APPENDIX.THE PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN DIALECT.

APPENDIX.THE PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN DIALECT.

The “Pennsylvania Dutch,” which is spoken over a large portion of our own State, and is also heard in Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, is not divided into dialects as are the languages of many European countries, but seems to be nearly homogeneous. The following specimen was taken from the lips of a working-woman born in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, of German descent, but who learned most of her “Dutch” in the State of Maryland. She now lives in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. An English article was read to her; and with some little difficulty she turned it into the version given. This version was submitted to a learned gentleman born in the eastern part of this State, but now living in Lancaster, and he declared it to be a good specimen of Pennsylvania German. I have abbreviated it, and give the English first, so that the difficulty may be observed which the translator found in the version.

“At Millville, New Jersey, about noon, while everybody in town was going to dinner, a deer came dashing down through the main street, and right behind it followed a dozen dogs, barking the loudest they knew how. Every dog on the line of the chase joined in, so that when the edge of the town was reached there were nearly fifty dogs after the deer. One solitary horseman caught on to the procession before it left town, and he was soon followed by a score of others, and inside of half an hour there were only women and factory hands left in the town. The deer got into the woods and escaped. A hound, which a merchant sent to Philadelphia for on Thursday, brought the deer to bay, and the merchant’s son fired the fatal shot.”

“An Millville, New Jersey, about Mitdog, wie all die Leit in der Stadt zu Mittag gange sin, en Hayrsch is darrich die mainSchtross schprunge, und recht hinne noch ein dutzet Hund noch schprunge, und hen so laut gejolt als sie hen könne. All die Hund in der Schtadt sind oof die Geschpoor und sin noch; so wie sie an die End von der Schtadt sin der ware about fufzig Hund am Hayrsch noch. Ein ehnzige Reiter ist noch eh sie aus der Schtadt kumme sind und es ware gly zwanzig meh, und in weniger als en Halb-stund da war Niemand meh in der Schtadt als Wipesleit und die factory Hendt. Der Hayrsch ist in der Busch kumme und sie hen ihn verlore. En Houns voo ein Merchant in Philadelphia geschickt hat dafore, hat den Hayrsch schtill schteh mache; und der Merchant sei Sohn hat ihn dote schosse.”

But although the Pennsylvania German is not divided into the great number of dialects or varieties found in Europe (I hear that there are about fifty in little Switzerland), yet there are differences here in the spoken dialect. While visiting at the house of a gentleman born in Lehigh County, but living in Lebanon, the following were pointed out to me. In Lehigh a lantern is alutzer; in Lebanon,lattern. In the former the word for orchard isboongart; in the latter,bomegarte. Meadow isSchwammin the former, andVissin the latter. The adverborrick(arg) is very much used in Pennsylvania German; but a clergyman coming to live in Lebanon County was reproved by some of his plain friends for its use. Perhaps it is nearly synonymous with ourdarned,—“That’s darned cheap.” DerArgein the Bible is the evil one.

Mr. Weiser, of the Reformed Church, finds differences in adjoining counties. Thus, in Berks a set of bars in a fence isen Falder; in Montgomery,E’fahrt(or a place to drive through). In Lehigh they say of a drunken man, “Er hat e Kischt ah” (he carries a chest); but this is not heard in the near parts of Montgomery. Tomatoes are sometimes, I think, calledGoomeranzein Allentown, and in Bucks CountyBoomeranze(fromPomeranze, an orange); but this is not heard in Lancaster County.

A learned German in Philadelphia says that several different dialects have flowed like streams into Pennsylvania,—one the Palatinate, another the Suabian, a third Allemanian, a fourth Swiss; and Prof. Dubbs, of Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, but born in Allentown, finds in the region with which he is familiar, east of the Susquehanna, three plainly marked sub-dialects. The one east of the Schuylkill is marked by the diminutivechenin the place oflein. In that district a little pigis calledSäuche, and west of the SchuylkillSäulie(forSäulein). A third sub-dialect, he says, is peculiar to some of the sects of Lancaster County. It is probably of Swiss origin, and is marked by a broad drawl. (The late Prof. Haldeman remarked that in our dialect the perfect is used for the imperfect tense, as in Swiss; so that for “ich sagte” (I said) we have “ich hab ksaat” (gesagt), and for “ich hatte” (I had) we have “ich hab kat” (gehabt)).

(The following excellent remarks on the Pennsylvania dialect are taken from an article in theMercersburg Reviewby Prof. Stahr, now also of Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster. I have made some trifling alterations, mostly in parenthesis.)

