The Breitmann Ballads

by Charles Godfrey Leland

Lanze,(Ger.) - Lance.
Lager, Lagerbeer, (Ger. Lagerbier, i.e., Stockbeer) - Sometimes in
these poems abbreviated into Lager. A kind of beer introduced
into the American cities by the Germans, and now much in vogue
among all classes.
Lager Wirthschaft,(Ger.) - Beerhouse.
Laibgartner,(Ger.) - Liebgard; bodyguard. The Swiss in blundering
makes it "body-gardener."
Lam - To drub, beat soundly.
Larmen - The French word larmes, tears, made into a German verb.
Lateinisch - Latin.
Laughen, lachen - Laughing.
Lavergne - A place between Nashville and Murfreesboro', in the
state of Tennessee.
Lebe hoch! - Hurrah!
Leben - Life; living.
Lebenlang,(Ger.) - Life-long.
Lev'st du nock? - Liv'st thou yet?
Libby - The notorious Confederate prison at Richmond, Va.
Liddle Pills - Little bills, Legislative enactments.
Lieblich,(Ger.) - Charming.
Liedeken,(Flem.) - Song.
Lieder, Lieds,(Ger.) - Songs.
Liederkranz,(Ger.) - Glee-union.
Liederlich,(Ger.) - Loose, reckless, dissolute.
Lighthood,(Ger. Lichtheit) - Light.
Like spiders down their webs - Breitmann's soldiers are supposed to
have been expert turners or gymnasts.)
Loafer,(Amer.) - A term which, considered as the German
pronunciation of lover, is a close translation of
rom, since this latter means both a gipsy and a
husband.
Los, los gehen,(Ger.) - To go at a thing, at somebody.
Loosty,(Ger. Lustig) - Jolly, merry.
Loudet,(Lauten in Ger.) - To make sound.
L'Ubbriacone,(Ital.) - Drunkard.
Luftballon,(Ger.) - Air-balloon.
Lump,(Ger.) - Ragamuffin.
Lumpenglocke - An abusive term applied to bells, especially to
those which are rung to give notice that the beer-houses must
close.

Madel,(Ger.) - Girl.
Maedchen,(Ger.) - Girl, maiden.
Markgraefler - A pleasant light wine grown in the Grand Duchy
of Baden.
Marmorbild - Marble statue.
Maskenzug,(Ger.) - Procession of masked persons.
Massenversammlung,(Ger.) - Mass meeting.
Mein Freund - My friend.
Mein Sohn - My son.
Meine Seel',(Ger.) - By my soul.
Meisjes,(Flem.) - Girls.
Middleolter(Mittelaelter) - The Middle Ages.
Mijn lief gesellen,(Flem.) - My dear comrades.
Mineted - Minded.
Minnesinger - Poet of love. A name given to German lyric poets,
who flourished from the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries.
Mist-hauf,(Ger.) - Dung-hill.
Mit hoontin knife, &c.:-
"With her white hands so lovely,
She dug the Count his grave.
From her dark eyes sad weeping,
The holy water she gave."
- Old German Ballad.
Mitout - Without.
Mitternight, Mitternacht - Midnight.
Mitternocht, Mitternacht - Midnight.
Mohr, ein schwarzer,(Ger.) - A blackamoor.
Moleschott - Author of a celebrated work on physiology.
Mondenlight - Moonlight.
Mondenschein,(Ger.) - Moonlight.
Morgan - John Morgan, a notorious Confederate guerilla during the
late war in America.
Morgen-het-ache - Morning headache.
Moskopolite,(Amer.) - Cosmopolite. Mossyhead is the German student
phrase for an old student.
Mud-sill - The longitudinal timber laid upon the ground to form the
foundation for a railway. Hence figuratively applied by the
labour-despising Southern gentry to the labouring classes as
the substratum of society.
Murmulte - Murmured.
Mutter,(Ger.) - Mother.

