CHAPTER IX.

ENGLISH INFLUENCED BY GERMAN.

§ 1. _German Words introduced._

If the Germans of Pennsylvania adopted many words from English, the English speaking population applied the appellation of _German_ or _Dutch_ to unfamiliar varieties of objects, such as a _Dutch cheese_, a _German lock_; or they adopted the original names, as in calling a form of curds _smearcase_ (G. schmierkäse) in the markets and prices current. German forms of food have furnished the vicinal English with _sourcrout_, _mush_, _shtreisslers_, _bretsels_, _fawstnachts_,[70] _tseegercase_, _knep_ (G. Knöpfe, the _k_ usually pronounced), _bower-knep_, _noodles_; and in some of the interior markets, endive must be asked for under the name of 'æntiifi,' even when speaking English. Dutch gives _crullers_, but _stoop_ (of a house) is hardly known. In English conversation one may hear expressions like "He belongs to the _freindschaft_" (he is a kinsman or relation); "It makes me _greisslich_ to see an animal killed" (makes me shudder and revolt with disgust--turns my stomach). A strong word without an English equivalent.

The German idiom of using _einmal_ (once) as an expletive, is common, as in "Bring me a chair once," and when a person whose vernacular is English says, "I am through another" (I am confused), he is using a translation of the German _durch einander_, PG. 'dárich ǝnánnǝr.' Of such introduced words, the following deserve mention.

=Metsel-soup=, originally pudding broth, the butcher's perquisite, but subsequently applied to a gratuity from the animals he has slaughtered.

=Shinner=, G. schinder (a knacker,[71]) an objurgatory epithet applied by butchers to farmers who compete with them in the market.

=Speck=, the flitch of salt bacon, particularly when boiled with sourcrout, hence, 'speck and sourcrout.'

=Tsitterly=, calf's-foot jelly.

=Hartley=, a hurdle for drying fruit.

=Snits=, a =snit= (G. schnitz, a cut), a longitudinal section of fruit, particularly apples, and when dried for the kitchen. The term is in use in districts where German is unknown.[72]

=Hootsle=, PG. hutsl, G. hotzel, a dried fruit; Bavar. and Suab. hutzel, a dried pear. In Pennsylvania, a peach dried without removing the stone.

=Dumb= (G. dumm) is much used for _stupid_.

=Fockle= (G. fackel), a fisherman's torch.

=Mother= (PG. from G. mutter-weh, not parturition, but) a hysterical rising in the throat. The word occurs in old and provincial English.[73]

=Chipmunk=, a ground-squirrel (Tamias); _chip_ probably from its cry, and Swiss _munk_, a marmot.

=Spook= (G. Spuk), a spectre; and the verb, as--"It spooks there," "The grave-yard spooks."

=Crĭstkintly= (PG. Krischtkintli, G. Chrĭst Kindlein), the Christ Child who is supposed to load the chrĭstmas trees and bring presents at Christmas. Perverted in the Philadelphia newspapers to _Kriss Kringle_, _Kriss Kingle_, and _Kriss Kinkle_.

=Christmas-tree=, a well-known word for a well-known and much used object, but absent from the American dictionaries.

=Bellsnickle=, PG. beltsnikkl (G. _Pelz_ a pelt, skin with hair, as a bear-skin, here used as a disguise, and perhaps associated with _peltzen_, to pelt,) and _Nickel_, _Nix_, in the sense of a demon. (Suab. Pelzmärte, as if based on _Martin_). A masked and hideously disguised person, who goes from house to house on christmas eve, beating (or pretending to beat) the children and servants, and throwing down nuts and cakes before leaving. A noisy party accompanies him, often with a _bell_, which has influenced the English name.

These, I suppose, were Christmas mummers, though I heard them called "Bell-schnickel."--_Atlantic Monthly_, October, 1869, p. 484.

=Gounsh=, n. and v.i. As _to seesaw_ implies reciprocal motion, so _to gounsh_ is to move up and down, as upon the free end of an elastic board. PG. 'Kumm, mr wellǝ gaunschǝ.' (Come, let us gounsh.) Suab. gautschen; Eng. to _jounce_.[74]

=Hoopsisaw= (PG. húppsisaa, also provincial German). A rustic or low dance, and a lively tune adapted to it. Inferior lively music is sometimes called 'hoopsisaw music,' 'a hoopsisaw tune.'[75]

=Hoove=, v.i. a command to a horse to back, and used by extension as in "The men hooved (demurred) when required to do more work." Used in both senses in the Swiss _hüfen_, imperative _hüf!_ and Schmeller (_Bayr. Wörterb._ 2, 160) gives it as Bavarian.

