§ 5 Pg. Is Akin to Several South German Dialects
Like Suabia, the name of Pfalz has disappeared from the map of Europe, and what was once the Lower Palatinate, is now to be looked for chiefly in Baden, Bavaria, and Darmstadt.
It was partly bounded by Alsatia, Baden, and Würtemberg, and Manheim was the chief city. A few examples, condensed from Kobel, will show the nearness of its dialect to PG.
So nehmt er dann desz Album desz uff ‘m Tisch gelege is. So takes he then the album that is laid on the table. So is ‘m glei’ ei’gfalle’. So it soon happened to him. Guck emol, do is er, mer kennt ’n. Look once, here he is, one knows him. Wei is er dann do drzu kumme? How then has he come? Desz will ich Ihne sage. That I will tell you. Mer hot nix mehr vun ‘m g’hört. Nothing more has been heard of him. Mir habe [PG. mr hen] alls minanner ‘gesse. We ate all together. Juscht am selle Tag is e’ Gascht a’kumme. Precisely on that day a guest arrived. Mit eme finschtre’ Gesicht. With a dark face. Sacha macha for die Leut. To make things for people. Bsunners especially; ghat had; drbei thereby; schun already; sunscht nix besides nothing; drvun thereof; eens one; zwee two; keens none; unner under; druff on; johr year; wohr true; kummt rei [PG. rei] come in; ne no; jetz’ now; gedenkt supposed; fraa woman; kopp head; weesz knows; meeschter master; e’ gut’ kind a good child.
The South German dialect of Breisgau has G. er hilft (he helps, PG. ær helft), g’seit (as in Alsatia) for gesagt, PG. ‘ksaat,’ us for G. and PG. ‘aus,’ i for ich, herrli for herrlich, (PG. hærrlich), wön for wollen, zît (as in Alsatia) for zeit, aue for augen (eyes, PG. aughǝ, Alsat. auǝ), de for du, gen for gegeben (given, PG. gewwǝ, sometimes suppressing ge-, to which attention has been called). Besides gen, the following Allemanic example (Radlof, 2, 99) contains wore for geworden, and uskratzt for ausgekratzt—
“Se han kurzwilt un Narrethei triebe, un am End isch der Hirt keck wore, un het em Mümmele e Schmützle gen, un se het em seldrum d’Aue nit uskratzt.”
They trifled and fooled, and finally the shepherd (ist keck geworden) became bold, and (hat gegeben) gave (dem) to the water nymph a kiss, and she did not (dasselbe darum) on-that-account (‘em’ for ihm) scratch out his eyes.
In the following examples, the Breisgauish and PG. are probably more nearly allied than might be supposed from a comparison of the spelling. The Alsatian and PG. are in the same alphabet.
| German. | Breisgau. | Alsace. | PG. | English. |
| regenbogen, | regeboge, | râjǝbâu-ǝ, | reeghǝbooghǝ, | rainbow. |
| wo, von, | wu, vun, | wuu, fun, | wuu, fun, | where, of. |
| da, mal, | do, mol, | doo, mool, | doo, mool, | here, times. |
| schaf, | schof, | schoof, | schoof, | sheep. |
| schlafen, | schlofe, | schloofǝ, | schloofǝ, | to sleep. |
| und, gelt, | un, gel, | un, gel, | un, gel, | and, truly! |
| wohnen, | wuhne, | woonǝ, | wuunǝ, | to reside. |
| kommen, | kumme, | kummǝ, | kummǝ, | to come. |
| gesehen, | g’sehne, | g’sên, | kseenǝ, | seen. |
| jahr, auch, | johr, au, | joor, au, | joor, aa, | year, also. |
| nachbar, | nochber, | nochbǝr, | nochbǝr, | neighbor. |
| nicht, nichts, | nit, nix, | net, niks, | net, niks, | not, nothing. |
| selbiger, | seller, | tsellǝr, | sellǝr, | that one. |
| es ist jetzt, | ’s isch jetz, | ǝs isch jetz, | s isch jetz, | it is now. |
| etwas, | ebbes, | eppǝs, | ebbǝs, eppǝs, | something. |
| nunmehr, | nummee, | (nimmǝ), | nummi, | now. |
| darunter, | runter, | (nuntǝr), | runtǝr, | under. |
| als, einem, | as, eme, | as, ǝmǝ, | as, mǝ, | as, to a. |
| man kann, | mer kann, | m’r kann, | mǝr kann, | one can. |
| sie haben, | sie hen, han, | sii haan, | sii hen, | they have. |
| wir sind, | mer sin, | m’r sin, | m’r sin, | we are. |
| weiszt, | wescht, | weischt, | weescht, | knowest. |
| das, hat, | des, het, | des, hot, | des, hǝt, | the, has. |
In the next three lines of Breisgauish (Radlof, 2, 95) words which agree more or less with PG. are in italic—
| “Do isch au kei Plätzle meh, | Here is also no spot more, | |
| Wu i könnt mi Haupt58 hinlege, | where I might my head repose, | |
| Wenn i vun der Arbet geh.” | when I from my work depart. |
The following (Radlof, 2, 92) is also in the Breisgau dialect:
Siehsch de, Kind, de Regeboge,...
