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Germanisms in Pennsylvania English: An Update

Kenneth Shields, Jr.

American Speech, Vol. 60, No. 3. (Autumn, 1985), pp. 228-237.

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GERMANISMS IN PENNSYLVANIA ENGLISH: AN UPDATE

KENNETH SHIELDS, JR.

iMillersville University

TE GUIDES A T T H E VARIOUS tourist sites on the easten side of Lancas- ter, Pennsylvania, like to tell the story about a Dutch farmer who "allowed his favorite son to go to college. On graduation the boy jumped off the train and ran a few steps to meet his folks standing shyly in the background. His dear old mother said: 'John, I'm so proud of you; you're a college graduate now, ain't?"Ya, Mom; I'm one now,'said the boy. 'N'ell, I hope you learned a lot in the four long years you was away,' said the father. 'Why, Pop, you know'd when I went away to college 1 couldn't say north or south; and now 1 can say hose of them,' he replied" (Aurand n.d., 32). 'The moral of the story, of course, is that "the 'Dutch'will come out."

In a more scholarly manner, Kurath (1949,35) comes to the same con- culsion in his unqualified assertion of the existence of a Pennsylvania Ger- man area within the North Midland Region. More recently, he has reiterated that "Pennsylvania German words have entered the English spoken in the Great Valley of eastern Pennsylvania, the fertile farm land of which York, Lancaster, Reading, Allentown, and Bethlehem are the urban cen- ters. . . . Germanisms are most numerous in eastern Pennsylvania-the area that has been bilingual from Colonial times to the present- and . . . their number diminishes in a westerly and southwesterly direc- tion, where German is no longer spoken"(1972,60). Kurath's observations are based on research which was undertaken nearly a half century ago. T h e passage of time and the unrelenting progress of linguistic change have prompted such scholars as Duckert (1963) to initiate new surveys of those areas investigated by fieldworkers of the original Linguistic Atlas of the United States and Canada project, and it is in this spirit that I have begun to reassess the dialect situation in eastern Pennsylvania by means of a printed lexical questionnaire. Currently over 150 field records have been col- lected. However, in this brief paper, I want to report only on some of the results obtained by administering this questionnaire to residents of Lan- caster, Lebanon, York, and Dauphin Counties. My focus will be on the Germanisms which supposedly characterize this heartland of the Penn- sylvania German area, according to Kurath (1949) and other standard sources, although I will also consider the status of some Germanisms whose origin can be traced to this region but whose distribution is generally de-

228

229 GERMANISMS IAr PENNSYLVANIA ENGLISH

scribed as e n c o m p a s s i n g l a r g e r p a r t s of t h e Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

T H EQ U E S T I O N N A I R E . T h e usefulness of the printed lexical question- naire is now well established (cf. Davis 1949 and Wood 1971).' T h e ques- tionnaire used in this study is traditional, consisting of three parts: "a cover page with directions which guide informants in marking words, the text proper, and a biographical final pagen(Wood 1971,16). T h e text proper is composed of sixty-seven items (including a few grammatical ones), or- ganized topically. "An item number precedes each set of words; it is fol- lowed by a definition, and then by a . . . list of synonyms"(Wood 1971,16). Some items are surveyed by using a sample phrase or sentence with part deleted; possible insertions then follow (cf. Shuy 1967, 17-24). T h e defi- nitions and sample constructions employed come from Kurath (1949), Shuy (1967), and Wood (1971). T h e instructions "tell informants to encir- cle those words that they actually use, to leave unmarked those that they do not, and to write beside an entry any other familiar synonyms that should have been included"(Wood 1971,17). Multiple responses are thus permitted, and percentages of occurrence of given variants are computed on the basis of total responses. The questionnaires were not, however, distributed by mail; instead, they were distributed directly to qualified informants by fieldworkers. These fieldworkers filled out the biographi- cal data sheets, read directions aloud to the informants, completed a sam- ple item with the informants, and answered methodological questions. Informants then completed the text of the questionnaire at their leisure. Since fieldworkers secured informants through direct o r indirect per- sonal contact, the strategy generally employed in interview studies, the suitability of informants was determined before the questionnaire was administered; and since fieldworkers were available to answer method- ological questions, informants understood precisely what was expected of them.

