Pennsylvania Dutch - Etymology

Etymology

The word Dutch is related to the German endonym "deutsch" and only over time has acquired its distinct English meaning referring to the people and Germanic language of the Netherlands that historically were part of the Holy Roman Empire. Etymologically, the word Dutch originates from the Old High German word "diutisc" (from "diot" "people"), referring to the Germanic "language of the people" as opposed to Latin, the language of the learned (see also theodiscus). Only later did the word come to refer to the people who spoke the language. Other Germanic language variants for "deutsch/deitsch/dutch" are: Dutch "Duits", Yiddish "daytsh", Danish "tysk", Norwegian "tysk", and Swedish "tyska".

The English term "Germans" is only attested from the mid-16th century, based on the classical Latin term "Germani" used by Julius Caesar and later, Tacitus. It gradually replaced the terms "Dutch" and "Almains", the latter becoming mostly obsolete by the early 18th century. The 17th and 18th century British and Anglo-American literature commonly drew a distinction between "High Dutch"—referring to the German language or to German-speakers from the Holy Roman Empire—and the "Low Dutch"—referring to the Dutch language of the Netherlands. Thus, the Pennsylvania Dutch are not the Dutch people from the Netherlands but descendents of people who spoke a type of "High Dutch" (though actually a dialect of Central German). Therefore, despite urban legend to the contrary, the term Pennsylvania Dutch is not so much a misnomer as it is an anachronism.