★ Cheers!

Today, there is no reason for celebration. But, since I am making a Slovenian winter dish (red cabbage with mashed potatoes), I just opened a bottle of red wine, which made me think about the different ways of saying "cheers" in different languages.

In Slovenia, when we make a toast, we raise our glasses, look into each other's eyes and say: "Na zdravje!", which means "to health". Same thing in Hungary: "Egészségedre" (which means "to health"). In Italy, they say: "Salute!", in Spanish "Salud", in France à - santé; the Germans say "prost".

And so on and so forth. It s a bit ironic how in most languages, we are drinking alcohol and toast "to health". This must come from the fact that alcohol DOES have healhy attributes. It was used for health reasons in the past and still is. We all know that a glass of wine, or a pint of beer, or a sip of whiskey a day (not at once:)) actually are healthy , but most of the time, drinking is a social thing involving pouring down rivers of alcohol. Maybe for that reason, in Ireland they say "Guid forder!", which means GOOD LUCK:))).
In Israel, people raise their glases and toast to life: L'Chaim!. In Malasia, they do not toast, but simply give each other "permission" to drink "Minum!"(drink!).

The English "cheers" comes from Anglo-Norman chere, which meant "face". By the Middle English period, the word began to be used metaphorically as "mood" as in the expression on a face, and in the 20th century, the British began to use it as a toast, probably meaning "let the drink cheer you up!"

Well, I hope you enjoyed this short reasearch of toasting in different languages. If you happen to know where the German "prost" comes from, and what it literally means, do share it with us. We would like to know.

Cheers:)