Chapter IX: The Pennsylvania German Dialect

Pennsylvania German a dialect of South Germany.--German vs.
Dutch.--Confusion of Terms.--Dialect Corrupted, but still
Vigorous.--Germans Tenacious of their Dialect.—Progress of English
among Them.--No Prospect, that the Dialect will become soon
Extinct.--Has no Literary Merit.

Pennsylvania German is a legitimate dialect of South Germany, which has suffered, and become corrupted, by the introduction of English words, and idioms. There are still many thousands of people in Pennsylvania, who speak no other language. They are found in nearly all the counties of Pennsylvania, lying east and south of the Blue Mountain, and in some of the counties beyond, where their ancestors took up their places of abode, when they first came to the province of Pennsylvania, some of whom arrived as early as the last years of the seventeenth century.

There is a widespread misconception concerning the Pennsylvania Germans, which is not altogether confined to the illiterate classes of English-speaking people. There are those who entertain the belief, that the Pennsylvania Germans are of Dutch extraction, and that their dialect is a confused jargon, having no relation to any legitimate language. This mistaken notion entertained by untrained people is no doubt largely due, to a confusion of the terms, Deutsch and Dutch, and also because the Pennsylvania Germans are frequently spoken of erroneously, as the “Pennsylvania Dutch.” All Germans in their own language are designated as Deutsch; the Dutch are designated in German as Holländer, and their language as Holländisch. Uneducated people are apt to confuse these terms, which leads to the erroneous conception before referred to.

The ancestors of the Pennsylvania Germans emigrated from the region of the Upper Rhine, and from the valley of the Neckar in South Germany. The dialect spoken in that part of Germany is known as Pfälzisch, and the people at the time of the great German emigration from there, were known as German Palatines. The dialect spoken by the Pennsylvania Germans at this day, is an inheritance from their ancestors, and barring its English infusion, it is substantially the same as when first brought here.

By eliminating the English words taken up by Pennsylvania German, the dialect approaches the Pfälzisch, spoken by the common people in South Germany very closely. There are many expressions, words, and idioms common to both that are indistinguishable, and for the purposes of colloquial intercourse the two dialects meet on common ground, without any serious embarrassment.

There is a shade of difference in the pronunciation, accent, and inflexion of words between the Pennsylvania German and Pfälzisch dialects and similar differences are noticed, in different German communities in Pennsylvania, the result no doubt of Germans, speaking various dialects settling in the same neighborhood, and each contributing certain peculiarities to the common speech. But as the Pfälzisch largely predominated in the early days of German emigration to Pennsylvania, it is that dialect which has given to the Pennsylvania German its controlling characteristics. In support of this view the following from Professor Marion D. Learned’s “Pennsylvania German Dialect,” may be cited: “Pennsylvania German, in borrowing from the English to enrich its vocabulary, has by no means forfeited its birthright and become a pitiable hybrid of bad German and worse English, but on the contrary, has perpetuated in their pristine vigor the characteristics of its venerable ancestor, the Rhine Frankish, specifically _Rhine Palatinate_, “_Rhinepfälzisch_.”

When it is considered, how environment influences all conditions, extending to physical characteristics, as well as to the speech of men, the continued similarity of the dialect of the Pennsylvania Germans and that spoken in South Germany seems remarkable after their separation for a period of upwards of two centuries. But we must not forget the influences and conditions that surrounded the Germans in Pennsylvania for many generations after their coming here; which operated to keep the Pfälzisch dialect alive in Pennsylvania down to this time. The greater portion of the German emigrants were fairly well educated when they came here. They brought with them educated clergymen who preached to them in their native language, and school teachers, who taught their children in their mother tongue. Education was never neglected by the Germans, and they built churches and school houses whenever they found it practicable to do so. The German schools were continued in Pennsylvania until a comparatively recent period; German newspapers still circulate extensively in nearly all of the German counties, not a few of the people still read their German Bible, and German Prayer Book, while the Gospel is yet preached in German from more than a thousand pulpits every Sunday throughout the rural districts of southeastern Pennsylvania. In view of such conditions and surroundings, there can be no surprise that the Pennsylvania German dialect should still flourish in its “pristine vigor,” after its separation from its parent speech for more than a century and a half.

