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Welcome to Sprichwörtlich Deutsch, the podcast about German proverbs, idioms and expressions. My name is Kirsten Winkler, and I am your host.

Today’s expression is

Morgenstund hat Gold im Mund.

As always, let’s take a look at the vocabulary and then try to translate the expression into English. Die Morgenstund’ or die Morgenstunde as we spared the e at the end for the rhyme, means morning hour. Gold, das Gold means gold and Mund, der Mund means mouth.

Therefore, the translation of Morgenstund hat Gold im Mund is … correct, Morning hour has gold in its mouth. Admittedly, this picture is a bit weird and somewhat reminds me of a rapper who sports a lot of golden teeth.

And that’s actually not that far off from origin of the expression as it is the translation of the Latin proverb aurora habet aurum in ore which can be translated to Aurora (the personified dawn) carries gold in her mouth and hair.

It’s an expression Germans will most likely remember from their parents who kicked them out of bed for school in the morning by answering their reluctance with

Morgenstund hat Gold im Mund.

It is also often used as a jokey motivator among workers when they have to start very early with their shift work. The underlying notion of the expression is that it pays off to get up early as early riser achieve more in a day or also that the morning hours are great to get work done.

It’s still pretty commonly used and appropriate in every situation and surrounding. The closest English variant of the expression is probably The early bird catches the worm.

And that’s it for today’s episode of Sprichwörtlich Deutsch. Hope you join me next time and don’t forget to subscribe to this podcast either on iTunes or via FairLanguages.com

Music: Chillin’ With Jeris” by copperhead (feat. Jeris)

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