INFORMANTS.Informants for this study were sixty native-born, life- long residents of Lancaster, Lebanon, York, and Dauphin Counties who had no extended lapses in residence. They constituted an extremely het- erogeneous group, as table 1 indicates. All were native speakers of Eng- lish; their knowledge of Pennsylvania German varied considerably, although older speakers were generally more familiar with it than were the younger ones.

FIFLDWORKERS.Fieldworkers werejunior and senior students enrolled in English 327, Dialects of American English, during the fall semester of 1982 at Millersville University, Millersville, Penn~ylvania.~ Before the project began, they were trained in basic data-gathering techniques and in the

230 A M E R I C A N SPEECH 60.3 (1985)

T A B L E1 Informant Data

Sex Age Edzrcatzo~~ females 37 18-35 22 less than high school diploma 8 males 23 36-50 14 high school diploma 32

51-63 10 some college 14 65-80 14 college graduate 5

post-graduate I

nature and use of the printed lexical questionnaire. Since most were na- tives of southeastern Pennsylvania, they had no trouble in directly secur- ing representative informants. Although residence and availability were key factors in their choice of subjects, fieldworkers were also careful that their informants represented a wide range of age and educational groups. They were encouraged to engage informants in discussions about the questionnaire after it was completed and to record subjects'observations about word choices in the area. In order to make their selection of in- formants as objective as possible, nothing regarding the expected or ac- tual findings of the study was discussed in class until after all the questionnaires were returned.

RFSULTS~ N DDISCUSSION. In what follows I shall report my findings concerning the relevant items by listing the Pennsylvania German variant, its meaning, and the percentage of occurrence of this variant and related synonyms chosen by at least one informant. Abrief discussion of the sim- ilarities and differences between my data and earlier analyses, especially Kurath (1949), and an identification of developmental tendencies,' where appropriate, then appear. Quite a few of these items are agricultural, but these are appropriate because farming is still very important in the area. Lancaster County, for example, "ranks 12th in the nation for value of agricultural products sold,"with 5,105 farms; eighty percent of these are owner-operated (Agricultural Committee, Lancaster Association of Com- merce and Industry 1979). Although only thirteen informants reported having been employed as farmers at some point in their lives, many more represented the first generation of their families who were never so em- ployed. To be sure, there is a steadily growing unfamiliarity among the general public in these counties regarding farming matters, especially those practices which were common before the mechanization of Amerian ag- riculture and which are maintained today only among the Amish and con- servative Mennonite groups (note the relatively high number of no responses for these items); but knowledge of the farm is still a fact of life here.

GERMANISMS IN PENNSYLVANIA ENGLISH

I must acknowledge that my results are perhaps more suggestive than conclusive because statistical tests of significance were not performed o n - my data a n d informants were not randomly selected. Still, I feel that my findings represent a n interesting and accurate view of the current status of Germanisms in the English of southeastern Pennsylvania.

all All gone ( A L L 5670, all gone 44%. McDavid [1958, 5201 mentions this Pennsylvania Germanism as being used in express~ons like The bread zs AI L [cf. High German Das Brat ist alles]. Clearly it remains common in the area today, even among young and educated speakers. His note that it is charac- teristic of Type I and Type I1 informants is not now true.)

bee Call to chickens 74%, no response 24.5%, other responses [cluck](chick[~e] 1.5%. Kurath's statement [1949, 651 that "the German bee! is still common in the Pennsylvania German areancan no longer be accepted. Indeed, not only did none of the informants mark the term but also none of those questioned even recalled hearing it.)