“It is of course impossible in our present limits to specify all the peculiarities of Pennsylvania German, so as to give an adequate idea of its form to those who are not familiar with it. We may, however, state a few general principles, which will enable any one conversant with High German to read and understand the dialect without difficulty. In the first place it must be borne in mind that the letters have theSouth Germansound:ahas the broad sound like the Englishaw;standspwhenever they occur sound broad, likeschtandschp, etc. Secondly, letters are commuted or changed. Instead of the proper sound of the modified vowel orUmlaut ō, we find the sound of the Germanēor the Englishā, and instead ofüwe findieori, equivalent to the Englishiinmachine, or the same shortened as in pin. Instead of the proper sound ofeu, we have the Germaneior the Englishī. Instead ofau, particularly when it undergoes modification in inflections, we have broadaoraain the unmodified, andäorāāin the modified, form. Thus we haveBaamforBaum, andBääm’forBaüme;laafe’forlaufen, andlaaftorlääftforlaüft. The diphthong ei is often changed into longeoree. Thus forSteinwe haveStee’(pronounced Shtay), forBein,Bee’, forEidwe haveEed, forLeid,Leed.Ais often changed intoo, asJohrforJahr,HoorforHaar;iis changed intoe, aswerdforwird(Es wird Schlimmis spokenSchvate schlimm),HertforHirt, etc. Consonants are also frequently changed;bintow(Bievelis heard for Bibel),pintob,tintod, etc. Thirdly, words are shortened by dropping the terminations, especiallynof the infinitive or generally aftere. Prefixes are frequently contracted, so also compound words. Thus instead ofwerden,folgen,fangen, we havewerre’,folge’,fange’;einmalbecomesemol;nicht mehr,nimme, etc. Fourthly, the Pennsylvania dialect uses High German words in a different sense. Thus forPferd, horse, we haveGaul, which in High German means a heavy farm-horse or an old horse;gleiche, from the High Germangleichen, to resemble, means in the Pennsylvania dialect, to like;gucke’, from High Germangucken, to peep, to pry, means to look. Finally, we find English words introduced in their full form, either with or without German prefixes and modifications; e.g.,Store(Schtore),Rüles,Cäpers,Circumstänces,trävele,stärte,fixe,fighte.

“Nouns have scarcely any changes of form, except to distinguish singular and plural. These, where they exist, are the same as in High German. One of the most striking peculiarities is this: the genitive case is never used to indicate possession, the dative is used in connection with a possessive pronoun. Thus instead ofDer Hut des Mannes(the hat of the man) we findDem Mann sei’ Hut(to the man his hat).... The definite article is used fordieser,diese,dieses(this), andseller,selle,sell, forjener,jene,jenes(that). The adverbwois used instead of the relativeswelcher,welche,welches.

“In inflecting pronouns,miris used instead ofwir(us). The verb has no imperfect tense; the perfect is always used for it in Pennsylvania German. (And it will be observed, I think, that those accustomed to speaking the dialect will use the perfect thus in English.)

“Fromwollenwe have:Ich will,du witt,er will,mir wolle’,ihr wolle’,sie wolle’; and fromhaben:Ich hab,du hoscht,er hot,mir hen(from han, haben),ihr hen,sie hen.”

The number of writers in the dialect is becoming numerous. There are Mr. Zimmermann and Dr. Bruner, of Berks County, Rev. F. J. F. Schantz, originally of Lehigh, and Rev. Eli Keller and Mr. Henninger of the same; also Miss Bahn and Mr. H. L. Fisher, of York County. The most popular writer is the late Henry Harbaugh, of the Reformed Church, whose poems are collected under the titleHarbaugh’s Harfe. Among them the favorite isDas alt Schulhaus an der Krick. (The old school-house on the creek.) In publishing this volume, the English words introduced after the manner of our Pennsylvania Germans have been generally replaced by German, so that it is not a perfectspecimen of the spoken language. Here follow a few lines from Harbaugh’sHeimweh, or Homesickness:

“Wie gleich ich selle Babble-Beem!Sie schtehn wie Brieder dar;Un uf’m Gippel—g’wiss ich leb!Hock’t alleweil ’n Schtaar!’S Gippel biegt sich—guk, wie’s gaunscht,’R hebt sich awer fescht;Ich seh sei rothe Fliegle plehnWann er sei Feddere wescht;Will wette, dass sei Fraale hotUf sellem Baam ’n Nescht.”How well I love those poplar-trees,That stand like brothers there!And on the top, as sure’s I live,A blackbird perches now.The top is bending, how it swings!But still the bird holds fast.How plain I saw his scarlet wingsWhen he his feathers dressed!I’ll bet you on that very treeHis deary has a nest.

“Wie gleich ich selle Babble-Beem!Sie schtehn wie Brieder dar;Un uf’m Gippel—g’wiss ich leb!Hock’t alleweil ’n Schtaar!’S Gippel biegt sich—guk, wie’s gaunscht,’R hebt sich awer fescht;Ich seh sei rothe Fliegle plehnWann er sei Feddere wescht;Will wette, dass sei Fraale hotUf sellem Baam ’n Nescht.”How well I love those poplar-trees,That stand like brothers there!And on the top, as sure’s I live,A blackbird perches now.The top is bending, how it swings!But still the bird holds fast.How plain I saw his scarlet wingsWhen he his feathers dressed!I’ll bet you on that very treeHis deary has a nest.

“Wie gleich ich selle Babble-Beem!Sie schtehn wie Brieder dar;Un uf’m Gippel—g’wiss ich leb!Hock’t alleweil ’n Schtaar!’S Gippel biegt sich—guk, wie’s gaunscht,’R hebt sich awer fescht;Ich seh sei rothe Fliegle plehnWann er sei Feddere wescht;Will wette, dass sei Fraale hotUf sellem Baam ’n Nescht.”

“Wie gleich ich selle Babble-Beem!

Sie schtehn wie Brieder dar;

Un uf’m Gippel—g’wiss ich leb!

Hock’t alleweil ’n Schtaar!

’S Gippel biegt sich—guk, wie’s gaunscht,

’R hebt sich awer fescht;

Ich seh sei rothe Fliegle plehn

Wann er sei Feddere wescht;

Will wette, dass sei Fraale hot

Uf sellem Baam ’n Nescht.”

How well I love those poplar-trees,That stand like brothers there!And on the top, as sure’s I live,A blackbird perches now.The top is bending, how it swings!But still the bird holds fast.How plain I saw his scarlet wingsWhen he his feathers dressed!I’ll bet you on that very treeHis deary has a nest.

