Daviess County is in the southwest part of Indiana. There are at least 10,000 Amish who speak Pennsylvania Dutch, along with many Mennonite families who also may speak the language.
As with any language, some say certain words differently, and those words really stand out to someone from another area. This is definitely true with Pennsylvania Dutch speakers.
Living in Daviess County myself, I notice some differences in how those in this county say certain words. Part of this may be because the Amish who first settled in Daviess County arrived more directly from Germany to this area.
Southern accent
If you travel to Daviess County or meet someone from here, the first thing that will stand out is their strong southern accent.
But you’ll also notice some other differences.
Since these are regional differences, I will not be putting them in the regular Pennsylvania Dutch Words List. But if you live nearby, this is a good page to bookmark.
ei has a long eye sound
Daviess County Amish say words with the letter combination ei with a long eye sound (similar to parts of Pennsylvania) instead of the more common ay sound.
ww becomes gg
Words that have double w‘s are often said with g‘s.
- (eyes) awwa = agga
- (to say) sawwa = sagga
yy becomes gg
A lot of words that have double y‘s in them are said with double g‘s instead.
- (rain) reyyah = raegga or raegla
- (about it) diveyya = divegga
v and vv become b
Some words with a single v or double v‘s are said with a b.
- (to have) havva = habba
- (to die) shtauva = shtauba (sometimes shtarba)
- (evening) ohvet = ohbet
- (work/job) eahvet = eahbet (or sometimes arbet)
- (seven) sivva = sibba
iahra and sei
The word iahra (their) is still used when talking about something that belongs to more than one person. But when talking about something belonging to a woman, most in Daviess County use sei instead of iahra.
Vass is dei fraw sei nohma?
The next time you meet someone from Daviess County, see if you can pick out some of these words.