Pennsylvania Germann.adj.
/ˌpɛns(ᵻ)lveɪnɪə ˈdʒəːmən/, U.S. /ˈˌpɛnsəlˌveɪnjə ˈdʒərm(ə)n/ A. n.
1. A descendant of the 17th and 18th-cent. German and Swiss Protestant settlers of Pennsylvania. Cf. Pennsylvania Dutch n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > nations > native or inhabitant of America > native or inhabitant of North America > native or inhabitant of U.S.A. > [noun] > by country of origin
American1648
African1700
High Dutch1773
Low Dutch1773
German-American1775
African American1782
Anglo-American1785
Irish-American1786
Africo-American1788
American African1826
Pennsylvania German1827
Pennsylvania Dutch1831
Afro-American1833
far-downer1834
Mexicano1847
knickerbocker1848
Chinese-American1854
Italian–American1873
Polish-American1876
Polacker1883
roundhead1895
hunk1896
Polack1898
Senegambian1900
bohunk1903
honky1904
hunyak1911
Turk1914
boho1920
Anglo1923
Euro-American1925
turkey1932
narrowback1933
nisei1934
roundheader1934
pachuco1943
pocho1944
Latino1946
Chicano1947
Mexican-American1948
Asian American1952
Amerasian1957
Chicana1966
Afrikan1972
Hispanic1972
1827 Raleigh (N. Carolina) Reg. 10 July 3/2 The Governor of that State (a genuine Pennsylvania German) has appointed that paragon of legal acumen John Tod, Esq of Bedford county..to the situation refused by Mr. Binney.
1851 Internat. Mag. Lit., Art, & Sci. Sept. 163/2 The Germans are a rough, uncultivated race, industrious and domestic, it is true, but yet very little improved by civilization—of all which the native Pennsylvania Germans afford unfortunately striking examples.
1869 Nation (N.Y.) 30 Dec. 584/1 Divine service among the Pennsylvania Germans is held in High German.
1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 513/1 In 1790 he was converted to Methodism, and in 1796 determined to devote himself to preaching that faith among the Pennsylvania Germans.
1944 Sun (Baltimore) 4 Dec. 8-0/3 The Pennsylvania Germans..called it ‘Pfännhaas’, which..was corrupted into..‘Ponhaus’,..which simply means..‘pan rabbit’. This is in line with the use of ‘Welsh rabbit’.
1999 Archaeology Nov.–Dec. 55/2 Hungarians ran the blast furnaces, Slovaks the specialty mills, Pennsylvania Germans and Windish (German-speakers from Yugoslavia) were shop foremen.
2. A dialect of German derived from High German and spoken in Pennsylvania; = Pennsylvania Dutch n. 2.
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the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [noun] > Indo-European > Germanic > German > varieties of
High Dutch1560
High German1652
Swabian?1743
Alsatian1826
Varangian1831
Pennsylvania Dutch1848
Viennese1849
Pennsylvania German1853
Frankish1863
Tyroler1887
Limburger1932
1853 A. H. Clough Corr. 21 Apr. (1957) 422 Ich gleiche das is good Pennsylvania German for ‘I like that’.
1869 Nation (N.Y.) 30 Dec. 583/2 The Pennsylvania German is a South German dialect.
1956 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. xxvi. 30 The Norwegian spoken among the immigrants showed the same combination of archaism and levelling as other American languages, though the relatively brief period of its life has not permitted the kind of consolidation found in Pennsylvania German or the colonial languages proper.
1992 Word 43 131 Her linguistic focus..is the merger of the nominative and accusative and of the accusative and dative cases in Pennsylvania German.
B. adj.
Of or relating to the Pennsylvania Germans or their dialect.
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the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [adjective] > Indo-European > Germanic > German > High or Low German
High Dutch1574
Low Dutch1597
High German1660
Low German1660
Pennsylvania German1866
1866 G. Bancroft Hist. U.S. IX. xiii. 235 The præses of the Pennsylvania German Lutherans.
1875 A. R. Horne (title) Pennsylvania German manual.
1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 513/1 He was of ‘Pennsylvania-German’ parentage,..and was educated in the Lutheran faith.
1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 25 Sept. t3/3 Mennonite and Pennsylvania-German societies will be in attendance [at a festival].
2000 D. K. Meyer Making Heartland Quilt 227 Pennsylvania barns exemplify the attitudes and values of..Pennsylvania German farm families.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1827