Почему меннониты говорят «Once»: это немецкая грамматика, а не теология

  • Mennonites say “once” because of German grammar, not theology. German uses mal — shortened однажды — as a softener, and “come here once” is “komm mal her” in English words.
  • Pennsylvania Dutch is a German dialect, chiefly Palatine, brought to Pennsylvania from the 1680s. The structure carried across when those communities began speaking English.
  • The same substrate gives “still” and “yet” from noch, “redd up”, “outen the light” and “the butter is all”.
  • The label is wrong: the speech belongs to Pennsylvania Dutch speakers generally, including Lutheran and Reformed families, and most Mennonites worldwide do not speak this way.
  • “Dutch” is a corruption of Deitsch, the dialect’s own name, which is the same word as German.

Mennonites say “once” because of German grammar, not theology. It is a dialect feature, it is several centuries old, and it has nothing to do with religion. What is actually going on The construction is familiar to anyone who has spent time in Pennsylvania Dutch country: Come here once. Hand me that once. Try it once. It comes from German, where mal — a shortened einmal, meaning once — is used constantly as a softener. Komm mal her. The word…

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