Do you know these 10 Amish terms? (Quiz #3)

Time for number 3 in our series of Amish vocabulary quizzes. Each of these words has some significance or relation to the Amish. I think this one may be slightly more difficult than the previous two quizzes, but we’ll see.

1. Charming Nancy

2. Inverter

3. Organdy

4. Jayco

5. Harmony

6. The Echo

7. Uffgevva

8. Rest Haven

9. Passau

10. Vorsinger

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19 Comments

  1. I think vorsinger is the man who leads the song in a church service, right?

    1. You’re off to a good start Pam!

  2. 1. One of the ships that brought some of the first wave of Amish immigrants in the 1700s.
    2. changes 12v to 120v (in other words, makes solar panel power available to power things you plug in a wall outlet)
    3. ?
    4. Brand of RVs, a large Amish employer in northern Indiana
    5. Singing with more than one part, or “voices”
    6. ?
    7. PA Dutch for giving up (aufgeben in German)?
    8. ?
    9. Town in Germany where a good number the Ausbund songs were written by a group of imprisoned Anabaptists
    10. Song leader

  3. Margaret

    I’m going to give this a shot…. I don’t know a couple, but…

    1. Charming Nancy is the name of one of the ships that brought over the Amish in the early 1700s.

    2. Inverter is what they use to change battery power to electricity.

    3. Organdy is the name of the material women/girls use for their head coverings.

    4. Jayco is the RV factory many Amish work at in Elkhart, IN.

    5. Harmony – one of the towns/Amish communities in Minnesota.

    6. The Echo — not sure…???

    7. Uffgevva means giving up.

    8. Rest Haven — not sure…???

    9. Passau is a town in Lower Bavaria, Germany. In the 1500s some Anabaptists from Moravia traveling to S. Germany were captured here and put in prison. Many died here, and some of the songs in the Ausbund were written during this time of imprisonment.

    10. Vorsinger are the song leaders. They are the ones that learn the melodies for the songs passed down from generation to generation.

  4. Ann

    Rest Haven

    Rest Haven
    Located at 225 Lakeview Drive on
    Oaklawn’s Goshen, Indidna campus, Rest Haven is a
    15-bed co-ed facility designed for short-term
    residential care while clients receive services
    at Oaklawn

  5. Looks like Margaret nailed “organdy,” and Ann the “Rest Haven,” now “The Echo.” It seems that rings a bell for some sort of Amish publication, but I dont always trust bells ringing in my brain. 🙂

  6. Alice Mary

    Q#3 Terms

    I think you’re right, PC, and organdy is used as Margaret stated (I grew up with several “organdy” dresses—for Sunday dress-up or parties, only—too delicate for everyday wear.) Organdy headcoverings are different, as they don’t take the beating dresses do! 🙂

    I knew Vorsinger, inverter, also, but not most of the others. I only hope I remember them (flashcards?)!

  7. Coming to Terms Again

    Charming Nancy: the Amish “Mayflower”

    Organdy: a slightly transparent, stiff material. The stuff Amish caps are made of, but also the stuff of Easter dresses. Can be scratchy and annoying in dresses.

    Don’t know any of the other terms.

  8. Dale

    #6 Terms

    The Echo is a weekly paper put out in Moultrie/Douglas counties.

  9. Margaret

    Dale,
    I figured The Echo was a newspaper. I’m curious about what state Moultrie/Douglas counties are in, though.

    1. Moultrie-Douglas Co.

      These are Illinois counties and the dividing line between the two is right in the main business district of Arthur, center of the Amish settlement.

  10. Margaret

    Thanks, Carol!

    Erik, did we get them right?

  11. Don Curtis

    My answers (with Mark's help)

    I have to admit that I cheated and called my son Mark for help.

    1. Charming Nancy. This was the name of the ship that some of the first Amish sailed on when they came to the New World back in the early 1700’s.
    2. Inverter. I knew this one. It changes DC to AC. Mark has a small one.
    3. Organdy. It is the stiff material that a lot of women’s prayer caps are made of.
    4. Jayco. I think it is a RV trailer make.
    5. Harmony. It could be a number of things. Singing in parts is one. Harmony Haven is at Evart, MI and is a place that helpes troubled youth boys.
    6. The Echo. A newspaper.
    7. uffgevva. Giving up or surrendering self. sort of like gelassenheit.
    8. Rest Haven. A mental health facility near Goshen, IN that specializes in helping Amish people with mental illness issues. It is a part of Oak Lawn Mental a Mennonite mental heatlh hospital.
    9. Passau. It is the location of the castle or prison in Switzerland where many of the early Anabaptists were imprisoned. Many of the Ausbund hymns were written there.
    10. Vorsinger. A non-ordained man in the church who is responsible for choosing the hymns for the church service. Also, he either starts the first line of each hymn, himself, or invites someone else to do that. Mark said that many times Amish who are visiting will be asked to start hymns.
    How’d I (we) do?

