Old Prussian language
Encyclopedia
Prussian is an extinct Baltic
language, once spoken by the inhabitants
of the original territory of Prussia (Prūsa
in Prussian, not to be confused with the later and much larger German state
of the same name; see map and article by Marija Gimbutas
below) in an area of what later became East Prussia
(now north-eastern Poland
and the Kaliningrad Oblast
of Russia
) and eastern parts of Pomerelia
(some parts of the region east of the Vistula
River). It was also spoken much further east and south in what became Polesia
and part of Podlasia with the conquests by Rus and Poles starting in the 10th century and by the German colonisation
of the area which began in the 12th century. In Old Prussian itself, the language was called “Prūsiskan” (Prussian) or “Prūsiskai Bilā” (the Prussian language
). According to Gimbutas, the entire area has thousands of river names that can be traced back to an original Baltic language, even though they have undergone Slavicization.
The Aesti
, mentioned by Tacitus
in his Germania
, may have been a people who spoke Old Prussian. Tacitus describes them as being just like the Suebi
(a group of Germanic peoples) but with a more Britannic-like (Celtic
) language.
Old Prussian was closely related to the other extinct Western Baltic languages
, Curonian
, Galindian
and Sudovian
. It is more distantly related to the surviving Eastern Baltic languages, Lithuanian
and Latvian
. Compare the Prussian word seme (zemē), the Latvian zeme, the Lithuanian žemė.
Old Prussian contained a few borrowings specifically from Gothic
(e.g., Old Prussian ylo "awl," as with Lithuanian ýla, Latvian īlens) and even Scandinavian languages. The language also has many Slavic loanwords, e.g., Old Prussian curtis "hound," just as Lithuanian kùrtas, Latvian kur̃ts come from Slavic (cf. Russian/Ukrainian хорт, khort; Polish chart; Czech chrt). There are many loanwords directly from German, the result of German colonization
in the 13th century.
In addition to the German colonists, groups of people from Poland
, Lithuania
, France
, Scotland
, England
, and Austria
, found refuge in Prussia during the Protestant Reformation
and thereafter. Such immigration caused a slow decline in the use of Old Prussian, as the Prussians
adopted the languages of the others, particularly German
, the language of the German government of Prussia
. Baltic Old Prussian probably ceased to be spoken around the beginning of the 18th century due to many of its remaining speakers dying in the famine
s and bubonic plague
epidemics harrowing the East Prussia
n countryside and towns from 1709 until 1711. The regional dialect of Low German
spoken in Prussia (or East Prussia
), Low Prussian
, preserved a number of Baltic Prussian words, such as kurp, from the Old Prussian kurpi, for shoe
(in contrast to the standard German Schuh).
The language is called “Old Prussian” to avoid confusion with the German dialects Low Prussian
and High Prussian
, and the adjective “Prussian”, which also relates to the later German state. The Old Prussian name for the nation, not being Latinized, was Prūsa. This too may be used to delineate the language and the Baltic state from the later German state.
Old Prussian began to be written down in the Latin alphabet in about the 13th century. A small amount of literature
in the language survives.
Until the 1930s, when the Nazi
government began a program of Germanization, and in 1945, when the Soviets
annexed Prussia and made Old Prussian place-names illegal, one could find Old Prussian river and place names in East Prussia
, like Tawe, Tawelle, and Tawelninken.
Lord's Prayer in the dialect of Nadruvia (Simon Prätorius)
Baltic languages
The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe...
language, once spoken by the inhabitants
Old Prussians
The Old Prussians or Baltic Prussians were an ethnic group, autochthonous Baltic tribes that inhabited Prussia, the lands of the southeastern Baltic Sea in the area around the Vistula and Curonian Lagoons...
of the original territory of Prussia (Prūsa
Prussia (region)
Prussia is a historical region in Central Europe extending from the south-eastern coast of the Baltic Sea to the Masurian Lake District. It is now divided between Poland, Russia, and Lithuania...
in Prussian, not to be confused with the later and much larger German state
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
of the same name; see map and article by Marija Gimbutas
Marija Gimbutas
Marija Gimbutas , was a Lithuanian-American archeologist known for her research into the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of "Old Europe", a term she introduced. Her works published between 1946 and 1971 introduced new views by combining traditional spadework with linguistics and mythological...
below) in an area of what later became East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
(now north-eastern Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and the Kaliningrad Oblast
Kaliningrad Oblast
Kaliningrad Oblast is a federal subject of Russia situated on the Baltic coast. It has a population of The oblast forms the westernmost part of the Russian Federation, but it has no land connection to the rest of Russia. Since its creation it has been an exclave of the Russian SFSR and then the...
of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
) and eastern parts of Pomerelia
Pomerelia
Pomerelia is a historical region in northern Poland. Pomerelia lay in eastern Pomerania: on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea and west of the Vistula and its delta. The area centered on the city of Gdańsk at the mouth of the Vistula...
