The German brings with him a vocabulary which is not quite adapted to the objects around him, and he improves his language by dropping such of his words as have an indefinite meaning, replacing them with terms which have an exact and scientific value, where High German is weak and indefinite—having failed to Latinise its vocabulary at the revival of learning. The Pennsylvanian uses 'fenss' or 'fents' (not "fehnsz") for the English fence, because the German zaun is equally a hedge; he uses 'flaur' (or 'flauer' Eng. flour) as well as the German mehl, because the latter is equivalent to English meal; he seizes upon bargain as better than anything in his vernacular; and he restricts G. wagen (with the sound of 'waghǝ') to wagon, adopting a variation like "bändwagen" for a vehicle used by a musical band, using 'kerritsch' ("carriagemacher") for the English carriage, altho 'kutsch' (G. kutsche) is also in use. He adopts English expressions for clearing land and speaks of a clearing (which he makes feminine) because the destruction of forests by chopping and burning is not a European practice. Railroads were probably built in America before they were in use in Germany, and in Pennsylvania, our English name was imitated in 'reelroot' ('Plankenroad' is in print) or, as in many other cases, the word was translated into "riegelweg." At a later date the foreign name "eisenbahn" was brought in by later immigrants—and "riegel-bahn" is in use.
§ 2. Newspapers.
The Pennsylvania German appreciates humor, and to avoid the humorous and often illegitimate use of English words, the first examples in these pages will be selected from the advertisements of about a dozen different newspapers, all printed in the barbarous German character, and published at distant points in Pennsylvania. In such compositions, the attention of the public is called to common objects in a vocabulary which can be accepted without hesitation, and in a style somewhat above the colloquial, in which a horse is called 'gaul' and not pferd ('pfært') as usual in print. The spelling is sometimes English and sometimes more or less Germanised, without much affecting the pronunciation, as in "store" (a retail shop[30]) or "stohr" (buchstore, storehalter, stohrhaus), which are equally 'schtoor'; "frame," (främe, främ, frähm), are equally the English frame; "schap" (shap, schop, schopp, shop, pl. schöp); "township" (townschip, taunschip); "county" and "caunty"; "turnpike" and "turnpeik"; "cash" and "casch."
In some localities, English names of streets like King, Queen, High, Water, Chesnut Street, are used in German speech and print, and in others, Königstrasze, Quienstrasze, Highstrasze, Wasserstrasze and Chesnutstrasze, are preferred.
As parenthetic words like (Dry Goods) occur in the originals, explanations will be [in brackets], and attention will be called to strictly English words by putting them in italics.
The "Pennsylvanische Staats-Zeitung" (published at Harrisburg, the State Capital) claims a larger circulation than any English journal of that city, and the number for Nov. 25, 1869, will be quoted here in the original spelling. Here, where English introduced words might be expected throughout, certain French words are adopted from the German dictionaries, such as reparaturen, delikatessen, lagerbier salon (also saloon),[31] etablissement, engagiren, quotiren, instruiren, autorisiren, ordonnanz. Others are rather English than French, as pavements, arrangements, publikationspreisen, textbücher, jury, city, controle ( ... so wie dasz die City alleinige Controle über denselben Committee....), connektion, construktion, order, governör, provisionen, groceries.
Beste Familien-Mehl, in Fässern [in another journal—Roggenflauer per bärrel—preim flaur] superfine per Bärrel; Prime weitzen; Roggen [rye] per Buschel. Korn [maize or indian corn, properly called Welschkorn in the same column under the quoted Lancaster prices, where "Korn" means rye.] Hafer; Middlings; Shorts.
In the Price-current we find—
Fische ... Rock [Labrax lineatus]; Pike [for Hecht, pl. Hechte, a known term]; Halibut; Haddock; Sturgeon; Trout; White Perch [Labrax albus, vel mucronatus]; Weisze Fische [Coregonus albus]; Härringe; Catfische [Pimelodus, more commonly called 'katsǝfisch'].
Fleische ... Roast Beef per Pfund; Rump Steaks; Surloin; Hammelfleisch; Schweinfleisch; Gedörrtes Beef [Getrocknetes Rindsfleisch is quoted from Pittsburg]; Beef Schinken; ... Mess Pork; ... Schmalz in kegs; Lard-Oel; Butter (roll ... print) [with 'roll' and 'print' in Roman type]; Molasses [commonly called mǝlássich]; Süszkartoffeln Schellbarks [nuts of the shell-bark hickory]; Aepfelbutter (Latwerg) [G. Latwerge, PG. látwærik, translated from E. apple-butter].