=Hussling-=, or =Hustling-match=, PG. hossl-mætsch (with English _match_), a raffle. From the root of _hustle_, the game being conducted by shaking coins in a hat and counting the resulting heads.

=Sock up=, "to make a man sock up," pay a debt, produce his _sack_ or pouch. This is uncertain, because, were a PG. expression to occur like "Du muscht ufsakkǝ" (you must sock up), it might be borrowed from English.

=Boof=, peach brandy. In Westerwaldish, _buff_ is water-cider,--cider made by wetting the pomace and pressing it a second time.

=Sots=, n. sing. G. satz, home-made 'yeast' as distinguished from 'brewer's-yeast.'

=Sandman=, "The sandman is coming,"--said when children get sleepy about bedtime and indicate it by rubbing the eyes. Used thus in Westerwald and Suabia.[76] Children are warned against touching dirt by the exclamation (bæætschi).

=Snoot=, for snout, a widespread teutonic form.

§ 2. _Family Names Modified._

With several concurrent languages, the deterioration of names is an obvious process. Among the mixed population of Baltimore, the name 'Bradley' is to a Frenchman _Bras-de-long_; for 'Strawberry' (alley) and 'Havre-de-grâce' (in Maryland) the Germans say _Strubbel_, and _Hasel-im-gras_; and the Irish make the following changes--

Carron (French) _Scarron_ Coquerelle _Corcoran_ de Vries _Freezer_ Giessen _Gleason_ Grimm _Grimes_ Henning _Hannon_ Rosier _Rosetree_ Schöffeler _Scofield_ van Dendriessche _Driscol_ van Emstede _Hampsted_ Winsiersski _Winchester_ Fayette Street _Faith St._ Alice Ann St. _Alexander St._ Happy Alley _Apple Alley_

A German with a name which could not be appreciated, was called _John Waterhouse_ because he attended a railroad tank--a name which he adopted and placed upon his sign when he subsequently opened a small shop. A German family became ostensibly Irish by preferring the sonant phase of their initial--calling and writing themselves _Grady_ instead of Krady; a name 'Leuter' became _Lander_; 'Amweg' was tried a while as _Amwake_ and then resumed; and in a family record, the name 'George' is given as _Schorts_. A postoffice 'Chickis' (Chikiswalungo--place where crayfish burrow) received a letter directed to _Schickgets_, another _Schickens Laenghaester Caunte_, and 'Berks County' has been spelled _Burgix Caunte_.[77]

The following German and Anglicised forms may be compared,--

Albrecht _Albright_ Bachman _Baughman_ Becker _Baker_, _Pecker_ Dock _Duck_ Eberhardt _Everhart_ Eberle _Everly_ Eckel _Eagle_ Ege[78] _Hagy_? Ewald _Evalt_ Fehr _Fair_ Frey (free) _Fry_ Früauf _Freeauf_ Fusz (foot) _Foose_ Geisz (goat) _Gise_ Gerber _Garber_ Giebel _Gibb_ Gräff _Graff_, _-o_, _-ae_ Guth _Good_, _Goot_ Haldeman _Holderman_[79] Herberger _Harberger_ Hinkel _Hinkle_ Hofman _Hoofman_ Huber _Hoover_ Kaufman _Coffman_ Kaufroth _Cuffroot_ Kehler _Kaylor_ Kochenauer _Goughnour_ Koick _Cowhawk_ Krauskopf _Krosskop_ Kreider _Crider_ Kreybil _Graypeel_ Kühnlein _Coonly_, _-ley_ Kutz _Kutts_ Leitner _Lightner_ Leybach _Libough_ Mayer _Moyer_ Meyer _Mire_ Mosser _Musser_ Mosseman _Musselman_ Neumeyer _Narmire_? Noll _Null_ Nüssli _Nicely_, _Nissly_ Oberholtzer _Overholser_ Pfautz _Fouts_, _Pouts_ Pfeiffer _Pyfer_ Reif (ripe) _Rife_ Reisinger _Riesinger_ Riehm _Ream_ Roth (red) _Roath_, _Rote_ Ruth _Root_ Schellenberger _Shallyberger_[80] Schenk _Shank_ Scheuerman _Shireman_ Schnebele _Snavely_ Schneider _Snyder_, _Snider_ Seip _Sype_, _Sipe_ Seipel _Seiple_, _Sible_ Seitz _Sides_ Senz _Sense_ Spraul _Sprowl_ Stambach _Stambough_ Strein _Strine_ Valentin _Felty_ WeltzhuBer _BeltzhooVer_[81] Wetter _Fetter_ Wĭld _Wilt_

