‘Zuagroaste’ (Zugereiste) = Like a gypsy. Jody -----Original Message----- From: donauschwaben-villages-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:donauschwaben-villages-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Anne Dreer Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2014 5:35 PM To: donauschwaben-villages@rootsweb.com Subject: [DVHH] DVHH-German Speaking Our ancestors were GERMAN SPEAKING SETTLERS in the former south-east European areas. Some of these referred to themselves as Schwowe or Schwobe because they sailed (floated) down the Danube from Ulm in the former area known as (the one time kingdom as well as duchy) Schwaben. The term (plural) Schwowe or Schwobe (singul. Schwob) was in use long before modern High German evolved and the term became Schwabe. The settlers were from different German speaking central European areas. There was no country known as Germany at the time. Many came from Alsace and Lorraine, the present day Saarland and from all areas in present day Germany, but mostly from the south and central regions. A lot of the German speaking people from Alsace and Lorraine originated from Switzerland. ( See history of Alsace, 30 years war) Some towns and cities in south eastern Europe had a dialect similar to Bavarian. Ruma was one of them. My husband was from there. They did not consider themselves as Schwowe, but as Rumaer ‘Deitsche’ (Deutsche). After arriving in Toronto they became members of the Donau Schwaben Club. There were other towns who did not consider themselves as Schwowe, like the Siebenbürger Sachsen and the Gottscheer. They spoke a different dialect as well. ‘When Hitler started the war he considered everyone with even a distant German grandmother to be German and promptly drafted all their adult male descendants to his army’... My mother’s words. Eventually we became known as Donauschwaben (Donauschwowe), Volksdeutsche, Flüchtline, Banater (Banaterfrass =rubbish) and in some areas ‘Zuagroaste’ (Zugereiste) = those who traveled here. The last was a term to describe anyone in Austria and Bavaria who was not a ‘local’. Anne D. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

My family way back came from Franconia. I don't know much about that or what language or dialect would have been used there back in the 1700s. I see now, according to a website, that most people with the last name (Haras) live in France. Otherwise I had a hard time finding the name, and luckily a relative found me by reading this list, I believe. My mother did say they spoke low German. The only other evidence I have of language or dialect is her experience with my cousin, who majored in German. She found his speech very formal. It was almost funny to her. She felt that nobody would really speak that way, and she taught him a bit herself. He found when he visited Germany, which he did and does frequently, that he fit in well with her dialect. But he has never told me much about what other kinds of speakers he met in Germany and Austria. Thanks for the info. A look into the past and how it evolved into what's here now is fascinating, isn't it? Susan M On Wednesday, May 7, 2014 5:17 PM, Jody McKim Pharr <jodymckimpharr@comcast.net> wrote: ‘Zuagroaste’ (Zugereiste) = Like a gypsy. Jody -----Original Message----- From: donauschwaben-villages-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:donauschwaben-villages-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Anne Dreer Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2014 5:35 PM To: donauschwaben-villages@rootsweb.com Subject: [DVHH] DVHH-German Speaking Our ancestors were GERMAN SPEAKING SETTLERS  in the former south-east European areas. Some of these referred to themselves as Schwowe or Schwobe because  they sailed (floated) down the Danube from Ulm in the former area known as (the one time kingdom as well as duchy) Schwaben.  The term (plural) Schwowe or Schwobe (singul. Schwob)  was in use long before modern High German evolved and the term became Schwabe. The settlers were from different German speaking central European areas. There was no country known as Germany at the time. Many came from  Alsace and Lorraine, the present day Saarland and from all areas in present day Germany, but mostly from the south and central regions.  A lot of the German speaking  people from Alsace and Lorraine originated from Switzerland. ( See history of  Alsace, 30 years war) Some towns and cities in south eastern Europe had a dialect similar to Bavarian. Ruma was one of them. My husband was from there. They did not consider themselves as Schwowe, but as Rumaer ‘Deitsche’ (Deutsche). After arriving in  Toronto they became members of the Donau Schwaben Club. There were other towns who did not consider themselves as Schwowe, like the Siebenbürger Sachsen and the Gottscheer. They spoke a different dialect as well. ‘When Hitler started the war he considered everyone with even a distant German grandmother  to be German and promptly drafted all their adult male descendants to  his army’... My mother’s words. Eventually we became known as  Donauschwaben (Donauschwowe), Volksdeutsche, Flüchtline, Banater (Banaterfrass =rubbish) and in some areas ‘Zuagroaste’ (Zugereiste) = those who traveled here. The last was a term to describe anyone in Austria and Bavaria who was not a ‘local’. Anne D. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message