Pennsylvania Dutch

[SanPellegrino]

This thread derives from this one, but It got a bit OT there.

information on Pennsylvania Dutch

http://www.horseshoe.cc/pennadutch/culture/#pdlang

http://www.iwaynet.net/~watts/deutsch/spring.html

some nice quotes:

He is as AGASINISH (contrary, stubborn, self-willed) as a bull.
(todays german: eigensinnig, sounds really swiss in that pronounciation)

Hi, ya, ALTER ("old man"--endearing term)
(kind of funny, a term used by young people around here in Germany nowadays)

Ei-ya; he went and kicked the AMER (bucket; i.e., he died).
(Eimer, I am gonna use this one )

It hurts me so in the BAUCH (belly, stomach)- maybe I ate too many green apples.
(Bauch still)

Mind you-he went out BAWR-FEESICH (barefooted) in "Chanuary."
(barfüßig)

He was FERRICKED (deranged)
(verrückt)

You little HONSWARSHT (clown, or mischievous youngster);
(Hanswurst, a dying idiom, by the letter it means something like "Johnsausage" )

 

[SanPellegrino]

Originally posted by Nixnutz
SanPellegrino:
Pennsylvania Dutch, as I know it, is also primarily spoken which explains the spelling of Nixnutz (Nixnootz, Nixnootzich for the adjective). BTW...how does it translate where you are?

Ummmmm....should we be opening another thread for this????

ok, made it, you are right, it got a little OT.

Nixnutz or Nichtsnutz is an idiom. by the letter it means: nichts=nothing, nutz(en)=use, usefulness, value, so it is meant for somebody who is good for nothing, usually for a lazy person. hope you used it in an ironic way

for Franconia, I don't know, there is also a region in Bavaria called like this, the name derives from the medieval Franks.

I am curious, do german words in AE like "uber" or "kindergarten" derive from Pennsylvania Dutch?

 

[Cecasander]

Its about Pennsylvainian Dutch and they use GERMAN QUOTES!?

I hate it if people can't understand the difference between the Netherlands and Germany

 

[Yago]

Its about Pennsylvainian Dutch and they use GERMAN QUOTES!?

Maybe you should read the links about Pennsylvanian Dutch.

 

[Mojotronica]

Originally posted by Cecasander
Its about Pennsylvainian Dutch and they use GERMAN QUOTES!?

I hate it if people can't understand the difference between the Netherlands and Germany

IIRC, the Pennsylvania Dutch WERE German immigrants... When asked they said they were from "Deutschland," which the English colonists interpreted as Dutch-land.

 

[Yago]

Actually, in earlier days, they used dutch and meant german.

http://muweb.millersville.edu/~forlang/PA_Dutch_History.html

This group of German settlers is sometimes called the Pennsylvania Germans and sometimes the Pennsylvania Dutch. The Oxford dictionary explains that the word Dutch comes from the Old High German word duitsch or diutisc meaning "popular, vulgar." In Germany this adjective (diustisc) was used in the 9th century as a rendering of Latin vulgaris, to distinguish the “vulgar tongue” from the Latin of the church and the learned; hence it gradually came to be the current denomination of the vernacular, applicable alike to any particular dialect, and generally to German as a whole. From the language, it was naturally rendered to those who spoke it, and thus grew to be an ethnic or national adjective. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the name of the country Diutishland arose, which is now Deutschland (the standard name for Germany).

I know, dutch don't like it. But "dutch" is etymologically related to the word "deutsch". And it includes all German-versions, german and dutch. Yeah, "dutch" means nothing else as "Netherland-German". As Swissgerman I say, welcome in the boat, do you like it ? Feel my pain.

 

[SanPellegrino]

Yago and Mojo pointed already out that "dutch" doesn't mean "netherlands" in that context. and IIRC the netherlands national anthem starts with "Wilhemus von Nassau, prins van duitse bloed..." (excuse my dutch, err, netherlands ) I think it just meant at that time, that his heritage was that of a commom man and he was not of a royal bloodline, so take it easy (zij niet graag over)

 

[Nixnutz]

Shees....

from Cecasander
.