How well I love those poplar-trees,

That stand like brothers there!

And on the top, as sure’s I live,

A blackbird perches now.

The top is bending, how it swings!

But still the bird holds fast.

How plain I saw his scarlet wings

When he his feathers dressed!

I’ll bet you on that very tree

His deary has a nest.

The most witty prose articles that I have met are some in Wollenweber’sGemälde aus dem Pennsylvanischen Volkleben. (Pictures of Pennsylvania Life.)

Mr. E. H. Rauch (Pit Schwefflebrenner) accommodates himself to the great number of our “Dutch” people who do not read German by writing the dialect phonetically, in this manner: “Der klea meant mer awer, sei net recht g’sund for er kreisht ols so greisel-heftict orrick (arg) in der nacht. De olt Lawbucksy behawpt es is was mer aw gewocksa heast, un meant mer set braucha derfore. Se sawya es waer an olty fraw drivva im Lodwaerrickshteddle de kennt’s aw wocksa ferdreiv mit warta, im aw so a g’schmeer hut was se mocht mit gensfet.” (The little one seems to me not to be quite well, for he cries so dreadfully in the night. Old Mrs. Lawbucks maintains that he is what we call grown (enlargement of the liver), and thinks that I should powwow for it. She says that there was an old woman in Apple-butter town whoknew how to drive away the growth with words, and who has too an ointment that she makes with goose-fat.)

I have already stated that our Pennsylvania dialect has been thought to be formed from different European sources; but Mr. H. L. Fisher, of York, has lately shown me a collection of Nadler’s poems in the Palatinate dialect, which, he says, more nearly resemble our idiom than anything else which he has seen. Also at Allentown, Mr. Dubbs, of the Reformed Church, has mentioned a collection which he thinks resembles much our Pennsylvania German. It is the poems of Ludwig Schandein, in the Westrich dialect. These are both dialects of the Rhenish Palatinate, the former of the district on the Rhine, the latter of the western or more mountainous part. And as the Germans coming into Pennsylvania were at one time called Palatines, it is not remarkable that these Palatinate dialects resemble ours. Here is a specimen of the eastern or lowland dialect:

“Yetz erscht waasz i’s, yetz erscht glaaw i’s,Was mar in de Lieder singt;Yetz erscht glaaw i’s, dann jetz waasz i’s,Dasz die Lieb aam Schmerze bringt.“Nachdigalle dhune schlage,Dasz ’s dorch Berg un Dhäler klingt;Unser Bawrebuwe awwerDasz aam’s Herz im Leib verschpringt!”At last I know, at last believe it,That what our poets sing is so;At last I think, yes, now I know it,That love brings also pain and woe.The nightingales so sweetly warble,Their notes through hill and dale do ring;But oh! the heart in the breast is rivenWhene’er our peasant boys do sing!

“Yetz erscht waasz i’s, yetz erscht glaaw i’s,Was mar in de Lieder singt;Yetz erscht glaaw i’s, dann jetz waasz i’s,Dasz die Lieb aam Schmerze bringt.“Nachdigalle dhune schlage,Dasz ’s dorch Berg un Dhäler klingt;Unser Bawrebuwe awwerDasz aam’s Herz im Leib verschpringt!”At last I know, at last believe it,That what our poets sing is so;At last I think, yes, now I know it,That love brings also pain and woe.The nightingales so sweetly warble,Their notes through hill and dale do ring;But oh! the heart in the breast is rivenWhene’er our peasant boys do sing!

“Yetz erscht waasz i’s, yetz erscht glaaw i’s,Was mar in de Lieder singt;Yetz erscht glaaw i’s, dann jetz waasz i’s,Dasz die Lieb aam Schmerze bringt.

“Yetz erscht waasz i’s, yetz erscht glaaw i’s,

Was mar in de Lieder singt;

Yetz erscht glaaw i’s, dann jetz waasz i’s,

Dasz die Lieb aam Schmerze bringt.

“Nachdigalle dhune schlage,Dasz ’s dorch Berg un Dhäler klingt;Unser Bawrebuwe awwerDasz aam’s Herz im Leib verschpringt!”

“Nachdigalle dhune schlage,

Dasz ’s dorch Berg un Dhäler klingt;

Unser Bawrebuwe awwer

Dasz aam’s Herz im Leib verschpringt!”

At last I know, at last believe it,That what our poets sing is so;At last I think, yes, now I know it,That love brings also pain and woe.

At last I know, at last believe it,

That what our poets sing is so;

At last I think, yes, now I know it,

That love brings also pain and woe.

The nightingales so sweetly warble,Their notes through hill and dale do ring;But oh! the heart in the breast is rivenWhene’er our peasant boys do sing!

The nightingales so sweetly warble,

Their notes through hill and dale do ring;

But oh! the heart in the breast is riven

Whene’er our peasant boys do sing!

Here is a specimen from Schandein’s poems in the Westrich dialect:

“So lewe wul, ehr liewe Alte,Do i’s mei’ Hann, Glick uf die Rês!De’ liewe Herrgott losze walte,Dann Er es wul am beschte wêsz;Un machen euch kê’ Gram und SorjeYa denken an ihn alle Dah:Er sorgt jo heut, er sorgt ah morje,Er sorgt ah in Amerika.”

