Fun with languages – Eselsbrücke

Sunny greetings, dear reader!

If you translate the German word Eselsbrücke literally it reads Donkey Bridge (or Asses’ Bridge) but it means Mnemonic Bridge in English.

There are different thoughts on where Eselsbrücke originates, but this article is going into great depth on this (in German).

An example of a mnemonic bridge is “spring forward, fall back”. This is to turn clocks one hour forward in spring and then to turn them one hour back in fall. Another one is “lefty loosey, righty tighty”, to memorize how to turn screws to get them loose or tight.

There are some explanations out there on the internet, but I like this one the most (which does not mean it is the most accurate one): The term Donkey Bridge is that donkeys do not like walking through water because they are super cautious and they cannot see through the reflective surface of the water to determine the depth or the ground beneath. This is why, back in the days, small bridges used to be built for these popular pack animals. These bridges were a small detour or effort, but often led to the destination more quickly – just like a mnemonic.

The drier, perhaps more likely explanation: Eselsbrücke goes back to the Latin phrase pons asinorum (bridge of donkeys), used in medieval philosophy for logical deduction. Think of it as linking pieces of knowledge so they stick better. And while we’re with donkeys: in German there’s also Eselohr (donkey ear) for a folded book page corner. In English, though, it’s a dog ear.  And in Russian they skip the animal bit and just say what it is: folded corner of the page (Загнутый уголок страницы).