Pennsylvania-German names of trees

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[Reprinted from The Pennsylvania-German, December, 1910]

Pennsylvania-German Names of Trees

By C. D. Mell, Assistant Dendrologist, U. S. Forest Service

The study of the Pennsylvania-German names of trees is very interesting,
especially since a number of these vernacular names are so different from
those of the original high German that it is often difficult to recognize them
as being derived from the latter. A great many of the original settlers of
eastern Pennsylvania came from the country districts in southwestern Ger¬
many, bringing with them popular names for trees and other useful plants,
which they gave to closely related forms found growing in America. Many
of these names have survived till today. The word Kesten, which is a var¬
iant name for Kastania, the original high German word, being derived from
the name of the territory of Castanea, in Thessaly, is an example of an in¬
troduced name. Grum Beeren, derived from Grund Beeren, is a word in
common use in southwestern Germany for Kartoffeln (potatoes), which, al¬
though not a tree, serves to illustrate the use of names in vogue in the fa¬
therland. The English element that is scattered throughout the German
speaking districts in Pennsylvania has also left its imprint upon plant names,
as is shown in words like Shaelbark, the first part of which is distinctly Ger¬
man, meaning “to peel off/’ and the second name is English. Combinations
of this kind are not infrequent.

Of course there are still a number of trees and shrubs growing in this part
of the state for which no vernacular names exist, while a great many others
are given a general term. The different oaks, for instance, are seldom dis¬
tinguished beyond the two kinds, namely, the white (weiss Oeche) and
black (swartz Oeche). The high German name for oak is Eiche of which
Oeche is a corruption. The white oak, swamo white oak, post. oak. and
dwarf chinquapin oak are all classed under the general name weiss Oeche.
Red oak, scarlet oak, yellow oak, pin oak, and black jack are all known as
swartz Oeche. The most noted exceptions are the chestnut oak Quercus
prinus Linn.), which is called kest Oeche, and red oak (Quercus rubra
Linn.), which is sometimes called roth Oeche, but the latter is also used oc¬
casionally to designate the group of oaks above classed under swartz Oeche.

A short list of Pennsylvania-German names is given below:

Pemia.-Germnn Name

Oel Walnuss
Walnuss

Saeu Hickernuss
Weiser Hickernuss
Shaelbark

English Common Name

Juglandaceae
Butternut
Black walnut
Pignut
Mockernut
Shellbark

Botanical Name

Juglans cinerea Linn.
Juglans nigra Linn.
Hlcoria glabra (Mill.) Brit.
Hicoria alba (Linn.) Brit.
Hicorla ovata (Mill.) Brit.

The popular name of the shag bark is drawn from the striking appear¬
ance of its outer bark, which peels off in long narrow strips.

Salicaceae

Weide Willow

Trauer Weide Weeping willow

Salix nigra Marsh
Salix babylonica Linn.

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PENNSYLVANIA-GERMAN NAMES OF TREES

Aside from the weeping willow, which is an introduced species, the Penn-
sylvania-Germans recognize only one kind. There are about eight or ten
species native to eastern Pennsylvania, but they are not distinguished and
are simply called Weide, or occasionally wasser Weide or Bruch- Weide.
The latter is the high German name for crack willow, Salix fragilis Linn.,
and should not be used as a general term.

Salicacea (Continued)

Bopple

Weiser Bopple
Aspen

Grosse Bopple
Suess Birch

Lombardy

European white poplar
Quaking aspen
Large-toothed aspen

Betulaceae

Sweet birch

Populus nigra italica Du Roi.

Populus alba Linn.
Populus tremuloides Mich.
Populus grandidentata Mich.

Betula lenta Linn.

The German and English names for this tree are so nearly alike that it did
not take long for the Pennsylvania-German to drop the hard sound of k in
the German name Birke in favor of the soft sound, ch in the English
name birch. The Teutonic name for this tree was Berka, whence it is easy
to sec how Birke and Birch came to be used later. The kind generally found
along streams or in wet locations is called wasser Birch (Betula nigra Linn.)
Othere species are seldom distinguished.

Airle European alder Ainus glutlnosa (Linn.) Gaertn,

Buche
Kesten
Weiss Oeche
Swartz Oeche
Roth Oeche
Rest Oeche

Fagaceae

Beech
Chestnut
White oak
Yellow oak
Red oak
Chestnut oak

Fagus atropunicea (Marsh.) Sudworth.
Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh.

Quercus alba Linn.
Quercue velutina Lam.
Quercus rubra Linn.
Quercus prinus Linn.

Ulmaceae

American elm Ulmus americana Linn.