bull band(@) Visit paid to a couple on their wedding night during which much noise and heckling occur (serenade 61%, no response 1870, chivaree 870, B U L L B A N D I N G 6.570, belling 1.5%, tin-panning 1.570, korning 1.570, other re- sponses [prank] 1.5%. One of the most interesting aspects of this study was the discovery of the large number of informants who remain familiar with this custom, apparentlybecause it is still practiced in rural sections of the Pennsylvania German area. T h e national term serenade is strongly attested; but more local expressions, including "bull band, bull banding . . . [in] the Ger- man settlements of the Great Valley of Pennsylvania" [Kurath 1949, 78-79], are rare. All four informants who circled the latter variant are middle-aged residents of Lebanon County. T h e relative frequency of chivaree is surprising, perhaps resulting from literary experiences since the informants who marked this alternate are college-educated.)

clook/cluck setting hen ( C L U C K [ E R ]53%,no response 30%, C L < K ) K 15%,other responses [chicken]2%. Kurath's assertion [1949, 631 that "clook [less com- monly cluck] is an expression of Pennsylvania German origin that is exten- sively used"in this area remains valid, though C L U C K ( E R )appears now to have gained dominance. McDavid's statement [1958,520]that CLOOK is limited to Type I speakers is no longer true, for it was chosen by a wide variety of age and educational groups.)

fat cake Round flat confection with a hole in the center (doughnut 76%, cruller 14.5%, cake doughnut 570, no response 370, fn'ed cake 1.5%. he term FATCAKE, "modeled on German Fettkuchen" and limited to the Pennsylvania German area [Kurath 1949,691, was not selected by any of the informants, though a few older ones indicated that they knew this now old-fashioned expression. Besides "the national termndoughnut, cruller, once "common . . . in southeast- ern Pennsylvanian[Kurath 1949,691, continues to have some currency in the area.)

fossnock Type of doughnut traditionally eaten the day before Lent be- gins ( F O S S N O C K SO%, no response 11.576, cookie 3 % , f a t cake 370, other re- sponses [cruller] 1.5%. Anyone who has visited the Pennsylvania German area on the day before Ash Wednesday knows that large numbers of grocery stores,

A M E R I C A N SPEECH 60.3 (1985)

shops, and restaurants widely advertize such doughnuts. Each year the tra- dition of eating FOSSNOCKS [cf. of High German Fastnarhtskuchen], which sup- posedly brings a year of good luck, is explained in local newspapers and news broadcasts on radio and television. It therefore may be surprising that so many individuals indicated that they d o not use the term. A possible expla- nation is that this study followed Kurath [1949, 691 in not using the current local spelling of the expression-fossnucht. Nearly half of the informants who circled FOSSNOCK were bothered enough by the spelling to correct it, and this tendency was in no way limited to any sex, age, o r educational group. Very likely some of those who were searching for fossnachf and could not find it simply left the item blank, despite the instruction to write their typical usage on the questionnaire when it does not appear in the list. A number of local natives whom I have questioned about this matter strongly suggest that mem- bers of more conservative Protestant groups in the area are generally unfa- miliar with the word Lent, which may have caused confusion among informants. These individuals refer to the day o n which such doughnutsBre eaten as Fossnacht Day, without religious implications. But since data were not gath- ered regarding the denominational affiliation of informants, one can only speculate. Apparently some informants have specialized the old-fashioned term fat cake in this sense, though, again, the unfamiliar spelling and the use of the term Lent in the definition may have affected their responses. T h e two attested occurrences of cookie are quite surprising and defy easy explanation.)

heap Temporary small collection of hay in a field (pile 33%, shock 19%, no response 19%, HEAP 14%, other responses [huystuck, bule, hay pile] 11%, hand stuck 3%, huy cock 1.5%. T h e Pennsylvania German variant HEAP [cf. Pennsyl- vania German Haufe] is still found in the area among all age groups; but the once "widely current" North Midland term cock [hay cock] [Kurath 1949, 541 is almost extinct, as is the Pennsylvania expression hand stack. T h e former word has probably lost its currency'because o'f homophony with a taboo item. T h e eastern Pennsylvania alternate pile and the Southern shock are now the most widespread forms.)

