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What’s with this “Wren” thing?
The oldest extant version of the fable
we
are presenting here appeared in 1913 in the first volume of a two-volume anthology
of Low
Saxon folktales (Plattdeutsche
Volksmärchen “Low German Folktales”)
collected by Wilhelm Wisser (1843–1935). Read
more ...
Low Saxon (“Low German”)
Language information:
The direct descendant of Old Saxon, Low Saxon—usually, with the inclusion of
Low Franconian varieties, known as “Low German” (Niederdeutsch, Plattdeutsch) in Germany—is originally used in the eastern parts of the Netherlands and in
the northern parts of Germany. It is closely related to both German and (especially)
Dutch but is recognized as a separate regional language by the European Union
and in most provinces and states in which it is used.
Klaus
Groth (1819–1999),
participant in the Low Saxon
reassersion movement and
celebrated poet and lyricist in the
Dithmarschen dialect of Holstein
Old
Saxon (ca. –1200) is the primary ancestor of Low Saxon and one of the main ancestors of English.
Its original region is Northern Albingia, an area north of the Lower Elbe.
Old Saxon was later used from Southern Schleswig in the north to the Harz Mountains
in the south, from close to the Ijssel Sea in the west to about Kiel and Lauenburg
in the east. In some western and northern border regions it overlapped with
Frisian,
Low Franconian, Anglish and Jutish, in southern regions with German and in
eastern regions with Western Slavonic. In more recent times, Old Saxon has
been referred
to as “Old
Low German” (Altniederdeutsch) in Germany, the more accurate name “Old Saxon”
(Altsächsisch) being confined to certain academic circles.
Middle
Saxon (ca. 1200–1650 C.E.) was a language of considerable power and influence. It served as the
lingua franca of the Hanseatic Trading League and came to be used as a first
or second languages in Hanseatic cities and trading posts around the Baltic
Sea coast, also on the North Sea coast (e.g., in Bergen, Norway), in parts
of Germany
proper (i.e., south of the traditionally Saxon-speaking region) and in Hanseatic
mercantile offices in the Netherlands, Belgium, Britain and Russia. It came
to influence the Scandinavian languages to a degree of transforming them, thus
alienating
them from Old Norse and preserved varieties of Iceland and the Faeroe Islands.
Furthermore, it exerted strong influences on languages of the Baltic coast,
especially on Eastern Pomeranian (Kashubian, a Slavonic language of Northern
Poland) and
on Estonian (a Finnic language). In older texts, these Middle Saxon influences
are often erroneously referred to as “German influences.”
Fritz
Reuter (1810–1874),
participant in the Low Saxon
reassersion movement and
celebrated prose writer in
the Mecklenburg dialect
Modern
Low Saxon has numerous dialects but no standard variety and no standard spelling system
that would connect dialect communities with each other, though some dialect
groups in the Netherlands have created their regional standards. Due to a
lack of general
standards and thus a lack of cohesion, the language community is very much
fragmented, and most speakers care more about their own dialects than about
the language
as a whole. Most speakers in Germany are uneducated about the language, are
not even aware of the fact that related dialects are used in the Netherlands
and
in the Americas. Added to weakening as a result of centuries of suppression
and denigration, remaining fragmentation and ignorance are serious obstacles
to the
survival
of
the language. Mennonite
Low Saxon (“Plautdietsch”) originated at the Vistula Delta in Northern
Poland as a local dialect adopted by Mennonite immigrants from the Netherlands
and Northern Germany. It was later exported to the Molochna and Khortitza regions
of Ukraine where it developed further under Ukrainian, Russian and Turkic
influences, with constant influences from German as a “high” and liturgical
language. From
there it was taken to Siberia and Central Asia by replaced “Germans” and
especially to the Americas by emigrants. Since the collapse of the Soviet
Union, many Mennonite
Low Saxon speakers have moved to Germany as repatriated Germans, and Germany
now has the largest number of speakers, followed by Canada, the United States
and Mexico and some South American countries. Centuries of geographic and
religious separation have led to estrangement from speakers of other Low
Saxon dialects.
Genealogy:
Indo-European > Germanic > Western > Low German > (Low) Saxon
Historical Lowlands language contacts: Dutch, English
Major Modern Low Saxon dialect
groups:
Germany:
Northern Saxon
Elbe Marshes Dialects
Hamburg Dialects
Holstein Dialects
Schleswig Dialects
Lunenburg Heath Dialects
Northwestern Dialects
Eastern Friesland Dialects
Eastphalian
General Eastphalian
Heath Eastphalian
Elbe Eastphalian
Göttingen-Grubenhagen Dialects
Westphalian
General Westphalian
Münsterland Dialects
Eastern Low Saxon
Mecklenburgish-Western Pomeranian
Brandenburgish
Central Pomeranian
Eastern Pomeranian [area
now partly in Poland, dialects moribund]
“Low
Prussian”
Western Prussian [area
now in Poland; most speakers have emigrated; dialects
moribund and extinct]
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