As far as I understand this means some kind of trick that helps you to memorise something without deep understanding. Is it so? Is there a story behind this word?
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4Apparently there is no agreement on the origin. Some possibilities are here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pons_asinorum#Etymology_and_related_terms– Carsten SCommented May 27, 2015 at 17:31
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2@CarstenSchultz: The (English) pons asinorum has almost nothing to do with the German Eselsbrücke (in the sense of a mnemonic trick). I'd go so far as to call it a false friend.– IngmarCommented May 27, 2015 at 18:30
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@Ingmar, this is one explanation that has been given for the origin, I did not claim that the current meaning is the same.– Carsten SCommented May 27, 2015 at 19:12
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3Some remarks can be found at Merkspruch– knutCommented May 27, 2015 at 19:27
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@Ingmar Looks like the German Eselsbrücke didn't have the current meaning some 150 years ago: woerterbuchnetz.de/DWB/…– MatthiasCommented May 27, 2015 at 22:09
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1 Answer
Yes, you're right about its meaning. An Eselsbrücke is, for instance, a word or phrase that helps you to remember something. A good English translation is mnemonic.
An example:
OSI-Modell:
Alle Priester Saufen Tequila Nach Der Predigt.
Application / Presentation / Session / Transport / Network / Data Link / Phyiscal
About its origin, there's a quite possible version given at redensarten.net.
The thing is that a horse (similar to a donkey in many respects) would simply jump over a ditch, a brook or whatever. The donkey, however, won't even go through the ditch.
But if you build a bridge (or take an existing one), the donkey walks over that one without hesitation. 1
The 'donkey bridge' helps to get to the other side.
In a television show of ZDF, they second this story.
1 They mention (and the link in Matthias' comment seconds this) that the original meaning was quite a bit different and that it changed.
However, I am not sure if there's an error in that article or if it's just a little too late for me right now, but I don't quite get it.
