where did the phrase god bless you come from when you sneeze?

What I've heard takes some of these answers one step further (it is actually leveraged from the Complete Idiots Guide to Learning Yiddish). Sneezing was obviously not an official cause of death, the term Gesundheit, used following a sneeze in ancient times, was also the last utterance before burial (or cover up with a sheet) after an individual deceased. This is not to say the sneeze was the final gasp, but that aforementioned book references Gesundheit as a parting phrase to one departing the realm of the living. Obviously, if that's true, this phrase has conveyed and kept meaning (though if one sneezes, the meaning is far different in terms of what's said in English vs. what it meant initially). It is a very interesting topic at least I think so :)

phrase god bless sneeze

RE:

where did the phrase god bless you come from when you sneeze?

why do people say god bless you when you sneeze

I have always heard your sole leaves your body for a moment when u sneeze. You say god bless you so the devil can't steal your sole.

It's my understanding that people used to think that your life is in your breath. Expire means breathe out, but that came to also mean to die. Obviously, this connection would lead people to believe that sneezing could easily be fatal. Now it's just become a traditional thing to say.

In old times it was thought that evil spirits needed to enter the body to posses a person. The spirits would make you sneeze, cough, or yawn to get an opening. In order to stop them peole would cover their mouths and others would ask god to bless you.

Also, during the bubonic plague, it was believed that if you sneezed, you were probably going to die. So it was helping to send your soul to God's care.

The saying comes from way back in history. When one sneezed, it was though that one lost part of their soul.

i want to say like england. they thought that when you sneezed that some of your soul escaped. so they would say that in hopes of saving your soul from hell.