Etymology

Pennsylvania Dutch

Today it means: Those people of German origin who settled in the Pennsylvania area prior to 1800, and their descendants. Full definition →

pfl Deitsch
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The story

  1. pfl · borrowed fromDeitsch“German”
  2. English todayPennsylvania Dutch

From their primary residence in Pennsylvania and from Palatine German Deitsch (“German”), their own endonym, gradually modified under influence from Dutch.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.