hommie Call to calves (no response 54%, boss[ie] 2370, HOMMIE 1876, sookze 5%. "The Pennsylvania German call hommie! o r hommilie!,"says Kurath [1949, 641, "is still current beside sookie! from the Lehigh to the Shenandoah and westward to the Alleghenies." However, if the large no response category is ignored, one can see that the New England term boss[ie] is now strongly rep- resented in southeastern Pennsylvania, while the Midland term sookie is rare. Hommie itself shows a rather high frequency of occurrence in all age and educational groups. T h e continued survival of hommie probably results from the vast size and subsequent significant cultural influence of the dairy farm- ing industry in the area. As a 1979 pamphlet distributed by the Agricultural Committee of the Lancaster Association of Commerce and Industry indi- cates, "Lancaster County ranks first in Pennsylvania in the number of dairy cows . . . 87,900 head and fifth in the nation. . . . "Nevertheless, with fewer than two of every ten informants actively using the word, it can hardly be characterized as a common feature.)

laugh Gentle noise made by horses at feeding time (u~hznnj [ughznner] 83%, no response 17%. Clearly Kurath's assertion [1949, 631 that "luugh . . . is still

G E R M A N I S M S IN PENNSYLVANIA ENGLISH

current in the Great Valley of Pennsylvania, but . . . is being replaced by whinnyn has proven correct; for whznny seems now to have replaced LAUGH in the Pennsylvania German area, although the latter term is still remembered by the oldest informants.)

(school) leaves out (lets out 4776, closes 2370, LEAVES OUT 1770,gets out l o % , other repsonses [is out, a done] 3%. Kurath [1949, p. 791 says that "Pennsyl- vania has the local expression leaves out, which is used by the common people, often beside lets out, all the way from the Delaware to the Allegheny River, especially in the Pennsylvania German centerse[cf. High German lassen].T h e currency of the expression seems far more limited today in Lancaster, Le- banon, York, and Dauphin Counties; indeed, the Northern variants closes and gets out are together nearly twice as common.)

might could Might be able to (might be able to 90%, MIGHT COULD 7%, other responses [might, could] 3%. Atwood [1953, p. 351 notes that "the isogloss of this form is peculiar in that it not only indicates a typical South and South Midland form, but shows the form to be current in the German area of Pa. as well." Despite the fact that grammatical items are most subject to self-cor- rection in any linguistic data-gathering technique, especially in the printed questionnaire format where conscious choice is encouraged, it is still inter- esting that M I G H T COULD is so rarely attested, particularly in light of the fact that so many informants readily admitted to using nonliterary ALL Appar- ently MIGHT COULD is now a distinctly recessive feature in the Pennsylvania German area, although in this study it was marked by informants ranging in age from twenty-one to seventy-one. Most informants who were questioned about the status of this feature in their communities characterized it as old- fashioned.)

overden Upper part of a barn (loft 5796, haymow 25%, no response 896,other responses [hay loft] 3%,scaffold 1.5%,high beams 1.570,overhead 1.570,OVERDEN 1.5%. "In most of Pennsylvania the loft is called the overhead, in the Pennsyl- vania German section also the over-den [cf. German E n n e 'barn floor']" [K&- ath 1949, 53). Obviously Kurath's claim [1949, 531 that "loft is not current in central Pennsylvania . . . and is infrequent in other parts of Pennsylvanianno longer holds true. In fact, overhead was marked only by an eighty-year-old mace, while OVERDEN was marked only by a twenty-one-year old female from Ephrata, Lancaster County-a community which probably constitutes a relic area [most natives of Lancaster County readily identify Ephrata as a place where "peculiar Dutch expressions" continue to thrive]. T h e general North Midland variant hay mow is still attested in the area with some frequency [cf. Kurath 1949, fig. 54 and 561.)

rain worm w o r k used for bait in fishing (fish(ing) worm 4576, earthworm 30%, no response l o % , other responses [nightcrawler, worm] 870,fish buit 370, buit worm 370, ground worm 1%. Although when the Linguistic Atlas of the United States and C a n a d a field records were compiled, "scattered instances of rain w o r m . . . [were] found in the Pennsylvania German area [cf. Regenwurm]" [Kurath 1949, 751, the term now appears to be extinct. Indeed, it is generally unknown among even the oldest informants. Kurath [1949,74] says that fish- i n g worm "predominates in an area extending from the lower Susquehanna southward on either side of Chesapeake Bay"; but my study indicates that

