The alt.usage.english FAQ   

• "Break a leg!"

  (Phrase Origins)
  
  

  
     There is a superstition in the theatre that wishing an actor
  good luck "tempts the gods" and causes bad luck, so negative
  expressions are substituted.  In French one says _Merde!_ ("Shit!")
  when an actor is about to go on stage.  The German expression is
  _Hals und Beinbruch_="neck and leg fracture" (_Bein_ used to mean
  "bone" in German, so the translation "neck and bone break" may be
  correct if the expression is sufficiently old).  The leading
  theory is that the English expression came from the German, possibly
  via Yiddish.  Other suggested origins are:  John Wilkes Booth, the
  actor who broke his leg shortly after he assassinated Abraham
  Lincoln in 1865; the great French actress Sarah Bernhardt, who "had
  but one leg and it would be good luck to be like her"; wishing
  someone a "big break", that is, good luck leading to success; and
  the Hebrew _hatzlacha u-brakha_ = "success and blessing".

  
  
  Source: [Mark Israel, 'Phrase Origins: "Break a leg!"', The alt.usage.english FAQ file,(line 4544), (29 Sept 1997)]
  
  
  
  

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