The Pennsylvania Dutch ("Pennsilfaanisch-Deitsch"), also referred to as the Pennsylvania Germans, are a cultural group formed through those who emigrated primarily from the territory in Europe now partly within modern-day Germany (mainly from Palatinate, Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, and Rhineland), but also from the Netherlands, Switzerland and today France (Alsace-Lorraine) travelling down the river Rhine to the sea ports. The word "Deitsch" corresponds with the High German word "Deutsch" (in standard German), meaning "German", and is how the first settlers would have described themselves in the principal southern German dialect spoken: Palatine German. Most of these settlers emigrated in the 17th and 18th centuries to America and spoke unique dialects within the German language family, but it is through their cross-dialogue interaction and what was retained by subsequent generations that a hybrid dialect emerged, known as Pennsylvania German or Pennsylvania Dutch, which has resonance to this day.