It is not believed that the day of its extinction is near. A large majority of the school children in the country districts of half a score of the wealthiest, and most populous counties in the State, speak the dialect, not only outside of the school room, but very frequently inside. The children do all their thinking in German; all their little affairs are discussed by them in their native dialect, so that it can scarcely be otherwise than that they should grow up, and continue almost as thoroughly German as those that preceded them, making almost exclusive use of their German dialect, for all purposes of colloquial and familiar intercourse.

It may be asked whether the English schools do not make any progress towards Anglicizing the German children? The answer is that they do, but the progress in that direction is slow. While the German school children get a smattering of English, it also becomes a prolific means of still further corrupting their native speech, without acquiring much pure English.

When the German schools in Pennsylvania gave way entirely to altogether English schools, it was believed by many, that it would speedily result in Anglicizing the Pennsylvania Germans; but forty years’ experience does not prove that it has been an unqualified success.

The German-speaking children in the public schools, are laboring under great disadvantages alongside of their English-speaking schoolmates. The latter have an intelligent appreciation of their studies, while the training of the German child is little more than merely mechanical. The German children begin to learn their letters in a language which they do not understand, and by the time that they begin to have some intelligent comprehension of their studies the English-speaking children have outstripped them in the race for knowledge. The question occurs whether it was altogether wise to take away from exclusively German-speaking children their German schools, and compel them to pursue their studies in a language to which they are strangers.

The early Anglicization of the Pennsylvania Germans cannot be looked forward to with much confidence, no matter how much the extinction of their dialect may be desired. It is yet by far too vigorous to hope for its early disappearance.

The tenacity with which the Pennsylvania Germans have clung to their dialect for so many years, is not without its parallels among other people. Take for example Wales, a country which contains an area much smaller than that embraced by the German counties of Pennsylvania, with less population; separated from England by only an imaginary boundary; having been in political connection with Great Britain for six hundred years; with English as the official language; the language of culture; of commercial intercourse; and with English schools almost everywhere; yet more than one-half of the people of Wales in the cities and towns speak the Welsh language, while in the rural districts the Welsh language is spoken almost exclusively.

Switzerland furnishes another example. Out of the 22 cantons of the Swiss republic, with a population of over three millions of people, German is spoken by the people of 16 cantons; French by those of 5; Italian by the people of only 1. Although German is the principal language spoken throughout Switzerland, and is the language of official intercourse; its various people having lived near neighbors for centuries, and under the same government for a long time, yet each race has maintained its linguistic integrity to this day.

There is a region in Switzerland embraced in the canton of Grisons, where there exists a group of Romansch dialects, which have come down from the days of the Roman empire, when the region in which those dialects still exist was a Roman province known as Rhaetia. The canton in which those dialects prevail, has an area of about twice the size of one of the largest counties of Pennsylvania, with a population of about 90,000, surrounded on all sides by neighbors the greater portion of whom speak German, yet those people, whose ancestors were “shepherd-peasants” when Rome was mistress of the world, continue to speak corrupted Latin, after the lapse of more than a thousand years. Unless the Pennsylvania German dialect is less tenacious, it may continue to be spoken for several centuries.

During the earlier years of the German emigration to Pennsylvania, large numbers of Palatines settled in the province of New York. Those chiefly located along the Hudson river; in the Mohawk valley, and in Schoharie county. The Dutch and English had preceded them. Each race maintained its own language for a while; the Germans being weakest in point of numbers, their dialect was the first to disappear, but the Dutch being much more numerous, they held on to their dialect vigorously for a hundred years, and it did not wholly disappear in the Mohawk valley, until some time during the first half of the present century.