234 AMERICAN SPEECH 60.3 (1985)

the more northerly expression fish worm is now about equally common in Lancaster, Lebanon, York and Dauphin Counties (i.e., fi.~hing worm 24%, fish worm 21%). Fish buit and buit worm, which Kurath [1949,74] ascribes to "south- central Pennsylvania and adjoining parts of Maryland," are still attested as infrequent variants. Earthworm, the standard expression, is certainly no longer a rare alternate here.)

saddle horse Left horse of a team (no response 6056, lead horse 28.370, near [-side] horse 570, line horse 3.356, SADDLE HORSE 3.3%. Even though there is now a general unfamiliarity with the practice of using a team of horses for plow- ing, among those individuals who are still knowledgeable about terminology relating to the practice, the variant SADDLE HORSE, once attested "in parts of the German settlements in Eastern Pennsylvania. . . [and] modeled on the German Sattelgaul" [Kurath 1949, 661, is almost extinct, while the more gen- eral Midland expression lead horse still has currency.)

saw buck/wood buck Device used for holding wood while it is being cut ([saw] horse 59%, SAW B U C K 20%, no response 13%, [wood] rack 570, [wood] jack 3%. Kurath [1949,59] maintains that SAW BUCKIWOOD BUCK [cf. Pensylvania Ger- man Sagebock, Holzbock] is "characteristic of the entire German settlement area in Eastern Pennsylvania. . . . " T h e form obviously survives today, although seven of the twelve informants who marked it are seventy o r older. Still, one can no longer accept Kurath's claim [1949, 59) that [saw] horse "is in rather general use throughout the Eastern States except for the greater part of Pennsylvania east of the Alleghenies, . . . where saw buck dominates.")

sheep buck Adult male sheep (ram 63.3%, no response 1576, buck 13.3%, SHEEP BUCK 5%, bucksheep 3.3%. Kurath [1949,62] notes that "ram is current every- where in the Eastern States, . . . but outside the Southern area buck and buck sheep occur by the side of ram, especially in rural sections. In the Pennsylvania German settlement area one can also hear sheep buck, which is modeled on the German Schafbock."Although the term SHEEP BUCK is used by only three informants, all of whom have a background in farming, it is possible that the second element of this Germanism is responsible for the rather surprising currency of buck in the area.)

sick on the stomach (sick in the stomuch 5792, sick to the stomuch 3470, SICK ON THE STOMACH 8%.Kurath [1949, p. 781 maintains that although "the variant in the stomach is current i n . . . southeastern Pennsylvania, including Phila- delphia," "the variant on the stomach is also current in . . . the Pennsylvania German settlement area of Eastern Pennsylvania."?bday the latter variant is relatively rare, and its recessive character is demonstrated by the fact that the youngest informant who uses it is fifty-eight. To the stomuch is largely confined to younger speakers [under forty], though some older informants also use it.)

smear caselsmear cheese White lumpy cheese (cottage cheese 8 7 % SMEARCASE 8%:curds 1.6%, n o response 1.6%, other responses [cup cheese] 1.6%. Kurath [1949, 711 says that "cottage cheese is the trade name for curds in all the Eastern States . . . especially. . . in the urbanized areas,"although "smear case [schmear case, smear cheese], borrowed from the Pennsylvania German [schmierkus], is current throughout the North Midland."At first glance, it might appear that SMEAR CASE is now a recessive feature in the very area of its origin, especially