Naturalizationisds - The officers, &c., who give the rights of
native citizens to foreigners.
Nibelungen Lied - The lay of the Nibelungen; the great German
national epos.
Nieuw Jarsie - New Jersey, in America, famous inter alia for its
sandy beaches and high surf.
Nig - Nigger.
Nirwana - The Brahminical absorption into God.
Nix,(Ger. Nichts) - Nothing.
Nix cum raus - That I had not come out.
No sardine - Not a narrow-minded, small-hearted fellow.
Norate - To speak in an oration.
Noth,(Ger.) - Need, dire extremity. Das war des Breitmann's Noth,
-That was Breitmann's sore trial. Imitated from the last line
of the Nibelungen Lied.
Nun - Now.
Nun endlich,(Ger.) - Now at last.

O'Brady - An Irish giant.
Ochsen,(Ger.) - Oxen; stupid fellows. As a verb it also is used
familiarly to mean hard study.
Odenwald - A thickly-wooded district in South Germany.
Oder - Other. See Preface.
Oltra tramontane; ultra tramontane - Applied to the non-Italian
Catholic party.
On-belongs - Literal translation of Zugehort.
On de snap - All at once.
On-did to on-do - Literal translation of the German
anthun; to donn, to put on.
Onfang,(Ger. Anfang) - Beginning.
Oonendly - Unendlich.
Oonshpeakbarly,(Ger. unaussprechbarlich) - Inexpressibly.
Oop-gecleared,(Ger. Aufgeklaert) - Enlightened.
Ooprighty,(Ger. Aufrichtig) - Upright.
Oopright-hood,(Ger. Aufrichtigkeit) - Uprightness.
Oop-sproong - For aufsprung.
Opple-yack - Apple-jack. Spirit distilled from cider.
Orgel-ton,(Ger.) - Organ sound.
Orkester - Orchestra.
Out-ge-poke-te - Out-poked.
Out-signed,(Ger. ausgezeichnete) - Distinguished, signal.
Out-sprach - Outspoke.
Over again - Uebrigen.

Paardeken,(Flemish) - Palfrey. Pabst, Der Pabst lebt, &c. - "The Pope he leads a happy life," &c., beginning of a popular German song. Palact,(Ger. Pallast) - Palace. Peke - Belgian rye whisky. Peeps - People. "Hard on the American peeps" - a phrase for anything exacting or severely pressing. Pelznickel, Nick, Nickel - St. Nicolas, muffled in fur, is one of the few riders in the army of the saints, but, unlike St. George and St. Martin, he oftener rides a donkey than a horse, more especially in that part of the German land which can boast of having given birth to the illustrious Hans. St. Nicolas is supposed, on the night preceding his name-day, the sixth of December, to pass over the house-tops on his long-eared steed, and having baskets suspended on either side filled with sweets and playthings, and to drop down through the chimneys presents for those children who have been good during the year, but birch-rods for those who have been naughty, would not go to bed early, or objected to being washed, &c. In the expectation of his coming, the children put, on the eve of St. Nicolas' day, either a shoe, or a stocking, or a little basket, into the chimney-piece of their parents' bedroom. We may remark, by the way, that St. Nicolas is the Christian successor of the heathen Nikudr, of ancient German mythology. Pesser, besser,(Ger.) - Better. Pestain - Stain, with the augment. Pfaelzer - A man from the Rhenish Palatinate. Pfeil,(Ger.) - Arrow. Philosopede - Velocipede. Pickel-haube,(Ger.) - The spiked helmet worn by Prussian soldiers. Pie the forms - Break and scatter the forms of types - the greatest disaster conceivable to a true typo. Pig-sticker - Bowie-knife. Pile-out,(Amer.) - Hurry out. Pimeby - By and by. "Plain" - Water plain, i.e., unmixed. Plue goats - Blue coats, soldiers. Plug-muss - Fight for a fire-plug. American fireman's language. Pokal, (Poculum) - Goblet. Poker - A favourite game of cards among Western gamblers. Poonkin - Pumpkin. Pop-slets - Bob-sleds. A very rough kind of sledge. Potzblitz,(Ger.) - int., The deuce. Potztausend! Was ist das? - Zounds! What is that? Poulderie - Poultry. Poussiren - To court. Pretzel,(Ger.) - A kind of fancy bread, twist or the like. Prezackly - Pre(cisely), exactly. Protocollirt, protocolliren - To register, record. Pully, i.e., Bully - An Americanism, adjective. Fine, capital. A slang word, used in the same manner as the English used the word crack; as, "a bully horse," "a bully picture." Pumpernickel - A heavy, hard sort of rye-bread, made in Westphalia. Put der Konig troo - To put through, (Amer.), to qualify, to imitate. Pye - To buy.