Gel, das isch e Pracht vun Farbe,...
Noeh het jetz mit de Sine
E Johannisfirle g’macht,
Un in Herrlikeit un Pracht
Isch der Herr debi erschine,
Un zum Noeh het er g’sproche:
Guck, e Zeiche setz i fest,
Wil de Fride mit mer hest,
’s Wort des hab i niemol broche
Un de Herr het’s Wort au g’halte,
Den der Regeboge steht,
Wenn Gott au im Wetter geht,
Un er loszt de Zorn nit walte. Seest thou child the rainbow,...
truly it is a glory of color,...
Noah has now with (the) his [people]
made a (midsummer) Johannes-fire59
and in splendor and glory
the Lord (dabei) thereat appeared,
and to Noah has he spoken:
Behold, a sign I firmly set
whilst thou (hast) keepst peace with me,
the word—that have I never broken
and the Lord has the word also kept,
for the rainbow stands
whenever God goes in the tempest,
and he (läszt) allows not (den) the anger to rule.
Footnotes
47 G. gelb, Ohg. gelo, Swiss, etc., gäl yellow.
48 Not PG. ærpsǝ, G. erbsen (peas), but a form of erdbeere (strawberry).
49 G. Ich habe nichts lieber gethan. (G. adj. and adv. lieber, adverbialised with -s.) Nothing would I rather have done.
50 The word is “schwœhl” in the original—probably borrowed from the local English word swale. Wuu, G. wo, where. The author was born in 1816, at Niagara, in a small colony which had emigrated from Lancaster county, Pennsylvania—his father in 1811. The colony received additions about the year 1830.
51 = at once. Dr. Jones, 1701, gives ‘wæns, wænst’ as the English pronunciation in Shropshire and some parts of Wales. Buchanan, 1766, gives ‘wæns’ as correct English.—A. J. Ellis.
52 Die Sprache der Luxemburger. Luxemburg, 1855.
53 This word varies to heer, and horch may be used.
54 Here hii˛ is given for the rhyme, the proper word being G. da, PG. ‘doo.’ On this account the Rev. D. Ziegler makes the following variation on my version—
Sii noochbǝr was mei, freet iss,
Wann ich im gærtli schtee,
Gærn heer ich frii am sundaak
Dii kærchǝbellǝ geh.
55 This was written before the Franco-German war which re-annexed Alsatia to Germany. When I read out the first example in Chapter VIII. (Wiidǝr aa˛geschmiirt), to the Philological Society, on communicating this paper, 3 June, 1870, Dr. E. Mall, an Alsatian, who was present, remarked that it reminded him throughout of his native dialect, of which he thoroughly recognized the pronunciation. I may remark that I have never heard PG. pronounced, although I have heard Austrian, Saxon, Rhenish, Bavarian, and Swiss dialects, and read solely by the phonetic orthography here given.—A. J. Ellis.
56 F. E. Petri (Handbuch der Fremdwörter, 1845) explains Spargimént or Spargemént as “ein ausgestreutes Gerücht, Ausgesprenge, Geträtsch oder Gerede; Aussprengsel,” in short, gossip or idle talk, evidently from Latin spargere.—A. J. Ellis.
57 Compare Goethe’s Faust—
Faust. Mein schönes Fräulein, darf ich wagen,
Meinen Arm und Geleit Ihr anzutragen?
Margarete. Bin weder Fräulein, weder schön,
Kann ungeleitet nach Hause gehn.
—A. J. E.
58 Scarcely PG., ‘kǝp’ (G. kopf) being used.
59 See Pulleyn’s Etym. Compendium, 1853, at BONE-FIRES. [See also, Jacob Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, pp. 567-597, for fires generally, and pp. 583-593, for these Midsummer fires in particular.—A. J. Ellis.]