While the prospects for the early disappearance of the Pennsylvania German dialect are not very promising, it will necessarily become more debased every year. With the abolition of German schools, few of the young people will learn anything of literary German, and while many will continue to use the dialect, they will be continually taking up more English words, because they will find their own vocabulary growing more deficient in words to express their thoughts. Forty years ago the Pennsylvania German dialect was of much better quality than it is to-day. It was not then yet as far removed from literary German as it now is; it still retained at that time some of the advantages of the German schooling of those who spoke it. Since then many good German words have dropped out of the dialect, and their places have been supplied by English words. This debasement of the dialect will increase from now on.

The present century has been fertile in inventions and discoveries; every branch of the arts and sciences made wonderful progress; many new things were unfolded, which required the coinage of new words, for which the Pennsylvania Germans have no German equivalents; so they draw on the English to supply the deficiency. So when they speak of the telegraph, electricity, the telephone, or any other new discovery or invention they add the technical names employed to their vocabulary.

So long as the Pennsylvania German confines his conversation to his personal concerns, and talks about his horses, his cows, his crops, his fields, and his family or his domestic affairs, his German vocabulary is generally sufficient, and he draws very little on the English. It is only when he enters the domain of politics, or undertakes to discuss some abstruse philosophic problem, that he interlards his speech with impure German and probably worse English, making a patois, that would paralyze a Heidelberg professor if he came within range of it.

Pennsylvania German makes no pretensions to any literary merit, and it has none, yet it has answered the needs of the people speaking it for a long period of years, and it is not doubted that it will continue the speech for colloquial intercourse of many thousands of people in Pennsylvania for many years to come. It were far better if English could be made to take its place for all purposes, but with the knowledge we have of the tenacity with which a people will cling to a language or to a dialect, often under the most adverse conditions, we are made to believe, that the day of its disappearance is very remote. Its tenacity is one of the proofs of its quality, and while it has no literary merit in the sense of High German, it is yet wonderfully resourceful in expression, and capable of the sublimest pathos. Whoever is familiar with Harbaugh’s “Gedichte in Pennsylvanisch Deutscher Mundart,” will testify to the fact that it is capable of awakening the tenderest emotions of the human heart.

THE ENGLISH INFUSION.

Since the abolition of the German schools, Pennsylvania German has suffered much by the English infusion into the dialect. Before that time the infusion was not nearly as great. Words which approach nearest to pure German have suffered the most in having their places usurped by English. The man of middle life who is familiar with the dialect will remember when it contained many pure German words, and many others nearly pure, some of which are yet heard occasionally spoken by the older people, but with the generation now coming on all such words have been superseded by English, and too often by worse English relatively, than the quality of the German the places of which it has taken. It is not more than a generation and a half ago, since the following words, and many more equally good were in common use by Pennsylvania Germans, but which have since then almost entirely disappeared from the dialect: Zum beispiel (for example), billige’--billigen (approve), ei’richte’--einrichten (arrange), überi’schtimme’--übereinschtimmen (to agree), schtimzettle (ballot), dampkessel--dampfkessel (boiler), ausser (besides), g’schäft--geschäft (business), handel (dealings), koffer (trunk), gerechtichkeit (justice), geniessen (enjoy), genau (exact), entschuldigen (excuse), ausführe--ausführen (execute), ausklären (explain), erwarten (expect), wahl (election), öffentlicke versteigerung (public vendue), gewalt (force), betrug (humbug), in der that, wirklich (indeed), inwennig--inwendig (inside), bares geld (cash), dreten--treten (kick), vollständig (complete), liebes brief (love-letter), einsam (lonesome), nachricht (notice), genunk--genug (enough), g’falle’--gefallen (please), einfach (plain), langsam (slow), studire’--studiren (study), eichhörnche’--eichhörnchen (squirrel), klug (smart), rauche’--rauchen (smoke), sicher (sure).

