Pennsylvania Dutch
The Pennsylvania Dutch (Pennsylvania Dutch: Pennsylvanisch Deitsche),[1][2][3] commonly referred to as Pennsylvania Germans, are an ethnic group in Pennsylvania and other regions of the United States, predominantly in the Mid-Atlantic region of the nation.[4][5][6] They largely descend from the Palatinate region of Germany, and settled in Pennsylvania during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. While most were from the Palatinate region of Germany, a lesser number were from other German-speaking areas of Germany and Europe, including Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Saxony, and Rhineland in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the Alsace-Lorraine region of France.[7][8][9]
For the language spoken by this group, see Pennsylvania Dutch language.
The Pennsylvania Dutch spoke Palatine German and other South German dialects, intermixing of Palatine, English, and other German dialects, which formed the Pennsylvania Dutch language as it is spoken today.[10]
Historically, "Dutch" referred to all Germanic dialect speakers, and is the origin of Pennsylvania Dutch, its English translation. The Pennsylvania Dutch name has caused confusion in recent times, as the word Dutch has evolved to associate mainly with people from the Netherlands.[11]
Geographically, Pennsylvania Dutch are largely based in the Pennsylvania Dutch Country and Ohio Amish Country.[12] The most famous Pennsylvania Dutch groups are the Fancy Dutch and the Amish.
Notable Americans of Pennsylvania Dutch descent include Henry J. Heinz, founder of the Heinz food conglomerate, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the family of American businessman Elon Musk.[13]
Etymology[edit]
"Dutch" is an English word. Dutch in the English language originally referred to all Germanic dialect speakers; Yankees referred to the language spoken by the Holland Dutch as Low Dutch (Dutch: laagduits), and the language spoken by American Palatines as High Dutch (German: hochdeutsch).[14]
Thus the word Dutch in Pennsylvania Dutch is not a mistranslation but rather a derivation of the Pennsylvania Dutch endonym Deitsch, which means "Pennsylvania Dutch" or "German."[15][16][17][18] Ultimately, the terms Deitsch, Dutch, Diets and Deutsch are all descendants of the Proto-Germanic word *þiudiskaz, meaning "popular" or "of the people."[19]
The oldest German newspaper in Pennsylvania was the High Dutch Pennsylvania Journal in 1743. The first mixed English and German paper, the Pennsylvania Gazette of 1751, described itself as an "English and Dutch gazette," in reference to the High Dutch language spoken in Pennsylvania.[20]
Geography[edit]
The Pennsylvania Dutch live primarily in the Delaware Valley and in the Pennsylvania Dutch Country, a large area that includes South Central Pennsylvania, in the area stretching in an arc from Bethlehem and Allentown in the Lehigh Valley westward through Reading, Lebanon, and Lancaster to York and Chambersburg.[39] Some Pennsylvania Dutch live in the historically Pennsylvania Dutch-speaking areas of Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia's Shenandoah Valley.[40]