1 he word Ulm is the high German name for the European elm (Ulmus
campestris Linn.), and is now generally applied to the American elm (Ul¬
mus americana Linn.). Roosche is a name occasionally given to this tree
in sections of Pennsylvania where the English speaking element has not yet
replaced a great many of the German names formerly in use. It is derived
from the middle high German Ruester.(not Ruestar), and is used as a gen¬
eral term for all species of elms.

Schluepfrige A1 Slippery elm Ulmus pubescens Walt.

I he name A1 is derived from European base meaning to grow or to nour¬
ish. The inner bark of this species has a very agreeable taste and aromatic
odor when dry. Children frequently gather the bark and chew it, and it also
has long played an important part in medicine, and among the Pennsyl¬
vania German people at the present day old apothecaries still attribute to it

Moraceae

White mulberry Morus rubra Linn.

Red mulberry Toxylon pomiferum Raf.

Osage orange Morus alba Linn.

Magnolioceae

Yellow poplar Liriodendron tulipfera Linn.

Lauraceae

Sassafras Sassafras sassafras (Linn.) Karst.

On account of the aromatic odor of this tree it was supposed by the early
German settlers to possess a great many medicinal virtues. It is said that the

its ancient repute.

Weise Maul Beeren
Swartze Maul Beeren
Hedge Baum or
Wilde orange Baum

Tulpen or Popple

Sassafras

LIBRARY

THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GA —
BRONX, NEW YORK 10458

PENN SYLVAN IA-GERM AN NAMES OF TREES

3

women employed the berries of sassafras trees against pain by washing the
aching parts with a solution obtained bv boiling the berries in water. The
bark of this tree was formerly used by the women in dying worsted a fine
lasting orange color which is said not to have faded in the sun. The early
settlers also gathered the flowers which were carefully dried in the shade to
serve as a substitute for tea.

Hamamelidaceae

Suess Gumme Sweet gum Liquidambar styraciflua Linn.

Wasser Beech Sycamore Platanus occidentalis Linn.

This tree has a very confusing list of Pennsylvania-German names. The
wood of sycamore has a rather close resemblance to that of beech, and since
the tree is generally found along streams it is. often called wasser Beech. The
German, however, corrupted the word to wasser Pitsch, and from this it was
still further misnamed until today it is frequently called wasser Pitcher. The
German ear is not very keen in detecting clearly certain aspirants, as for in¬
stance the b and p or d and t, and it is therefore easy to sec how the word
became corrupted from beech to Pitch and later to Pitcher. The term was¬
ser Pitches has a local usage and is not likely to find favor even among the
most careless users of Pennsylvania-German plant names. It is also occa¬
sionally referred to as bolle Baum or knoep Baum, but these also arc only
local names.

Locus

Honig Locus
Ahorn

Leguminosae

Locust

Honey Locust

Aceraceae

Red maple

Robinin pseudacacla Linn.
Gleditsia trlacanthos

Acer rubrum Linn.

The red maple is one of the most common native species of eastern Pennsyl¬
vania, and it is seldom that any other name except maple is given to this
tree. Occasionally one hears the word rother or feld Ahorn. The silver
maple so generally cultivated is sometimes called spitz-blaettriger Ahorn.

Gaeuls Kesten

Linde

Hundsholz
Gumme Baum

Hippocastanaceae
Horse chestnut

Tiliaceae

Linden

Cornaceae
Dogwood
Black gum

Ebenaceae

Aesculus hippocastanum Linn.

Tilia americana Linn.

Cornus florida Linn.
Nyssa sylvatica Marsh.

Sparveln Persimmon Diospyros virginiana Linn.

The generic name of this tree is derived from dios, divine, and pyros,
pear; resemblance of the fruit. The high German name for this tree is
Dattelpflaume, a term which does not seem to have come into use in this
country. Dattel is the German word for date, and pflaume for plum.

Oleacae

Aesche American ash Fraxinus americana Linn.

The popular high German name is usually written Esche, derived from
the original Teutonic word Ask-oz. The Pennsylvania Germans have not
as yet generally distinguished the several species of ashes native to eastern
Pennsylvania, except that the ordinary white ash (Fraxinus americana
Linn ) is occasionally referred to as weiser Aesche in order to distinguish it
from the wasser Aesche, which is the black ash (Fraxinus nigra Marsh.), a
species generally found in low swampy situations.

Caprifoliaceae

Swartzer Huller Black elder Sambucus canadensis Linn.

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PENNSYLVANIA-GERMAN NAMES OF TREES

The common elder (Sambucus racemosa Linn.) native to central and
southern Europe is called Hohlunder in German. When the early German
settlers came to America they found black elder, which they straightway
called swartzer Hohlunder, which was soon corrupted to swartzer Huller.

Schaaf Beeren Sheep berries Viburnum lentago Linn.