“So lewe wul, ehr liewe Alte,Do i’s mei’ Hann, Glick uf die Rês!De’ liewe Herrgott losze walte,Dann Er es wul am beschte wêsz;Un machen euch kê’ Gram und SorjeYa denken an ihn alle Dah:Er sorgt jo heut, er sorgt ah morje,Er sorgt ah in Amerika.”

“So lewe wul, ehr liewe Alte,Do i’s mei’ Hann, Glick uf die Rês!De’ liewe Herrgott losze walte,Dann Er es wul am beschte wêsz;Un machen euch kê’ Gram und SorjeYa denken an ihn alle Dah:Er sorgt jo heut, er sorgt ah morje,Er sorgt ah in Amerika.”

“So lewe wul, ehr liewe Alte,

Do i’s mei’ Hann, Glick uf die Rês!

De’ liewe Herrgott losze walte,

Dann Er es wul am beschte wêsz;

Un machen euch kê’ Gram und Sorje

Ya denken an ihn alle Dah:

Er sorgt jo heut, er sorgt ah morje,

Er sorgt ah in Amerika.”

Dr. Dubbs, of Franklin and Marshall College, has kindly given me this verse from his own translation:

“Farewell! and here’s my hand, old neighbors!May blessings on your journey rest!Leave God to order all the future,For He alone knows what is best.And do not yield to grief or sorrow,Trust in His mercy day by day;He reigns to-day, he reigns to-morrow,He reigns too in America.”

“Farewell! and here’s my hand, old neighbors!May blessings on your journey rest!Leave God to order all the future,For He alone knows what is best.And do not yield to grief or sorrow,Trust in His mercy day by day;He reigns to-day, he reigns to-morrow,He reigns too in America.”

“Farewell! and here’s my hand, old neighbors!May blessings on your journey rest!Leave God to order all the future,For He alone knows what is best.And do not yield to grief or sorrow,Trust in His mercy day by day;He reigns to-day, he reigns to-morrow,He reigns too in America.”

“Farewell! and here’s my hand, old neighbors!

May blessings on your journey rest!

Leave God to order all the future,

For He alone knows what is best.

And do not yield to grief or sorrow,

Trust in His mercy day by day;

He reigns to-day, he reigns to-morrow,

He reigns too in America.”

Various estimates have been given me of the numbers speaking the dialect in different parts of our State. Thus a lawyer in York County, beyond the Susquehanna, says that there are still witnesses coming to court, natives of the county, who do not speak English, and whose testimony is translated by an interpreter. Crossing the Susquehanna easterly, we come to my own county, Lancaster. My own neighborhood, near the Pennsylvania Central Railway, is much Anglicized. The southern part of the county is greatly “English,” but as I was riding lately in the north, on the railway which connects Reading in Berks, to Columbia in Lancaster, a conductor estimated that along the forty-six miles of the railway about nine out of ten of the travellers can speak German. In Reading I am told in a lawyer’s office that three-fourths of the women who come in to do business speak “Pennsylvania Dutch.” My tavern-keeper says that many come to his house, born in the county, who cannot speak English. Another lawyer estimates that of the country people born in Berks County, three-fourths would rather speak Pennsylvania German than English; and another thinks that in the rural districts of the county from one-half to two-thirds prefer to speak the dialect, although perhaps half of these can talk English. Another person says that when there is a circus or county fair at Reading, which draws the farmers’ families, you hardly hear English, for the store-keepers accommodate themselves to the visitors. One of myfriends, born in Germany, says that she saw at a forge in Berks County colored people, men, women, and children, that could not speak English; they spoke Pennsylvania German. If, now, we pass northerly to Lehigh County, we come to “Pennsylvania Dutch” land parexcellence, for in no other county of our State are the people so nearly of unmixed German origin. I am told of Allentown, the county seat, with a population of about nineteen thousand, that Pennsylvania German, “Dutch,” is the prevailing language. A lawyer estimates that more than one-fourth of its inhabitants do not speak English if they can help it, and a considerable number in town, born in this region, do not speak English at all. Of the county, a physician says that three-fourths of the people speak Pennsylvania German more easily than English, and another that nearly all the country people would rather speak the dialect.

East of Lehigh lies another very German county, Northampton. The county town Easton is, however, connected with New Jersey by a bridge over the Delaware, and Easton is to a very considerable degree Anglicized. Easton is the seat of a great Presbyterian institution, Lafayette College; yet a professor tells me that the Presbyterian Church cannot overcome the Lutheran and Reformed element. The Lutheran Church, he says, is very strong. Of the same county I was told some years ago that the people generally spoke German, except along the New Jersey line, and that outside of Easton and Bethlehem three-fourths of the people are Reformed and Lutheran. At the same period, about nine years ago, a physician told me that the public-school teachers in the rural parts must necessarily speak German for the children to obtain ideas, or must interpret English to them. These counties, with Lebanon, six in number, are the great German ones, beginning with York on the southwest, and ending with Northampton on the northeast; but the Pennsylvania German population is by no means confined to these counties. It spreads along the cultivated soil like grass. Adjoining Berks and Lehigh is Montgomery, the northern part of which is very “Dutch.” Here I visited a preacher of one of our plain sects, whose great-grandfather came from Germany. But he, himself, speaks very little or no English, and he employed the ticket-agent to answer an English letter. One son and his children live under the same roof, making six generations in Pennsylvania; but the whole household uses the German dialect.