Rapp(Rappe) - A black horse.
Raushlin', rauschend - Rustling.
Reb - An abbreviation of rebel.
Redakteur - Editor.
Red cock - Or make de red cock crow. Einem den rothen
Hahn aufs Dach setzen. A German proverb signifying to set
fire to a house.
Rede,(Ger.) - Speech.
Red-Waelsch, Roth-Waelsch,(Ger.) - Thieves' language.
Reiten gaen,(Flemish) - Go riding.
Reiter,(Ger.) - Rider.
Reiver - Robber.
Reue,(Ger.) - Repentance.
Rheingraf,(Ger.) - Count of the Rhine districts.
Rheinweinbechers Klang - The Rhine wine goblet's sound.
Richter,(Jean Paul Fr.) - A distinguished German author.
Ridersmann,(Reitersmann in Ger.) - Rider.
Ring - A political clique or cabal.
Ringe,(Ger.) - Rings.
Ritter,(Ger.) - Knight.
Roland - One of the paladins of Charlemagne.
Rolette - Roulette.
Rollin' locks - Rolling logs, mutually aiding (used only in
politics.)
Rosen,(Ger.) - Roses.
Rouse,(Ger. Heraus) - Out; come out.

Sachsen - Saxonia, Saxony.
Sacrin - Consecrating.
Sagen Cyclus - Cycle of legends.
Sass, Sassy, Sassin' - Sauce, saucy, &c.
Sauerkraut,(Ger.) - Pickled cabbage.
Saw it - Understood it.
Scatterin, Scotterin - Scattering.
Schatz - Sweetheart.
Schauer,(Ger.) - Awe.
Schenk aus,(Ger.) - Pour out.
Schenket ein,(Ger.) - Pour in (fill the glasses).
Schimmel,(Ger.) - Grey horse.
Schimpft und flucht gar laesterlich,(Ger.) - Swears and blasphemes
abominably.
Schinken,(Ger.) - Ham.
Schlaeger,(Ger.) - A kind of sword or broadsword; a rapier used by
students for duelling or fighting matches.
Schlesierwein,(Ger.) - Wine grown in Silesia, proverbially sour.
Schlimmer,(Ger.) - Worse.
Schlog him ober de kop - Knocked him on the head.
Schloss,(Ger.) - Castle.
Schmutz,(Ger.) - Dirt.
Schnapps,(Ger.) - Dram.
Schnitz - Pennsylvania German word for cut and dried fruit.
Schnitz, schnitzen,(Ger.) - To chop, chip, snip.
Schonheitsideal,(Ger.) - The ideal of beauty.
Schopenhauer - A celebrated German "philosophical physiologist."
Schoppen,(Ger.) - A liquid measure, chopin, pint.
Schrocken(Erschrocken) - Frightened.
Schwaben - Suabia.
Schwan,(Ger.) - Swan.
Schweinblatt - (Swine) Dirty paper.
Schweitzer kase,(Ger.) - Swiss cheese.
Schwer,(Ger.) - Heavy.
Schwig, Swig, verb. - To drink by large draughts.
Schwigs, Swig, n. - A large draught.
Schweinpig,(Ger.) - Swinepig.
Scoop - Take in, get.
Scorched - Escorted. A negro malapropism.
Scrouged,(Amer.) - Pressed, jammed.
Seelen-Ideal - Soul's ideal.
Sefen-lefen - Seven or eleven(minutes).
Seins,(Ger.) - The Being.
Selbstanschauungsvermogen,(Ger.) - Capacity for self-inspection.
Selfe,(Ger. Selbe) - Same.
Serenity - A transparency.
Shanty - A board cabin. Slang, for house.
Shapel - Chapel is an old word for a printing-office.
Sharman, Sherman - German.