So 'Schleyermacher' passed thro _Slaremaker_ to _Slaymaker_; and by a similar process, farther changes may take place, like Mutsch to _Much_, Bertsch to _Birch_, Brein to _Brine_, Schutt to _Shoot_ or _Shut_, Rüppel to _Ripple_, Knade (gnade _grace_) to _Noddy_, Buch to _Book_, Stahr to _Star_, Fing-er to _Fin-ger_, Melling-er to _Mellin-jer_, Stilling-er[82] to _Stillin-jer_, Cōver to _Cŏver_, Fuhrman to _Foreman_, Rohring[83] to _Roaring_, Gehman to _Gayman_.

Names are sometimes translated, as in _Stoneroad_ for 'Steinweg,' _Carpenter_ for both 'Schreiner' and 'Zimmermann,' and both _Short_ and _Little_ for 'Kurz' or 'Curtius.'

Part of a name may be anglicised, as in Fink_bine_, Espen_shade_, Traut_wine_--where the first syllable has the German sound. Fentz_maker_ is probably a condensation of Fenstermacher.

It is remarkable that speakers of German often use English forms of baptismal names, as _Mary_ for Marîa, _Henry_ for Heinrich, and _John_ (tschan, shorter than the medial English sound) for Johannes.[84]

Of curious family names without regard to language, the following may be recorded--premising that proper names are especially subject to be made spurious by the accidents of typography.[85]

Ahl, Awl, Ammon, Annĕ, Barndollar, Baud, Bezoar, Bigging, Blades, Bohrer, Boring, Book, Bracken, Bricker (bridger), Buckwalter, Burkholder and Burchhalter (burg-holder), Byler, Candle, Candour, Care, Case, Channell, Chronister, Condit, Cooher, Cumberbus (Smith's Voyage to Guinea, 1744), Curgus or Circus, Dehoof, Dialogue, Ditto, Dosh, Eave, Eldridge (in part for Hildreth), Erb, Eyde, Eyesore (at Lancaster, Pa.), Fassnacht (G. fastnacht _shrovetide_), Feather, Ferry (for the Walloon name Ferree[86]); Friday, Fornaux, Furnace, Gans (_goose_, Gansert, Gensemer, Grossgensly), Gift (poison), Ginder, Gruel, Gutmann (good-man) Hag (hedge), Harmany, Hecter, Hepting, Herd, Heard, Hergelrat (rath _counsel_), Hinderer, Hock, Holzhauer and Holzhower (woodchopper), Honnafusz (G. hahn _a cock_), Kash, Kitch, Koffer, Landtart, Lawer, Leis, Letz, Licht, Line, Lipp, Löb (lion), Löwr (at St. Louis), Mackrel, Manusmith, Matt, Marrs, Mehl, Mortersteel, Mowrer (G. maur _a wall_), Napp, Neeper (Niebuhr?), Nohaker, Nophsker, Ochs, Over, Oxworth, Peelman, Penas (in Ohio), Pfund, Popp, Poutch, Quirk, Rathvon (Rodfong, Rautfaung), Road, Rottenstein (in Texas), Rutt, Sangmeister, Scheuerbrand, Schlegelmilch, Schlong (snake), Schöttel, Segar, Seldomridge, Senn, Service (in Indiana), Shaver, Shilling, Shinover, Shock, Shot, Showers, Skats (in Connecticut), Smout, Spoon, Springer, Steer (in Texas), Stern, Stetler, Stormfeltz, Strayer, Stretch, Stridle, Sumption, Surgeon, Swoop (a Suabian), Test, Tise, Tice (Theiss?), Tittles, Towstenberier, Tyzat (at St. Louis), Umble, Venus, Venerich,-rik, Vestal (in Texas), Vinegar('s Ferry, on the Susquehanna), Vogelsang, Wallower, Waltz, Wolfspanier, Wonder, Woolrick (for Wulfrich?), Work, Worst, Yaffe, Yecker, Yeisley, Yordea, Zeh, Zugschwerdt.