This list could be extended so as to reach hundreds of words, which would prove a much better quality of the dialect in the past, than it now is and how it is growing more debased by being robbed of legitimate German words, which are its rightful inheritance. This is manifestly the result of the abolition of German schools, and the closer relation to English teaching and English speaking. Foreign-born Germans coming to this country and settling in English-speaking communities, notwithstanding their German training, will pick up many English words in a comparatively short time, which they mix up in their German speech, although they are thoroughly conversant with their German equivalents. It would seem as if the Pennsylvania German’s temptation should be still greater to draw on English to enrich his vocabulary because it is really deficient in expression, while the newly-arrived German’s vocabulary is adequate for all purposes, yet he is given to the use of English words in almost the same degree as the native born Pennsylvania German. The tendency of all Germans to take up English in their native speech is shown by the fact that those who live on the borders of an English settlement employ more English words, than those who live more remote from English-speaking people.

Pennsylvania German dialect writers vary greatly in the number of English words which they employ. Some do not make use of more than 1 German word to 300 of English, while others make use of 1 to every 25. One dialect writer translated an English poem of 600 words without the use of a single English word and the entire translation is in the vernacular of the Pennsylvania German.

Humorous dialect writers make use of the largest percentage of English words, not because they have no German equivalents, but they think that it increases the ludicrous features of their productions.

EXAMPLES OF PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN, AND PFÄLZISCH COMPARED.

The word “Pfälzisch” strictly speaking applies only to the “Pfalz,” or the region formerly embraced within the limits of the old state of the Palatinate, but inasmuch as the Pfälzisch dialect has spread all over South Germany, and even beyond, it has given character to some of the other German dialects, so the use of the word is justified in speaking of the South German dialects generally.

In spelling and pronunciation, Pennsylvania German and Pfälzisch agree in many particulars. With regard to some of the consonants, both use them interchangeably. The Pennsylvania German will frequently give t, the sound of d; b, of p; v, of w, and _vice versa_. So will the South German. For example: Both will say dode, for todt (dead); dochter, for tochter (daughter); draurig, for traurig (sad); dhier, for thür (door); deich, for teich (a swale); bloge, for plage (to vex); blanscht, for pflanzt (planted). They will also confuse the letters f, v, and w, in similar fashion. The letters k, and g are made to suffer in the same way, as for example in k’scher, for geschirr (harness). The South German says “nit” for nicht, while the Pennsylvania German will substitute e, for i, and make it “net.”

There are very many imperfect German words in use both in Pennsylvania and in South Germany, of which the following are a few examples: The word “grumbeera” (potatoes) is in universal use by the Germans in Pennsylvania, and is heard every where in South Germany and east as far as Austria. It is a corruption of a good German word, “grundbirn.” The latter word is however rarely used by German-speaking people, the word “kartoffeln” being preferred. “Beera,” for birnen (pears); “pershing,” for pfirsich (peach); “hinkel,” for hühner (chickens) are all terms common to both dialects. The Germans of Pennsylvania have the word “pattereesel,” or pattereesli, for rebhuhn (partridge). This word seems to come from the French _perdrix_, and is believed to have been brought to Pennsylvania by Alsatians during the early German emigration. The word is heard in Alsace and German Lorraine. The Germans corrupted the French word by giving it its diminutive form, by adding the suffix “eesli,” a custom which prevails largely among Germans, as for example: For hund (dog), they have “hundli,” for mädchen (girl), they make maedli, and very many other similar diminutives. The Germans of Alsace and Lorraine have lived neighbors to the French for so long a time, that their speech has acquired a considerable number of French words and idioms, which have become much corrupted.

Some of this corrupted French was no doubt brought here by German emigrants who came from the borders of France.

There are a number of other words in use by the Pennsylvania Germans which cannot be traced to any German origin. The Germans living along the Delaware river always speak of that stream as the “reffeer.” This term cannot be traced to any German origin, and is most likely a corruption of the French _riviere_ for river. Pennsylvania Germans also speak of a river as a “rewwer,” or “revver.”

There are certain words in use by Pennsylvania Germans that are wholly misapplied, and which have no relation to the sense in which they are used. This is the result of a misconception of what certain things were, which they found when they came here, and with which they were not familiar. They associated those with things they heard mentioned in Germany, believing that the two were the same and in that way misapplied certain terms.

