About Two Minor Errors in Ernest Jones's Freud Biography

Jones's biography of Freud contains two minor errors which I should like to correct. These errors concern, respectively, the translation of a Jewish colloquialism and his interpretation of Freud's relationship to his brother-in-law Eli Bernays. Jones might have taken a different view of that matter had a rare source book been at his disposal.

The 'Bürgerrecht', a kind of 'Freedom of the City', was bestowed on Freud on the occasion of his 68th birthday in 1924. When Ferenczi inquired about it, Freud replied, according to Jones (1957, p. 102):

'There is little to be said about the Vienna Bürgerrecht you mention. It seems to be essentially a ritual performance, like blessing the Sabbath.'

Jones must have felt uneasy about his translation of the last phrase, since he gave the original German in a footnote—a precaution he took only rarely.

The German original is as follows: 'ber mein Wiener Bürgerrecht, nach dem Sie sich erkundigen, ist wenig zu sagen. Seine Verwendung scheint wesentlich eine rituelle zu sein, man kann Schabbes davon machen' (Freud, 1960, p. 127). Jones's misunderstanding appears with the rendering 'It [das Bürgerrecht] is a ritual performance', as if Freud had wished to characterize the objective meaning of the award. A literal translation of the German would read, 'Its use seems to be essentially a ritual one.' That Freud's remark was ironic becomes clear when he describes the ritual: 'man kann Schabbes davon machen'. This Jewish colloquialism, which can scarcely be expressed in English, is used ironically in reply to someone who expresses esteem for something that is worthless (cf. Bernstein, 1908, p. 262). The phrase is commonly couched as a request: 'Mach Schabbes damit' (literally: 'Make Sabbath with it'). E. L. Ehrlich (in a personal communication in 1975) suggests that since there was a prohibition against doing anything on the Sabbath, the phrase should symbolize a 'total nothing'.

The time when the colloquialism acquire