It must not be supposed of a large part of the Pennsylvania Germans that they are unacquainted with pure German. A simple and pure German they find in the Bible and in their German newspapers, of which there are several, altogether enjoying a large circulation. Also, at least in the Reformed and Lutheran Churches, there are many ministers who preach in pure German. Yet, when the minister goes to dine with a parishioner, they generally speak the dialect. The minister who speaks this to his flock is more popular. They could understand the higher German; but they say of him when he speaks the dialect, “Er iss en gemehner Mann” (He is a common, plain man, or one who doesn’t put on airs.)

A gentleman in Lebanon, born in Berks, told me that he should be pleased to speak German as it is in the Bible. “But,” he added, “as soon as a person begins to use pure German here among his acquaintances the Pennsylvania Dutch will say, ‘Des iss ane Fratz-Hans,’ or a high-flown fellow; or, as it may be rendered, ‘He’s full of conceit.’”

One of the most amusing things in the dialect is the adopting and transforming of English words, as “Ich habe en Predigerentgetscht,”—I have engaged a preacher; “Do hat derEirischgemehnt er wotttriede,”—the Irishman thought he would treat; “Sie henn en guterTietscherkatt, der hot die Kinner vieler Leutgetietscht,”—they had a good teacher, who taught the children of many people; “Ich will dir’sexsplehne,”—I will explain it to you; “Er hat michinweitet,”—he invited me; “Do hen sie anfangeufzukotteund zu lache,”—then they began to cut up and laugh. A workman who was tired of waiting for material said, “Sie hen us nau lang genug ’rumgebaffelt”—they have baffled or disappointed us long enough.

On the amount of English that is sometimes introduced into the dialect, a lawyer in Lebanon says that of the Pennsylvania Dutch which he uses in his political speeches, or in his practice, fully one-third is English. This specimen was given to me by a lawyer in Allentown, as the opening of a political speech: “Ich bin desirous um euch zu explaine die prerogative powers fum President.” And this a lawyer to his client: “Ich bin certain das die Opinion was ich den morge geexpress hab, correct war.”

Before leaving the subject of the idiom, I give some of the peculiar expressions heard in speaking English. A neighbor toldme of her daughter’s being invited to a picnic, and added, “I don’t know what I’ll wear on her.”

Said a tavern-keeper’s wife, “Don’t jine sweeping.” “It’s time to jine sweeping,” was the reply.

A girl got into a car near Mauch Chunk, and had headache.

“Don’t sit with your back to the engine,” I suggested.

“Do you sink?” she asked me. (Do you think so?)

“I guess it will give a gust,” is said in Lancaster County.

“Do you want butter-bread?” (or bread and butter.) “No, I’d rather have coffee-soup,”—i.e., bread broken into coffee.

“Mary, come down to the woods.” “I dassent.” She does not mean that she is afraid, but that she is not permitted, like the Germandurfen.

“I’m perfectly used to travel everywichway.”

“A body getsdiredif theydravel.”

“Mind Ressler? He was in Sprecher’s still;” or, “Do you remember Ressler? He used to be employed in Sprecher’s store.”

“It’s raining a’ready, mother,” or, “Where’s Mrs. M.?” “She went to bed a’ready.”

“I guess that Mrs. B. does not spend all her income.”

“She didn’t still.”

“She’d rather be married to himasto keep house for him” (like the Germanals).

We think those very “Dutch” who say “Sess” for Seth, “bass-house” for bath-house. Thus it would be, Beslem is in Norsampton County.

“I’m fetching a pig. I had it bestowed.”

“We’re getting strangers, and I was fetched.” (They are expecting company at our house, and they sent for me to come home.)

“Mrs. M., how does your garden grow?” “Just so middlin’.”

“Your head is strubly,” means that your hair is tumbled.

A scientific friend, wishing to examine a specimen, said, “Let me see it once.”

Of the same kind are these: “When we get moved once.” “You’ll know what it is when you hain’t got no father no more once.” (This use ofoncehas been alluded to in the text.)

“Mother, don’t be so cross!” “I ought to be cross” (angry).

I do not know that it is “Dutch” to say, “Did you kiss yourpoppy?” or, “Barbara, where’s yourpap?” (for father).

“How are you, Chrissly?” (diminutive of Christian.) “Oh! I’ve got it so in the back.”

Those who live among Pennsylvania Germans cannot fail to observe that when they, speaking English, make mention of a couple, as, “She gave me a couple of peaches,” they do not generally mean two only. Couple has doubtless to them the same meaning as the German wordPaar, which is defined by Whitney “a couple, two or three, a few, sundry.”

I cannot tell the deviation of our interjection of pain,Owtch!

Ok!is doubtless the GermanAch!or is it Irish?

And what is the derivation of “Sahdie?” so much used by children for “Thank you.”

There is a word neither of English nor German origin which is sometimes used as a salutation by Pennsylvania Germans. It is familiarlyHottiay. Few would divine to see it thus that it is the French adieu.

Changes equally remarkable are found in proper names. The family of my own neighbor Johns was originally Tschantz, as is more easily perceived by the pronunciation; Johns ending with the s sound and not the z. The important family in Lancaster County named Carpenter were Zimmerman when they came in, the name being translated. But of a family in Berks County, some are Hunter and some Yäger. Some persons named Bender, who have removed to California, are there called Painter.

It is surprising in Pennsylvania to hear of persons with Irish or Scottish names who can scarcely speak English. A gentleman in Harrisburg told me of one he knew in Dauphin County named Hamilton (whose father was born in Dublin), and of two others named Dougherty. I have met in Berks County a person with a purely Scottish name who spoke of Norsampton County, and of Souss Reading (not pronouncing the th). But his mother was of a German family, and “Pennsylvania Dutch” his mother-tongue.