  12. Well Done

    Looks like the answers are all here. And pretty quickly too. I need to make these tougher in future 🙂

    The Echo is a community paper in the Arthur, Illinois community. A reader recently brought it to my attention, comparing it to Die Blatt in Indiana. Rest Haven was the first such center dedicated to mental health care for Amish in Indiana, there are others such as Green Pastures in PA. As for Harmony, I actually had the Minnesota Amish community in mind, but other definitions given here would fit as well.

    On Rest Haven:

    http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=110&dat=20020212&id=cYlOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-0sDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5414,4688753

  13. Al in Ky.

    Thanks for this most recent quiz. Keep ’em comin’!
    I knew the answers to numbers 2,3,4,5, and 10. I had to
    learn from other AA bloggers the definitions of the others.

    I enjoyed your including Harmony, Minnesota, as one of the items.
    That’s the first Amish community I really became familiar with.
    If anyone is near the area, it’s worth a side trip to visit.
    Nice scenery and interesting people.

  14. Ava

    Amish Vocabulary

    I didn’t cheat, use Google, or use others’ answers – which mean, really, that I will fail this quiz miserably *laughs*!

    1. Charming Nancy — Isn’t that a childhood song or rhyme?

    2. Inverter — Changes an electric appliance to one which will run on propane or some sort of gas?

    3. Organdy — A horrible, horrible ( kidding! ) semi-stiff fabric that I believe many Amish women use for their prayer kapps and/or aprons ( possibly only on Sundays ). It’s very hard to work with, being slick and semi-stiff, and sewing it — or pinning it — is just not easy! It is quite pretty though.

    4. Jayco — I think this is a brand name. Of what, I have forgotten.

    5. Harmony — Unless this is a trick question, Erik, grins, it would mean singing in harmony — either all singers on the same note/pitch ( one part harmony ) or at different notes/pitches which would ( ideally ) compliment each other, such as four part harmony ( an example being soprano, alto, bass, tenor ).

    6. The Echo — Oh I have no idea!

    7. Uffgevva — I know this word. I just don’t know quite what it means. It may mean humility or humbleness, or it may mean the opposite — prideful.

    8. Rest Haven — As a pure guess, I’ll say it’s a Bed & Breakfast somewhere in “Amish Country” in uh some part of the U.S.

    9. Passau — Is this a name, perhaps French or Alsace in origin, maybe an early Anabaptist? ( another pure guess! )

    10. Vorsinger — Ah, I think this would be the song-leader, I believe a man, who would “lead” the a capella songs sung in Amish ( and perhaps other ) worship services. He would begin the song with either a word or two, maybe an entire sentence ( ? ) to set the pace and pitch of the song/hymn. I think in some Amish districts, visiting men from other districts are invited to do this.

    Oh well okay I feel like I did in school when I forgot to study for a quiz! But this is much more fun :). Thanks, Erik!

  15. Ava

    Oh! The Charming Nancy! I knew I’d heard of it!! Hah I just didn’t recall where. I had a great-great-many great-grandfather sail on that ship, a man who I believe was Anabaptist or Amish. i believe it was either one of his offspring or him who had two wives, the first wife and children remaining Amish, the second wife and children becoming English. If I’m correct about the ship, anyway. But my ancestor was Jacob Beiler ( true spelling eludes me ), his wife who was my ancestor was the second wife, Mary Fisher, or Hannah Fisher, perhaps? Ack, anyway, I knew that phrase “Charming Nancy” looked familiar!

  16. Erkki

    ten amish terms

    1.Charming Nancy was a ship in 18th century; 2.Inverter is a converter that changes DC to AC; 3.Organdy is a thin textile for female caps; 4.Jayco is a firm whitch makes RVs; 5.Harmony is a town in Minnesota with amish inhabitants; 6. Echo is a newspaper in Moultre county; 7. Uffgevva means trust God and give up ego; 8.Rest Haven is center of the menthal care for amish; 9. Passau is town in Germany; 10. Vorsinger is a leading singer.

  17. Ada/KJV Conservative

    My Answers

    Without looking at the comments…

    Organdy is a common material women use to make Kapps (at least the heart-shaped Kapps). It is translucent.

    A Rest Haven would probably be a cemetery.

    Ada