European Origins
The ancestors of Pennsylvania German speakers came from various parts of the southwest corner of the German-speaking region of Europe, including the Electorate of the Palatinate, the Duchy of Baden (Badenland), Swabia, Württemberg, Alsace (German Elsass), and Switzerland. Many spoke West Middle German dialects and Alemannic dialects, and in the first generations after the settlers arrived it is believed that these dialects merged.
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“When the inhabitants of some sequestered island first descry the “big canoe” of the European rolling through the blue waters towards their shores, they rush down to the beach in crowds, and with open arms stand ready to embrace the strangers. Fatal embrace! They fold to their bosoms the vipers whose sting is destined to poison all their joys; and the instinctive feeling of love within their breasts is soon converted into the bitterest hate.”
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