Which language is often associated with the Amish and Mennonite settlers in colonial Pennsylvania and sometimes mistaken for Dutch?

• A. Dutch
• B. German
• C. French
• D. Italian

Answer: (B)

The language tied to the Amish and Mennonites in colonial Pennsylvania is German, specifically the form known today as Pennsylvania German (often called Pennsylvania Dutch). These communities largely descended from German-speaking settlers who came from regions like the Palatinate and Alsace in the early 1700s, taking their dialect with them and keeping it as a living part of daily life. The label “Dutch” appears in English as a historic misnomer: speakers encountered the word Deutsch, which means German, and English speakers latched onto “Dutch,” so the same dialect came to be called Pennsylvania Dutch. So, while you’ll hear about Pennsylvania Dutch communities, the language these groups preserve is German, not the Dutch language of the Netherlands. It isn’t French or Italian, which did not form the linguistic tradition carried by these settlers.