Word of the Week - Inspired by Verbie Miller

Posted by Amish Country Insider. on 11th Apr 2018

I had the pleasure of meeting an elderly woman from the community a few weeks ago. She wrote down a list of old Amish words that are not used much anymore by the younger generation. She told me a few stories that are associated with her memory of these words. Some of these words are spelled in English using her spelling as she wrote it out. 

blie - lead

swevel - sulpher

koulich - lime

hoy shreck - Grass hopper 

(translated literally this is hay scare) So as you can see the name was given to the animal that jumped when walking through the hay field. I personally had never heard this name before.

flutter misly - bat (flutter mouse when translated literally)

fenci misly - chipmunk (fence mouse when translated literally)

grundt misly - mole (ground/dirt mouse when translated literally)

sumer fagly - butterfly (summer bird)

mushtah - pattern (pattern used for sewing clothes etc)