Its about Pennsylvainian Dutch and they use GERMAN QUOTES!?

from Yago:

I know, dutch don't like it. But "dutch" is etymologically related to the word "deutsch". And it includes all German-versions, german and dutch. Yeah, "dutch" means nothing else as "Netherland-German". As Swissgerman I say, welcome in the boat, do you like it ? Feel my pain.

There is a movement now to get away from the term "Pennsylvania Dutch". Most historical societies in the area are using Pennsylvania German because the real Dutch don't like it and to avoid confusion. The largest festival in the area, Kutztown Folk Festival calls itself a Pennsylvania German festival.

anyway...back to the dialect.....

from SanPellegrino:

Nixnutz or Nichtsnutz is an idiom. by the letter it means: nichts=nothing, nutz(en)=use, usefulness, value, so it is meant for somebody who is good for nothing, usually for a lazy person. hope you used it in an ironic way

There are those who might agree with the literal translation....

In this area, it is usually used as a term of endearment in reference to someone, usually a youngster, who is impish...my father used to call me a nixnutz when I was a kid (we won't say how long ago) for being honswarscht or agasinish.

from SP:

I am curious, do german words in AE like "uber" or "kindergarten" derive from Pennsylvania Dutch?

hmmmmmmm......

a quick search indicates that kindergarten as a concept was developed in England and Switzerland and started showing up in US schools in the 1850's and '60's, so its unlikely that it had an origin with the dialect.

Uber I'm sure is taken from German.


Here's one not on the list...."yooks"(yoochs)...describes a jerking movement...like the reaction of a car when the driver lets out the clutch too fast..."He yooksed the car down the road, now."

Kinda sounds like what it describes which is one of the things that makes the dialect quaint...Verhoodled...dobbich (i've always heard is as doppich) ...stroobly...

 

[Stapel]

Originally posted by SanPellegrino
and IIRC the netherlands national anthem starts with "Wilhemus von Nassau, prins van duitse bloed..." (excuse my dutch, err, netherlands ) I think it just meant at that time, that his heritage was that of a commom man and he was not of a royal bloodline, so take it easy (zij niet graag over)

Wilhelmus van Nassaue ben ik van Duitsen Bloed...

Meaning: William of Nassau, I am of german blood. It doesn't mean common. As you say yourself, he was a prince (of Orange btw, that is somewhere in the south of France)! All 'native' dutch people are of german blood. Just like all germans, the dutch come from germanic tribes. Our anthem was written to present William to the dutch people, as their new leader. It was important he was not of spanish blood.

Btw: zij niet graag over.... She not rather over? What do you think it measn ?

On topic:
It is perfectly normal that languages change and are influenced by others. Since 1066, many french words have come into English, and not into other 'germanic' languages, like german / dutch / danish.
Also, many English 'seafaring' words come from Dutch.

 

[Yago]

...Verhoodled

That I know. S'chunt go huddle means it comes raining (but a very massive rain, not just "normal rain").

You look verhuddled after you've been under a massive rain, so you look like a mess. So does the ground. Looking "verhuddled" means therefore also to look like or to be a mess.

 

[SanPellegrino]

Originally posted by Stapel

Btw: zij niet graag over.... She not rather over? What do you think it measn ?

sorry, told you my netherlands is bad.
Nederlands is een mooie taal, maar niet eenvoudig is that better?

 

[Nixnutz]

Originally posted by Yago


That I know. S'chunt go huddle means it comes raining (but a very massive rain, not just "normal rain").

You look verhuddled after you've been under a massive rain, so you look like a mess. So does the ground. Looking "verhuddled" means therefore also to look like or to be a mess.

Verhoodled is usually used around here two different ways...in reference to a person to indicate confusion. "She's pretty verhoodled."

In reference to a thing or situation to indicate that it is fouled up.

Verstrublich is usually used to indicate that come-in-out-of-the-heavy-rain look.

 

[Yago]

Verstrublich

Lol, that I guess would be related to "verstrubblet". Your hair is verstrubbled -> Your hair is in chaos/ a mess. Verstrubbled can also be applied for people coming out of the rain. But verhuddled has a connotation of force. A mess caused by great force (like a rain-storm).

 

[SanPellegrino]

yes, "strubbelig" is a word for "bad hair day" here too. "hudeln" is more to botch, or to scamp.