GERMANISMS IN PENNSYLVANIA ENGLISH

since the youngest of the informants who marked it is fifty-four. But this is not an accurate assessment. Today in the Pennsylvania German area, S M E A R CASE no longer means 'curds'. As a former student of mine who is employed as a salesperson in a farmers'market in Bird-in-Hand, Lancaster County, puts it: "Today smear case is never related to cottage cheese, but to a smooth, spreadable cheese."Indeed, the term is very much alive in the area-a fact clearly demonstrated by the availability of such "smooth, spreadable cheese" under this name at many local markets-though for most people it never had the meaning that Kurath ascribes to it, apparently because of a semantic shift motivated by the influence of the trade term cottage cheese. This shift itself was probably underway at the end of the last century, for even the oldest inform- ants reported that they have always used the terms SMEAR CASE and cottage cheese in their current senses, as did their parents. It is interesting to note that a student of mine who is a native of Lancaster County found a mid-nine- teenth-century cookbook of his great-grandmother's which was printed lo- cally and which identified S M E A R CASE as 'cottage cheese'. These observations are, of course, consonant with Underwood's argument [1974,24] that the L i n - guistic Atlas of the United States and Cunuda studies of the 1930s were "oriented more to the 1890s.")

snake servantlsnake guarderlsnake heeder Large winged insect seen around water (drugon fly 6476, snake doctor 2976, no response 576, S N A K E GUARDER 2%. Kurath [1949,75] found that SNAKESERVANT. S N A K E G U A R D E R . and S N A K E HEEDER were "local expressions . . . [of) the Pennsylvania German area"; to- day only one informant, a thirty-five-year-old female, admitted to using any of these three terms, although a few older informants were familiar with them. Still, many of these older subjects and some of the younger ones con- tinue to employ the nonliterary term srtake doctor, which, according to Kurath [1949, 751, "is . . . common . . . on the Susquehanna [beside srtake feeder]." However, of the eighteen occurrences of srtuke doctor, thirteen are to be as- cribed to speakers over age fifty. Only two persons under forty indicated that they regularly employ this expression. Interestingly enough, "the usual Mid- land expression . . . snake feeder," which supposedly competes with snake doctor, S N A K E SERVANT, SNAKE G U A R D E R . and S N A K E HEEDER in this area, is not at- tested even once among informants in this study and is generally unknown, except to the oldest subjects. All in all, the standard term dragonfly now ap- pears to be on the ascendency.)

thick milk Milk which has soured to the point of becoming dense (sour milk 55.5%, curdled milk 29%, T H I C K M I L K 12.570, no response 1.576, other re- sponses [buttermilk]1.5%. According to Kurath [1949,71], "thick milk, modeled on Pennsylvania German Dickemilich, is . . . extensively used in Pennsylvania from the Delaware River to Pittsburgh," while "curdled milk occurs in eastern Pennsylvania."He denies the existence of a "national or literary term for cur- dled sour milk" [1949, 701, but sour milk now seems to be assuming this role.4 In any event, of the eight informants who encircled the term T H I C K MILK, seven are over sixty years of age. T h e expression thus appears to be well on its way to extinction.)

till By the time (by the time 59%, TILL 41%. T h e expression TILL in the sense of 'by the time'[e.g., Till I get there, the game will be over] remains current in the

236 A M E R I C A N S P E E C H 60.3 (1985)

Pennsylvania German area among people of all ages and educational back- grounds [cf. Kurath 1949, 79, and fig. 1601.

toot Paper container for groceries, etc. (bug 95.2%, TOOT. 3.2%, sack 1.6%. Kurath [1949,56] describes this variant as being "in common use in the Eng- lish spoken . . . in the bilingual Great Valley of Pennsylvania [from Reading to Frederick in Maryland]."Although many informants reported to the field- workers a knowledge of the term, only two persons listed it as a lexical item that they ordinarily use, with one of these persons marking it as an alternate. Clearly this variant is now recessive.)

voots(ie) Call to pigs (no response 37%, VOOTS[IE] 2496, pig[gze] 2170, other responses [oink-oink, soo-ie, hoos, woo-die] 1376, woo-ie 3%, hoo-ee 2%. Kurath [1949, 64-65] says that "the call pig!, piggie! is current throughout the New England and Midland areas, except for the Pennsylvania German settle- ments,"where "voots!, uootsie!, uootie! [with the vowel ofput] is in rather general use."The present study demonstrates that a fairly large number of rural and urban residents of varying ages and educational backgrounds retain an active familiarity with this term VOOTS and its variants. A contributing reason for its survival is probably the currency of popular local expressions such as You eut like u v o o ~ s ![' . . . like a pig'], in which the word is used to refer to humans. T h e alternatepzglgze] is apparently more common now than in the 1930s, and the terms woo-ie and hoop-ie are still to be found "on the lower Susquehanna" [Kurath 1949, 651.)

