LANGUAGE.
The tongue which these people speak is a dialect of the German, but they generally call it and themselves “Dutch.”
For the native German who works with them on the farm they entertain some contempt, and the title “Yankee” is with them a synonyme for cheat. As must always be the case where the great majority do not read the tongue which they speak, and live in contact with those who speak another, the language has become mixed and corrupt. Seeing a young neighbor cleaning a buggy, I tried to talk with him by speaking German. “Willst du reiten?” said I (not remembering that reiten is to ride on horseback). “Willst du reiten?” All my efforts were vain.
As I was going for cider to the house of a neighboring farmer, I asked his daughter what she would say, under the circumstances, for “Are you going to ride?” “Widdu fawray? Buggy fawray?” was the answer. (Willst du fahren?) Such expressions are heard as “Koock amul to,” for “Guck einmal da,” or “Just look at that!” and “Haltybissel” for “Halt ein biszchen,” or “Wait a little bit.” “Gutenobit” is used for “Guten Abend.” Apple-butter is “lodwaerrick,” from the German latwerge, an electuary, or an electuary of prunes. Our “Dutch” is much mixed with English. I once asked a woman what pie-crust is in Dutch, “Py-kroosht,” she answered.
Those who speak English use uncommon expressions, as,—“That’s a werry lasty basket” (meaning durable); “I seen him yet a’ready;” “I knew a woman that had a good baby wunst;” “The bread is all” (all gone). I have heard the carpenter call his plane she, and a housekeeper apply the same pronoun to her home-made soap.
A rich landed proprietor is sometimes called king. An old “Dutchman” who was absent from home thus narrated the cause of his journey: “I must go and see old Yoke (Jacob) Beidelman. Te people calls me te kink ov te Manor (township), and tay calls him te kink ov te Octorara. Now, dese kinks must come togeder once.” (Accent together, and pass quickly over once.)