Shings - Jingo; by jingo.
Shpicket - Spigot; a pin or peg to stop a small hole in a cask of
liquor.
Shipsy - Gipsy.
Shlide - Slide. "Let it slide," vulgar for "let it go."
Shlide,(Amer.) - Depart.
Shlished, geschlitzt - Slit.
Shlop over - Go too far and upset or spill. Applied to men who
venture too far in a success.
Shlopped - Slopped.
Shmysed,(Ger. Schmissen, from Schmeissen) -
Threw him out of doors.
Shnow-wice,(Ger. Schnee-weis) - Snow-white.
Shoopider - Jupiter.
Shooting-stick - A shooting-stick is used for closing up the form
of types.
Show-spiel, Schauspiel - Play, piece.
Shpoons - Spoons, plunder.
Shtuhl,(Ger. Stuhl) - Stool, chair.
Silbern,(Ger.) - Silver.
Sinn,(Ger.) - Meaning.
Six mals - Six times.
Skeeted - Went fast, skated(?)
Skool - Skull.
Skyugle,(Amer.) - "Skyugle" is a word which had a short run during
1864. It meant many things, but chiefly to disappear or to
make disappear. Thus, a deserter "skyugled," and sometimes he
"skyugled" a coat or watch.
Slanganderin' - Foolishly slandering.
Slasher gaffs - Spurs for cocks, with cutting edges.
Slibovitz - A Bohemian schnapps.
Slumgoozlin' - Slum or sham guzzling, humbug.
Slumgullion - A Mississippi term for a legislator.
So mit,(Ger.) - Thus with.
Solidaten,(Ger. Soldaten) - Soldiers.
Sonntag,(Ger.) - Sunday.
Soplin - A sapling, young tree.
Sottelet,(Ger. Gesattelt) - Saddled.
Sound upon the goose - Bartlett, in his Dictionary of
Americanisms, states that this phrase originated in the
Kansas troubles, and signified true to the cause
of slavery. But this is erroneous, as the phrase
was common during the native American campaign,
and originated at Harrisburg, as described by Mr. Leland.
Souse und Brouse,(Ger. Saus und Braus) - Revelry and rioting.
Speck,(Ger.) - Bacon.
Spiel,(Ger.) - Play.
Spielman,(Ger.) - Musician.
Splodderin' - Splattering.
Spook,(Ger. Spuk) - A ghost.
Sporn,(Ger.) - Spur.
Sports - Sporting men.
Squander,(Amer.) - Wander. Used in this sense in "The Big Bear of
Arkansas."
Staub,(Ger.) - Dust.
Stein,(Ger.) - Stone.
Stille,(Ger.) - Stillness.
Stim,(Ger. Stimme) - Voice.
Stohr - Store.
Stone fence,(Amer.) - Rye whisky.
"I went in and got a horn
Of old stone fence."
- Jim Crow, 1832.
Straaten,(Flem.) - Streets.
Stracks - Straight ahead, or onwards.
Straight flush - In poker, all the cards of one suit.
Strassen,(Ger.) - Streets.
Strauss - Name of the celebrated Viennese valse player and
composer.
Strumpf,(Ger.) - Stocking.
Stunden,(Ger.) - Leagues. About four and a half English miles.
Sturm und Drang,(Ger.) - Literally Storm and Violence. Sturm und
Drang periode, signifying a particular period of German
literature.
Sweynheim and Pannartz - The first printers at Rome.

