custom came from. There are plenty of theories, but like many customs, tracing them back to the first instance is a very difficult task.

Wishing someone well after they sneeze probably originated thousands of years ago. The Romans would say, "Jupiter preserve you," or, "Salve," which meant, "Good health to you," and the Greeks would wish each other "long life."

The phrase "God bless you" is sometimes attributed to Pope Gregory the Great, who uttered it in the sixth century during a bubonic plague epidemic. Plague was a major threat in the middle ages, and since sneezing could be a symptom of the bubonic plague, it would make sense to offer a blessing to someone who was about to come down with a deadly disease.

People in the U.S., even if they aren't particularly religious, will often say, "God bless you" or, "bless you" after someone sneezes. Sometimes, however, they will substitute "gesundheit," which gets them out of the blessing business, and is also fun to say.

Gesundheit is a German word that literally means "health." The idea is that a sneeze typically precedes illness.

It entered the English language in the early part of the 20th century, brought to the United States by German-speaking immigrants, even if many Americans today don't realize they're speaking German when they use the word.

Virtually every country around the world has its own way of wishing sneezers well.

Some countries have special sneezing responses for children. In Russia, after children are given the traditional response, "Bud zdorov" ("Be healthy"), they are also told, "Rosti bolshoi" ("Grow big").

When a child sneezes in China, he or she will hear "Bai sui," which means, "May you live 100 years."

­For the most part, the various sneeze responses originated from ancient superstitions. Some people believed that a sneeze causes the soul to escape the body through the nose. Saying "bless you" would stop the devil (or other assorted evil spirits) from claiming the person's freed soul.

Others believed the opposite: that evil spirits use the sneeze as an opportunity to enter a person's body through the mouth.

There was also the misconception that the heart momentarily stops during a sneeze (it doesn't), and that saying "bless you" was a way of welcoming the person back to life.

Today, with many more answers to the questions of sickness and health, we know that sneezing is a reflex action and is most often the sign of something relatively benign, such as a cold or allergy.

Indeed, people sneeze after stepping outside in the sunlight or from smelling a strong odor. Still, we persist in the custom of saying "bless you" or "gesundheit," mainly out of habit and common courtesy.