Guten Tag! or as you would say in Swabian: Grüss Gott!
Over the next few Wochen, we’ll explore some of the major German dialects. Today, I’ll introduce you to some expressions in the Schwäbisch Alltag (everyday/daily life), Swabian dialect. The Schwäbische Mundart is considered an Alamannic Upper German dialect. Nächste Woche, I’ll compare it to another dialect, and so on… this will show you the similarities and differences between all the diverse dialects. Für mich ist das sehr interessant because as an Alsatian dialect speaker, I notice many commonalities zwischen diesen beiden Dialekten — I’ll write about them when I introduce you to my dialect; a Germanic dialect with a long history.
Below, you will see some examples that will show you the differences between German and Swabian:
Deutsch
|
Schwäbisch Alltag
|
English
|
| Auf Wiedersehen |
Adee |
Goodbye |
| Es tut mir leid! |
Deesch mr abr arrg! |
I am sorry! |
| Durcheinander |
Vrwurschdeld |
Mixed-up |
| Moment! |
wardad se! |
One moment! |
| Kopfschmerzen |
Schäädelwaih |
Headache |
| Langsam laufen |
Däbbla |
Dawdling |
| Meinst du nicht auch? |
Isch nedd so? |
Don’t you think so? |
| Würdest du? |
Dädsch? |
Will you? or would you? |
| Jetzt langt es aber! |
Jetz ischs Hai hônda! |
That’s enough! |
Swabia/an is known both as a dialect, and as a historic region in Southwestern Germany. This region – once a medieval duchy – encompassed the Southern part of Baden-Württemberg, the Southwestern part of Bavaria, Eastern Switzerland, and the Alsace region; now a part of France.
To the Romans this region was known as Alamannia. It was named after its first settlers, a Germanic tribe called the Alamanni. In 5 AD, the Suevi — Germanic migrants originating from the Baltic Sea area — migrated to the region and joined the Alamanni people. Eventually, the Alamannia region became the Swabia region; named after the Suevi tribe. Suevi may also be called Suebi.
Today, the name Swabia is occasionally used to denote the district formerly occupied by the Duchy, but the official use of the name is now confined to a province in Bavaria.
Vocabulary:
- Nächste Woche – Next week
- Wochen – Weeks
- Oberdeutsch – Upper German
- Schwäbische Mundart – Swabian dialect
- Für mich – For me
- Sehr – Very
- Zwischen – Between
- Beiden – Both
If you want to learn more about the Swabian dialect I recommend you check out this informative website: http://www.schwaebisch-englisch.de/
Next time, I’ll introduce you to Franconian German.
Adee,
Nathalie
�
Comments:
Ed Brown:
Nathalie, I often heard my mother and grandmother use the expression ” Ich sage die wahrheit” I think it means I speak the truth , , I don’t know why sage is used instead of spreche. if you could explain, Thanks or Dankeschoen
Ed
Maurita Weaver-Miller:
‘sage’ means ‘say’, ‘tell’ or speak. I speak ‘Pennsylvania Dutch’ which is very similar to Schwäbische.
Dr, Ian Maun:
Hi! I’m an English academic who’s trying to translate ‘Versuch einer graphischen Sprache auf logischer Grundlage’ by Karl Haag (1902) into English. Haag was a Swabian dialectician. Haag seems to use ‘Verhalten’ to mean ‘relationship’ (standard German = Verhältnis)and Träger to mean ‘symbol’. Here’s a sentence with both in, in which he’s talking about the sentence ‘A is as rich as B’:
Die Formel ‘A reich gleich B reich’ – würde hiezu dienen wenn die Verbindung von Träger und Verhalten mit den gewohnten Mitteln: Nachstellung und Unterordnung, gelänge.
Do you think that Verhalten means ‘relationship’ and Träger means ‘symbol’, or perhaps ‘place-holder, as in maths?
Hope you can help. Thanks in advance.
Best wishes
Ian Maun
University of Exeter, UK.
Les:
Can anybody help me, When something went wrong workers and/or the boss/Chef would say something like sage-malle or sage-molle not sure how to spell it. In english it meant I believe “Oh don’t tell me” I could be wrong with that, this is why I’m I am asking for help Would appreciate any help Les
Sten:
@Les It is probably “Sag’ mal!”, which means “Come, now!”. It expresses the same kind of resentment, disappointment, so to say.
adam weaver:
Pennsylvania Dutchman here. I know I am really Pennsylvania German Mennonite with Schwabish of (Southern Germany) descent. Just discovered this site. I am not of the “if you an’t dutch, you ain’t much” persuasion, but I do enjoy words and language.