A lawyer in York, with an English name, tells me that his ancestors came from New England, and settled first in the Wyoming Valley, but some moved southward, and by intermarriage, to use, I think, his own expression, became quite Dutchified. He himself can speak the dialect.

Several families with French names are now not to be distinguished from the Pennsylvania Germans among whom they live and intermarry. It is said that the Bushongs were once Beauchamp; then probably the Deshongs were Du Champ. The Shopells were Chapelle; the Levans perhaps Levin. Delaplaine is pronouncedDillyplen. There are still Bertolettes, De Bennevilles, De Turks, De Planks, Philippes, Philippis, and Philippys. Coquelin has become Cockley and Gockley. These families were perhaps French Huguenots who sought refuge in Germany, where so many went on the revocation of the edict of Nantes. From the Palatinate came very many of our Pennsylvania Germans, and that state is directly east of France.

But it is also probable that many French names were translated when their owners removed to Germany. One of my acquaintances in Philadelphia is a German, born in the Palatinate. She tells me that her grandfather left France during the revolution. He was a Mennonite, and named Coquerel; but this was translated into Hähnchen; so that my friend was a Miss Hähnchen. Coquerel, Hähnchen, and our English word cockerel are synonymous.

Changes in the names of persons of the same family in Pennsylvania will be observed. I know a gentleman in Lebanon County with an English name, who tells me that his mother’s name was Besore; supposed to have been La Bessieur. The name has also been spelled Basore, Bashor, and Bayshore. The name Beinbrecht is said to have gone through these changes; in Philadelphia there is a Bonbright, in Chambersburg a Bonbrake, and there are Bonebreaks. In Lancaster County, I hear of a father who writes his name Bear; but one son is Barr, and another Bair. There is a large Reformed family in Pennsylvania named Wotring, now turned into the English Woodring, which was originally the French Voiturin. Probably within the Reformed German Church are more French Calvinistic families than in the Lutheran.

Of the Buchanans and Livingstones in our country we might assume the Scottish origin; butDer Deutsche Pioniertells us that the German name Buchenhain [meaning Beech grove] has been changed to Buchanan, and Löwenstein to Livingstone. A more grievous change is said to have befallen the name Hochmayer or Hochmier [high steward], for in Virginia it has become Hogmire!

One of the most remarkable distinctions between our Pennsylvania Germans is that which ranges the counties and townships inhabited by the wehrlos, or peaceable sects, with one political party; and those where the Reformed and Lutherans are strongest with the other. We might once have thought that the Democratic party was the war party; but during the great rebellion the counties of Berks, Lehigh, and Northampton still remained adherents of the Democratic party in its opposition to the war. The county of Montgomery, in the eastern part of the State, is thus divided; the Mennonites, Schwenkfelders (with Quakers), are almost invariably Republican; while the strong Democratic townships are almost entirely Reformed and Lutheran. Of course there are in all such localities many who do not belong to any religious body.

A Democratic editor in the same county of Montgomery says that he does not know a Mennonite or Schwenkfelder who is not Republican; so also are the great majority of the German Methodists. He, however, added that the Reformed and Lutherans are nearly equally divided in politics. But every politician who knows the people must concede that the counties which are the stronghold of these two churches are an immense Democratic stronghold.

Mr. H., of Easton, tells me of a man who stood looking at a procession in honor of the funeral of Jackson, Harrison, or some other distinguished person. In the procession were Freemasons, Odd-Fellows, and other societies. “Oh,” said he, “des ish alle letz!That is all wrong. There ought to be only two societies,—the Democrats and the Lutherans. If a man lives up to the principles of General Jackson and Martin Luther, that is enough.” He took his boys to delegate or town-meetings. “Now, boys,” he said, “are you going to vote the Democratic ticket as long as you live? Always stick to the Democratic party, and carry out the principles of General Jackson. If you intend to do this, you can vote for delegates.” (This anecdote is a little injured by the introduction in the beginning of the name of Harrison, who was a Whig. But it was given to me by a person of a well-known Democratic and Lutheran family.)

A few years ago, in an adjoining county, an adherent of the Democratic party told me that the word democracy has a magic sound for the people of Lehigh. “A Democratic parade,” he added, “can easily be got up in Allentown two miles in length, composed in a great measure of farmers on horseback; and in Presidential campaigns sometimes farmers’ daughters also appear on horseback in the procession. A skilful speaker, generally a lawyer, who speaks the dialect, and who will frequently introduce the words democrat and democracy, can lead the crowd. Even if he do not speak the dialect, if he will introduce those words, he can bring out the applause of his hearers.”

An acquaintance tells me of a political speaker in Berks County, that Democratic stronghold. He was telling ofdie Demokratie, which he said goes over hill and dale, over the sea, and strikes the seat from under kings. “And if you ask where that democracy comes from, they will tell you from Berks County.”

An acquaintance once explained to me the prejudice against Yankees by telling me how, about fifty years ago or longer, the tin-peddlers travelled among the innocent Dutch people, cheating the farmers and troubling the daughters. They were (says he) tricky, smart, and good-looking. They could tell a good yarn, and were very amusing, and the goodly hospitable farmers would take them into their houses and entertain them, and receive a little tin-ware in payment.

