Lexical Evidence from Charles Sealsfield

N THE WORKS of the German-American writer Charles Sealsfield, Professor Krumpelmann has discovered an unusually fruitful source of knowledge about American English and has made historical lexicography indebted to him for valuable evidence.' It is the purpose of this article to add some notes on additional words from Sealsfield; the list consists of (1) several words from the German texts, (2) several words from two of Sealsfield's English writings, and, mainly, (3) words from American translations of Sealsfield's works. Some of the terms listed are cited by the Dictionary of American English as Americanisms; others are indisputably American in origin or use but are not in the DAE; some are not of American origin but are of the type which the DAE includes; and others are locutions which dictionaries do not list. A few of the last group may be individualisms; they are listed here so that they will be on record in case other evidence turns up in the future. The German text alone is cited when the words are treated by Sealsfield as English; an American translation is cited when the words are given German spelling or inflection in the German texts. When, however, the translation is literal, the German form is cited, with date, title, and page, in brackets following the quotation from the translation. In some passages the translation is so loose and free that the wording is strictly the translator's, not Sealsfield's; such passages are usually cited without reference to the original text. A knotty problem is posed by a few expressions, e.g. coffee-kettle, which are cognate in English and German, but which are not attested in English prior to the translator's date. In such cases it is next to impossible to decide whether the translator knew the English term or was making up a form to represent the German idiom. Several such locutions are listed, with the hope that independent evidence can be found to verify those which are legitimate. A factor of importance is the linguistic background of the translators. One of them, Joel T. Headley, was an American by birth;2 his use of an expression definitely evidences American usage. Another, Gustaf C. Hebbe

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