CONCLUSION.Although the tourist industry will continue to promote the idea that the English spoken in the lower Susquehanna Valley of east- ern Pennsylvania preserves the "quaint"'Dutch influences of years past, it is clear that the Pennsylvania German area is losing much of its lexical distinctiveness. Today "the 'Dutch'is coming out"1ess and less.

1. Atwood (1962,30) thus says of the printed lexical questionnaire technique of data-collection: "the results will not be very different from those accomplished by field work."

2. It is a pleasure for me to recognize these students: Julie Barker, Tina Chelius, Jenny Fontanes, Dan Furlow, Atsushi Furuya, Nevie Hall, Jay Hassinger, Shelly Kautz, Helen Sitsis, Suzanne Smeltzer, Lisa Smith, Stephan Spijker, and Marc Waddell.

3. I accept Wood's reasonable hypothesis (1971,9-10,21) that a variant used only by older speakers constitutes a recessive feature (cf. Atwood 1962, pp. 104-123).

4. It may perhaps be objected that this finding is just an artifact of the ques- tionnaire itself. However, Wood (1971,6-7) refutes the argument that "a parallel between the language of the definition and that of some word choices might in- fluence actual selection."

237 GERMANISMS IN PENNSYLVANIA ENGLISH

Agricultural Committee, Lancaster Association of Commerce and Industry. 1979. "Lancaster County Agriculture." Lancaster, PA: Sperry New Holland.

Atwood, E. Bagby. 1953. A Survey of Verb Forms i n the Eastern United States. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P.

. 1962. The Regional Vocabulary of Texas. Austin: U of Texas P. Aurand, A. Monroe. n.d. Quaint Idioms and Expressions of the Pennsylvania Germans.

Lancaster, PA: Aurand Press. Davis, Alva. 1949. "A Word Atlas of the Great Lakes Region."Diss. U of Michigan. Duckert, Audrey. 1963. "The Linguistic Atlas of New England Revisited." Publi-

cation of the American Dialect Society 39: 8-15. Kurath, Hans. 1949. A Word Geography ofthe Eastern United States. Ann Arbor: U

of Michigan P. . 1972. Studies i n Area 1,inguistics. Bloomington: Indiana UP.

McDavid, Raven I., Jr. 1958. "The Dialects of American English." The Structure of American English. Ed. W. Nelson Francis. New York: Ronald, 480-543.

Shuy, Roger. 1967. Discovering American Dialects. Urbana: NCTE. Underwood, Gary. 1974. "American English Dialectology: Alternatives for the

Southwest."Linguistics 129: 19-40. Wood, Gordon. 1971. Vocabulary Change: A Study of Variation i n Regional Words i n

Eight of the Southern States. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP.

EARLIER CITATIONS FOR POTSIE

In response to David L. Gold's excellent "Three New-York-Cityisms" (AS 56 [1981]: 17-32), I can report much earlier citations forpotsie 'hop- scotch; the object thrown in hopscotch'than those given in the Oxford Eng- lish Dictionary, Supplement 2. The OED's earliest date is 193 1. My citations also confirm Gold's belief in the strong New York City connection for the word.

A 1928 American Mercury article by Katharine Brody ("A New York Childhoodn) mentions "Potsies, as I learned long after, . . . is the New York version of hopscotch"(l4: 58). Even earlier (1905), John H. Chase wrote, in an article entitled "Street Games of New York City" (Pedagogical Semi- nary 12: 503): "Potsie-a primitive kind of hop scotch."

DAVIDSHULMAN New York City