Among the following curious, incompatible, or hĭbrid[87] names, titles (except that of 'General') have been mistaken for proper names--Horatio Himmereich, Owen Reich, Caspar Reed, Dennis Loucks, Baltzer Stone, Addison Shelp, Paris Rudisill, Adam Schuh, Erasmus Buckenmeyer, Peter Pence, General Wellington H. Ent, General Don Carlos Buel, Don Alonzo Cushman, Sir Frank Howard, Always Wise (probably for Alŏîs Weiss). In November, 1867, Gilbert Monsieur Marquis de Lafayette Sproul, asked the legislature of Tennessee to cut off all his names but the last two.

FOOTNOTES:

[70] Shrove-tide cakes--with the PG. pronunciation, except _st_.

[71] G. Knochen (bones).

[72] A teacher asked a class--If I were to cut an apple in two, what would you call one of the pieces? "A _half_." And in four? "A _fourth_." And if I cut it in eight equal pieces, what would one of them be? "A _snit_!"

[73]

Compare--O, how this mother swells up toward my heart! Hysterica passio, thou climbing sorrow, Thy element's below.--_King Lear_, act 2, sc. 4, speech 20, v. 54. --_A. J. Ellis._

[74] The German word appears to be _gautschen_ without the _n_. So Schmeller (Bayerisches Wörterbuch, 2, 87) "_gautschen_, _getschen_, schwanken, schaukeln." Adelung (Wörterbuch der hochdeutschen Mundart, 2, 439) explains it as a technical paper-maker's word for taking the sheets out of the mould and laying them upon the press-board, _Gautschbret_. He adds that a carrying chair was formerly called a _Gautsche_, and refers it to _Kutsche_ and French _coucher_.--_A. J. E._

[75] Compare Papageno's song in Mozart's _Zauberflöte_:

Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja Stets lustig, heisa, hopsasa.--_A. J. Ellis._

[76] Known probably throughout England. Known to me, a Londoner, from earliest childhood.--_A. J. Ellis._

[77] The geographical names at the close of Chapter I. p. 6, are Kentucky, Safe Harbor, Syracuse, and Pinegrove. The drags are aloes (pronounced as in Latin!), paregoric, citrine ointment, acetic acid, hiera piera, cinnamon, Guiana pepper, gentian, cinchona, opium, hive syrup, senna and manna mixed, sulphate of zink, corrosive sublimate, red precipitate, aniline, logwood, Epsom salts, magnesia, cordial, cubebs, bichromate of potash, valerian (G. Baldrian), laurel berries, cochineal.

[78] Rhymes plaguey, even in English localities.

[79] As if from the plant _elder_, instead of Swiss halde, a _steep_ or _declivity_--the name being Swiss.

[80] And Shellabarger, American Minister to Portugal, 1869.

[81] The 'b' and 'v' of the two forms have changed place.

[82] These names, with Rauch, Bucher, the Scotch Cochran, etc., are still pronounced correctly in English speaking localities in Pennsylvania; and at Harrisburg, 'Salade' rhymes _holid'y_.

[83] The organists Thunder and Rohr gave a concert in Philadelphia some years ago. In New York I have seen the names 'Stone and Flint,' and 'Lay and Hatch,' where the proper name takes precedence.

[84] In the following inscription on a building, 'bei' instead of 'von' shows an English influence. The author knew English well: was a member of the state legislature, had a good collection of English--but not of German books--and yet preferred a German inscription--

ERBAUET BEI JOHN & MARIA HALDEMAN 1790.

Inscriptions are commonly in the roman character, from the difficulty of cutting the others.

[85] As in 'Chladori' for _Chladni_, in the American edition of the Westminster Review for July, 1865. The name Slyvons stands on the title-page as the author of a book on Chess (Bruxelles, 1856), which M. Cretaine in a similar work (Paris, 1865) gives as Solvyns. Upon calling Mr. C.'s attention to this point, he produced a letter from the former, signed _Solvyns_.

[86] The forms of this name are Ferree, Ferrie, Fuehre, Ferie, Verre, Fiere, Firre, Ferry, Feire, Fire; and as 'Ferree' is now pronounced _Free_, this may be a form also. In the year 1861, when in Nassau, I observed that the English visitors pronounced the name of a building in four modes, one German and three not German--Bâdhaus, Bath-house, Bad-house, and Bawd-house.

[87] Latin HIBRIDA. I have marked the first English syllable short to dissociate it from the _high-breed_ of gardeners and florists, which 'hȳbrid' suggests.