Takes - Allotments of copy to each printer.
Tantz,(Ger.) - Dance.
Tantzen,(Ger.) - To dance.
Tarnal - Eternal.
Taub, Taube,(Ger.) - Dove.
Taugenix, Taugenichts - Good-for-nothing fellow.
Teufelsjagersmann - Devil's huntsman.
Theil,(Ger.) - Part.
Thoom - Thumb.
Thrip,(Southern Amer.) - Threepence.
Thusnelda - The wife of Arminius,(Hermann,) the Duke of the
Cheruskans and conqueror of Varus.
Tie a dog loose. Losbinden
Tiger - An American term for a gambling table.
Tixey - "I wish I was in Dixie." The origin of this song
is rather curious. Although now thoroughly adopted as a
Southern song, and "Dixie's Land" understood to mean the
Southern States of America, it was, about a century ago,
the estate of one Dixie, on Manhattan Island, who treated
his slaves well; and it was their lament, on being deported
south, that is now known as "I wish I was in Dixie."
Todt,(Ger.) - Dead.
Todtengrips, Todtengerippe - Skeleton.
Tofe - Dove.
To House,(Ger. zu Hause) - At home.
Tortled - To tortle, to move off. From turtle.
Touch the dirt - Touch the road.
Treppe - Stairs.
Treu,(Ger.) - Faithful, true.
Throw him with ecks - Pelt him with eggs.
Turchin - Colonel Turchin's men ravaged the town of Huntsville
(Ala.) during the civil war.
Turkas - Turquoise.
Turner,(Ger.) - Gymnast.
Turner Verein,(Ger. Turnverein) - Gymnastic Society.
Tyfel, Teufel - Devil.
Tyfeled, Verteufelt - Devilish.
Tyfelfest - From Teufel, here in the sense of "best" or "worst."
Tyfel-shnake, Teufelsschnaken - Devilries.
Tyfel-strikes, Teufels-streiche - Devil-strokes.
Tyfelwards - Devilwards.

Uber Stein and Schwein,(Ger.) - Over stone and swine.
Ueberschwengliche,(Ger.) - Transcendental, elevated.
Uhr,(Ger.) - Clock, watch, hour, time. Used for "hour" in the
ballad.
Uhu,(Ger.) - Owl.
Uliverus - Oliver, another of the twelve Paladins of Charlemagne,
who fell at Roncesvalles (a Roland for an Oliver).
Und lauter guter Ding,(Ger.) - And of thoroughly good cheer.
Un-windoong,(Ger. Entwicklung?) - Unravelling.
Unvolkommene technik - Unfinished style or method.
Urbummeleid,(Ger. vulg.) - Arch-loafer's song.
Urlied,(Ger.) - The song of yore.

Van't klein komt men tot't groote,(Dutch) - Great things have small
beginnings. (Concordia res parvae crescunt - Legend on the
Dutch ducats; or "Magna molimur parvi.")
Varus - The Roman commander in Germany, conquered by Arminius.
Veilchen,(Ger.) - Violets.
Vercieren,(Flem.) - Adorn; exalt.
Verdammt,(Ger.) - D—-d.
Verfluchter,(Ger.) - Accursed.
Verloren,(Ger.) - Forlorn.
Verstay, Verstehen - Understand.
Versteh, Verstehen,(Ger.) - To understand.
Vertyfeln, Verteufeln - To botch.
Villiam - William Street at New York, inhabited by many Germans.
Vivat! - The same as vive! in French. Hurrah!
Vlaemsche - Flemish.
Von - One. See Preface.
Voonderly,(Ger. Wunderlich) - Wondrous, curious.
Voruber,(Ger.) - Past.