A lawyer in Easton, from the State of New York, says that he never saw so large a body of people so honestly inclined as the Pennsylvania Germans. He speaks from a knowledge of the people of Northampton and Lehigh. They have an especial dread of the people of New England and New York, from their having been so terribly victimized by patent-rights’ men. He adds that they are not a reading people, but by their careful and slow manner of getting along they really accomplish more than the people of New England and New York, who, he says, make a great display, and then frequently compromise with their creditors by paying fifteen or twenty cents on the dollar. A person present added of these Pennsylvania Germans that they never headed any great moral reforms and never drowned witches.

Another thinks that in his youth the Yankee drovers in Lehigh County were respected for their acuteness. He adds, however, that when the “Dutch” call a man a Yankee, it is not near so opprobrious as to call him a Jew. “But,” says another, “when a Yankee comes to Reading with patent rights and inventions they point and say, ‘Do geht en Yoot.’” (There goes a Jew.) Dr. L., of Lebanon County, says that the “Dutch” idea of a Yankee is not of one who starts out to cheat for the pleasure of cheating, but of one who prefers to make his living by his wits rather than by hard labor. He starts with the idea of making money easily, and does not care much finally about the honesty of his proceedings.

In the market at York a learned man of New England origin asked a farmer, “What is the price of your apples,—twenty-five cents?” “Yes, you can have them for that; but I wouldn’t let Kochersperger have them for a quarter,—he’s a Yankee.”

In his speech in Congress upon the death of John Covode, Simon Cameron declared that he honored Covode for his true courage when he proclaimed in Philadelphia what weaker men would have tried to suppress, giving as a reason for his hostility to every species of human bondage the fact that his father had been sold as a redemptionist near the spot where he was then speaking. “Scarcely a generation had passed away,” adds Cameron, “before the hired servants began to buy their masters’ lands, to marry their masters’ daughters, and to make good their claim to full equality with those whose bondsmen they had been. For a time the Scotch-Irish made a sturdy stand for that supremacy and superiority which seem to be their peculiar inheritance, place them where you may. At length the thrift, the superior patience, and the perseverance of the German blood prevailed. They bought, and still possess, the old homesteads, and have furnished us with an array of distinguished men of whom every citizen of our State is justly proud.” The superior patience, says Mr. Cameron.Geduld ist das beste Kraut, das man in America baut,—patience is the best plant grown in America,—is a saying I have heard in Lancaster County. But I must interrupt my regular course to explain the word redemptionist used by Mr. Cameron.It was applied to persons coming here from Germany who were unable to pay the expenses of their passage, and who were sold or indentured for a term of years until that expense was paid. Minor children were bound out until of age.

Mr. Cameron also speaks of the Pennsylvania Germans dispossessing the Scotch-Irish, and plenty of corroborative evidence of this can be found. A learned gentleman has said to me that the Scotch-Irish element, which used to be the leading one in Franklin County, is in a great measure replaced by the Pennsylvania German. “As the Irish farmers got poor and sold their land it was bought by the Pennsylvania Germans, who then got rich by their extreme thrift or severe economy and great industry.” A correspondent of the PhiladelphiaPress, in 1871, goes further, and writing from Brown’s Mills in the same county, from “the fertile and picturesque Cumberland valley,” speaks of the Pennsylvania Germans of that region as wearing the short gown and petticoat, the shad-belly coat, and broad-brimmed hat. The district, he says, was first settled by Scotch-Irish and Welsh, but these have mostly been replaced; a few families of Lutherans and German Reformed linger here, but their numbers annually grow less, and the difficulty of supporting their ministers is yearly more serious. Then, if we may trust this correspondent, it appears that thewehrlos, or defenceless men (who do not pay ministers), are gaining possession of that region. It was said of old time that the meek shall inherit the earth. Far east of Franklin County, in Montgomery, I was told of peacemen, the Schwenkfelders and Mennonites, that they buy good farms. “They don’t buy the hilly, stony ones; and, at the same time, I don’t know how it comes they can afford to pay for them.”

The severe economy of the Pennsylvania Germans has been just mentioned. One New-Year’s day I saw in a bank a young man who was asked to subscribe for something. He declined, and spoke of “our old Dutch rule that it is a bad plan to buy on New-Year’s morning. Always get money in before you pay it out.” In Northampton County an old resident is reported to have said, “Do you know the difference between a Yankee farmer and a Dutch one? When a Yankee farmer has apples, he sells the scrubby ones and eats the good ones at home; and a Dutch farmer picks out the scrubby ones to eat at home, and sells the good ones.”

One of my Lancaster County neighbors has grain-bags that have been in use on the farm for about seventy years, and bid fair to last for twenty more. They were made from flax and hemp grown on the farm. A young member of the family says that their preservation not only shows the economy, but impresses him with proofs of the good judgment of those who made them, in selecting material, and in the thorough manner of their work. He adds, “All these characteristics were, I think, possessed in full measure by the people, somehow and somewhere misnamed Dutch, in whose hands the largest part of Lancaster County has become what it is.”

Mrs. G., born in Lebanon County, says that when they were children one would take a looking-glass and go down the cellar-stairs backward, in order to see therein the form of a future spouse. Another custom was to melt lead and pour it into a cup of cold water, expecting thence to discover some token of the occupation of the same interesting individual. A person in York also remembers that at Halloween her nurse would melt lead and pour it through the handle of the kitchen door-key. The figures were studied and supposed to resemble soldier-caps, books, horses, and so on. This nurse was Irish, but the other domestics were German. A laboring woman from Cumberland County, and afterward from a “Dutch” settlement in Maryland, says that she has heard of persons melting lead to see what trade their man would be of. My German friend before quoted says that in the Palatinate they melted the lead on New-Year’s eve. In Nadler’s poems in the Palatinate dialect, St. Andreas’ night is the time spoken of for melting the lead. This is the 30th of November. Further, in a work called “The Festival Year” (Das Festliche Yahr), by Von Reinsberg-Duringsfeld, Leipsic, 1863, the custom of pouring lead through the beard, or wards, of a key is mentioned.

