First, let me translate the town motto for you: "The people of Semur really enjoy the company of strangers. - S. Munster 1552". Sounds very welcoming, doesn't it? However, when the town of Semur chose this quote as their motto they conveniently omitted the end of the sentence, which translates to "but more than that, they hate the French". But that still wasn't the whole quote, which only goes downhill from here. Now, let's put this sentence into its original context, that is, an account of German traveler Sebastian Münster's visit to Semur in the mid 16th century. The first paragraph is the original 16th century text in old French. Those of you that have some grasp of the French language may have fun trying to decipher the meaning of this text. In any case, the modern English translation will follow.
"Les Semurois se plaisent fort en l'accointance des estrangers, mais haissent bien davantage les Françoys. De faict, lorsque je me rendys en cestuy bourg je fus ascueillys fort plaisament par ses habytants. Toutes foys je ne pus trouver oncques auberge pour y reposer, aussi je demandoys le gite à quelque bergier qui voulu bien m'hesberger pour une nuyté dans sa bergiérie. La nuyt, tandys que je dormoys pesament j'oys un grand bruy, je crus qu'il s'agissoy d'une beste. Cestoy ledit bergier qui venoy tou desnudé de son corps, il s'estriva avec un mouston et l'enscularda derechef sans austre forme de proçay dans l'enscoulure de son postérieur. Il me proposa de le resjoyndre, je restrivai puis acceptoy, et prist la place du milyeu, dite place françoyse en cestuy constrée. Les Semuroys sont décidément de fort joyeux bousgres."
"The people of Semur really enjoy the company of strangers. But much more than that, they hate the French. In fact, when I arrived in the village, I was very well received by its inhabitants. However, I could not find an inn where to rest, so I asked a shepherd if he could put me up for the night. At night, as I was sleeping tight, I heard a great noise, I thought it was a wild animal. But it was the shepherd who, completely naked, grabbed a sheep and started fucking him right in the ass. He invited me to join in the fun. I declined at first but finally accepted and placed myself in the middle, which place is called 'the Frenchman's place' in the region. The people of Semur are decidedly very jolly fellows".
Wow! That Sebastian was one wild and crazy guy. And now that I think about it, wouldn't you say this is quite a strange anecdote from which to choose the motto of your town? So, who was this Sebastian Münster? Sebastian was a German scholar whose 1544 work "Cosmographia" is the earliest German description of the world. It had numerous editions translated into Latin, Italian, English, French and even Czech and was one of the most popular and successful books of the 16th century. For the sake of being able to put a face to a name, here's a photo of Sebastian in a much more dignified pose than the one in which he found himself in Semur.
A portrait of Sebastian was featured on the old 100 DM German banknotes until the early 1990's. So proud of their heroes, those Germans.