The term “_pomeranze_” is an example of this misapplication of terms. The Pennsylvania Germans make use of this word to designate a “tomato,” while the word is the German term for an orange. In some parts of Pennsylvania the word pomeranze has been corrupted into “gomeranze” or “gumeranze.” The German for tomato is _liebesapfel_. The manner in which the P. G. have fallen into the error of designating tomatoes as pomeranze has been explained in this way. In the days of the Palatine emigration tomatoes were unknown in the Palatinate, but oranges were known there, but their use was confined to the rich and well-to-do. When the Palatine peasants came to Pennsylvania, they found tomatoes, and mistook them for _pomeranze_ (oranges)--hence the erroneous designation of tomatoes, which still remains. There are other similar misapplication of terms.

* * * * *

The following expressions were heard in South Germany, and a note made of them at the time: At Speyer: “Na ich denk net” (no I think not); “ich will ’mohl sana” (I’ll see); “was hen sie don g’doon” (what have you done); “ich will ken koffee” (I don’t want coffee); “ich nem en achtel wei’” (I take an eighth of a liter wine). The Pfälzer drop the final n, in words like nein, stein, wein, making them nei’, wei’, and so on. The Pennsylvania Germans do the same to a very large extent.

At a Volksfest, not far from Speyer was heard: “Ich wase net;” “es is fier uhr, bal’ zeit fur erfrischung (refreshment);” “ich nem e’ bissel wurst;” “geb mir e’ halb liter bier;” “ich glaab nit os getreide (wheat) guth g’rode is, wie letscht johr.” Children playing at Heidelberg: “Wu is dei’ balla (where is your ball);” “hasht en ferlora?” “sehn ’mohl dort de geilla (horses).” Strolling through a narrow street a woman followed a cat out of house, when she was accosted by one of her neighbors, who said “dort geht dei kats,” to which she replied: “Ja die kats schpringed immer zum finschter naus, ich kan sie gar net im haus halte.” That such German should be heard within the very shadow of the great University at Heidelberg, must shock the erudite writers of magazine and newspaper articles, who have made the discovery that Pennsylvania “Dutch,” is a mere jargon, bearing no relation to any known language.

South Germany is not alone however, in the kind of idiomatic German here mentioned. The following was heard in classic Dresden. A lady made some inquiry of a police officer about a railway train, to which he replied: “Na,--wid mit em pferdebahn geh’, oder mit em electrische-bahn?” She answered: “Es is mir gans einerlei.” Question. “Gehen sie nach Berlin?” Answer. “Ja.” The officer replied: “Den nemmen sie besser den zug os dort dro’wa schteht.”

* * * * *

It may be some satisfaction for a Pennsylvania German to know that there are people who speak a German dialect, compared to which his own may make some pretensions of being classic. He can have his pride gratified in that respect, by a visit to the extreme southern part of Baden, and the adjoining cantons in Switzerland. For example, in a weingarten at Neuhausen: “Ne’ für den scha’ i’ ne’; er zahlt ni’, (für ihn arbeit ich nicht, er bezahlt nicht);” “ne’ i’ ha’ ni’ (no I have not);” “ge’sht mid nach Scha’haus’ i’ bin zurick vor siev’ uhr (gehen sie mit nach Schaffhausen, bin wieder zurick bis sieben uhr); ich gla’ es net (ich glaube es nicht).” It will be noticed that the foregoing examples of Swiss patois, are much inferior to Pennsylvania German. The dropping of final consonants and frequently of entire final syllables, is exasperating to those not accustomed to it.

In the foregoing comparison of the Pennsylvania German and Pfälzisch dialects, the mode of spelling has been generally followed, which will produce the sound with which Pennsylvania Germans are familiar, according to English pronunciation. This is deemed necessary, because by spelling Pennsylvania German words on the basis of literary or High German, would make them unintelligible to Pennsylvania German readers, who have no knowledge of literary or High German.

The reader will find an extension of comparisons of Pennsylvania and South German words in the Appendix to this volume; together with their High German, and English equivalents.