A lawyer, born in Franklin County, tells me that it is a common superstition among Pennsylvania Germans that persons born on Christmas night can see supernatural things and hear similar sounds. He adds that his mother told him of a person who was sceptical and ridiculed the idea, and was told to go out into his feeding-roomand listen. He lay down on the hay, and while there one of the oxen said, “Uebermorgen schieben mir unser Meschter auf den Kirch-hof.” (Day after to-morrow we will haul our master to the graveyard.) And his funeral was on the day specified. My German friend before quoted says that in the Palatinate they believe that as it strikes twelve on Christmas eve, all animals talk together. She adds, “I think that idea is through Germany.”

A gentleman connected with schools in Northampton County says that at Halloween his daughters meet their companions and melt lead into water to tell their fortunes. They also fill their mouths with water that they may not speak, as speaking would break the charm; and walk around a block of houses. The first name which they hear is that of their future spouse. Another practice, which, unlike the foregoing, may be tried at any time of year, is to take a large door-key and tie it within the leaves of a small Bible, the handle remaining out. Two girls rest the handle upon their fingers, and repeat some cabalistic verse; of which, he thinks, each line begins with a different letter, and the key will turn at the initials of the future spouse. These, he says, are the remnants of old superstitions, and he suspects that the human mind is naturally superstitious. He adds, “The population of Easton is mixed so that we cannot tell how many of these are purely German; but by going into the rural German districts of Northampton County you will find many strange ideas, such as that on a certain church festival, say Ascension day, you must not sweep your house, lest it become full of fleas.”

A simple-minded woman in Lancaster County, who showed some regard for the Reformed Church, said that she had sat up late sewing the night before, so as not to sew on Ascension day. “My mother,” she said, “knew a girl that sewed on Ascension day; and there came a gust and killed her.”

One of my German acquaintances calls my attention to the salt-cake eaten in Lancaster. It is made extremely salt, and is eaten by girls, who then go to bed backward without speaking and without drinking; and he of whom they dream is to be their future husband. This, he says, is a custom also in Germany.

But the most universal ideas of this superstitious kind are those connected with the signs in the almanac. Baer’s Almanac, published in Lancaster, still has the signs of the zodiac down the pages, like one shown to me in the Palatinate, where a man ofsome education said, “Here is where I see how to plant my garden.” What, however, is very mysterious is that when our people tell you you must not plant now, forITis in the Posy-woman (and the things will all run to blossom, and not bear fruit), they cannot tellwhatis in the Posy-woman, or Virgo. I infer, however, that it is the moon.

I have been shown a German Bible, which belonged to the grandfather of one of my neighbors, wherein the family births were entered in the German language. I endeavored to decipher one, as follows:

“1797, September den 9ten 1st uns ein Sohn gebohren ihm Zeichen Witter, ehr ist ihn dem nehmlichen Mohnat ihm Herren entshlafen.”

“On the 9th of September, 1797, a son is born to us in the sign of the Ram [Aries]. In the same month he fell asleep in the Lord.”

The same neighbor who owns the old Bible just mentioned tells me that one of the Russian Mennonites showed him a pamphlet in the German language, which the man had brought from Europe; wherein was told what would be the fortune of a child born in each sign, his health, wealth, etc.; but my neighbor says that he, himself, had no faith in it.

“Grain should be sowed in the up-going; meat butchered in the down-going will shrink in the pot.” But my worthy neighbors do not appear to know what it is that is going up and going down. I infer, of course, that it is the moon. Is it not remarkable that my neighbors should be so attached to book-farming? I knew a woman, born among Friends, but in a Pennsylvania German settlement, who was lamenting the smallness of the piece of meat on the table. “What a little piece, and so big before it was cooked! How it has shrunk! It is in the down-going. And those strawberries, too, that I preserved, that went away to so little; they were done in the down-going.” But one of her family spoke up, bravely, “Just so, mother; that must be it. Now I know what’s the matter with my portemonnaie, that it shrinks away so; it’s the down-going.”

These beliefs in the influence of the heavenly bodies must be the relics of astrology remaining in the almanacs, and never drawn now from actual observation of the weather and the planets.

Mrs. Nevin relates the following (PhiladelphiaPress, June 2, 1875): “There are several superstitions connected with death andfunerals in the country, which are a strange blending of the ludicrous with the mournful. One is that if the mother of a family is dying, the vinegar-barrel must be shaken at the time to prevent the ‘mother’ in it from dying. Said a man once in sober earnest to me, ‘I was so sorry Mr. D. was not in the room when his wife died.’ ‘Where was he?’ ‘Oh, in the cellar a-shaking the vinegar-barrel; but if he had just told me, I would have done it and let him been in the room to see her take her last breath.’”

Mrs. Nevin adds: “Another superstition is that the last person that goes out of a house at a funeral will be the next one to die, and as the audience begins to thin, you may see people slip very nimbly out of a back or kitchen door to avoid being that last one.”

The belief inspooksor ghosts is not lost in “Pennsylvania Dutch” land. In some of his verses Mr. Schantz tells (AllentownFriedensbote) of an abandoned school-house standing near a sand-pit, beside some woods. He says,—

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