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Pennsylvania "Dutch" vs German Americans?

  • Pennsylvania Dutch vs German Americans? First let me state I know the "PA Dutch" are German! Not Dutch! However the group is colloquially called Pennsylvania Dutch, I know the term Pennsylvania German is more correct. However, why was the group that settled in and around Lancaster County, Pennsylvania called the Pennsylvania Dutch? I mean what separates the Pennsylvania Dutch from any other German American? By German American I mean people whose ancestors originated in Germany. I heard somewhere that the immigrants and their descendants that came from Germany prior to the year 1800 were known as the Pennsylvania Dutch, or Pennsylvania Germans. However those that immigrated after the year 1800 are known simply as German Americans. Is this true? PS. The term Pennsylvania Dutch does not have anything to do with what church you attend. Originally only 10% of the "PA Dutch" were Amish or Mennonites.

  • Answer:

    The Pennsylvania Dutch are the descendants of Germanic peoples who emigrated to the U.S. (primarily to Pennsylvania), from Southwestern Germany and Switzerland. The origin of the word 'Dutch' is a "folk-rendering" of the Pennsylvania Dutch's own self-designation Deitsch. There is also some speculation among scholars that "Dutch" is actually an archaic term that was used to refer to all people of Germanic descent, and that is the term that stuck in the English-speaking community.It corresponds to German Deutsch and the Netherlands' "Diets," meaning 'of the common people' as opposed to the learned lords and clerics who had mastered Latin. The Pennsylvania Dutch come mostly from what is now Germany rather than the Netherlands. Their language too is ultimately a derivative of Palatinate German, not Dutch.[ German Americans immigrated from all over Germany and settled through out the US. The term German Americans is actually relative recent and the result of the politically correct movement.

Trevor at Yahoo! Answers Visit the source

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Germans in colonial days were called Dutch. That is what Deutsche or Deutsch sounded like to ears of English speaking people. That's all. It has nothing to do with 1800. Germany itself did not become a nation until 1871. Until then it was a group of loose kingdoms and states. Until then if you look at censuses their places of birth are shown as Prussia, Hesse, Saxony, Anhalt, Westphalia. You won't see Germany as a place of birth as there was no such country. The Germans of the Carolinas were also called Dutch. Now my way of identifying them is those that came before the country was founded were colonials. Those that came afterwards were immigrants. Before the country was founded there was no USA to receive immigrants.

Shirley T

As Germany as a country didn't exist prior to the late 1800s...it is unlikely that anyone prior to that would be called German......you are asking about history not genealogy, so I suggest you research history of the Pennsylvania Dutch settlers http://www.padutch.com/

Maxi

Have you looked up the history of the Pennsylvania Dutch? Maybe this will help with your question about this interesting group of early immigrants. http://www.horseshoe.cc/pennadutch/culture/index.htm http://midatlantic.rootsweb.ancestry.com/padutch/

Joyce B

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