(some parts of the region east of the Vistula
Vistula
The Vistula is the longest and the most important river in Poland, at 1,047 km in length. The watershed area of the Vistula is , of which lies within Poland ....
River). It was also spoken much further east and south in what became Polesia
Polesia
Polesia is one of the largest European swampy areas, located in the south-western part of the Eastern-European Lowland, mainly within Belarus and Ukraine but also partly within Poland and Russia...
and part of Podlasia with the conquests by Rus and Poles starting in the 10th century and by the German colonisation
Ostsiedlung
Ostsiedlung , also called German eastward expansion, was the medieval eastward migration and settlement of Germans from modern day western and central Germany into less-populated regions and countries of eastern Central Europe and Eastern Europe. The affected area roughly stretched from Slovenia...
of the area which began in the 12th century. In Old Prussian itself, the language was called “Prūsiskan” (Prussian) or “Prūsiskai Bilā” (the Prussian language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
). According to Gimbutas, the entire area has thousands of river names that can be traced back to an original Baltic language, even though they have undergone Slavicization.
The Aesti
Aesti
The Aesti were a people described by the Roman historian Tacitus in his treatise Germania . According to this account, the Aestii lived on the shore of the Suebian Sea , eastward of the Suiones and westward of the Sitones. They were a population of Suebia...
, mentioned by Tacitus
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
in his Germania
Germania (book)
The Germania , written by Gaius Cornelius Tacitus around 98, is an ethnographic work on the Germanic tribes outside the Roman Empire.-Contents:...
, may have been a people who spoke Old Prussian. Tacitus describes them as being just like the Suebi
Suebi
The Suebi or Suevi were a group of Germanic peoples who were first mentioned by Julius Caesar in connection with Ariovistus' campaign, c...
(a group of Germanic peoples) but with a more Britannic-like (Celtic
Celtic languages
The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic"; a branch of the greater Indo-European language family...
) language.
Old Prussian was closely related to the other extinct Western Baltic languages
Baltic languages
The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe...
, Curonian
Curonian language
The Curonian language or Old Curonian is an extinct language spoken by the Curonian tribe, who lived mainly on the Courland peninsula and along the nearby Baltic shores....
, Galindian
Galindian language
Galindian is a poorly attested extinct language, considered to be a part of the Baltic languages group. There are no extant writings in Galindian.- References :**http://www.sil.org/iso639-3/documentation.asp?id=xgl...
and Sudovian
Sudovian language
Sudovian is an extinct western Baltic language of Northeastern Europe. Closely related to the Old Prussian language, it was formerly spoken southwest of the Nemunas river in what is now Lithuania, east of Galindia and north of Yotvingia, and by exiles in East Prussia.-History:Sudovia and...
. It is more distantly related to the surviving Eastern Baltic languages, Lithuanian
Lithuanian language
Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
and Latvian
Latvian language
Latvian is the official state language of Latvia. It is also sometimes referred to as Lettish. There are about 1.4 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and about 150,000 abroad. The Latvian language has a relatively large number of non-native speakers, atypical for a small language...
. Compare the Prussian word seme (zemē), the Latvian zeme, the Lithuanian žemė.
Old Prussian contained a few borrowings specifically from Gothic
Gothic language
Gothic is an extinct Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from the Codex Argenteus, a 6th-century copy of a 4th-century Bible translation, and is the only East Germanic language with a sizable Text corpus...
(e.g., Old Prussian ylo "awl," as with Lithuanian ýla, Latvian īlens) and even Scandinavian languages. The language also has many Slavic loanwords, e.g., Old Prussian curtis "hound," just as Lithuanian kùrtas, Latvian kur̃ts come from Slavic (cf. Russian/Ukrainian хорт, khort; Polish chart; Czech chrt). There are many loanwords directly from German, the result of German colonization
Ostsiedlung
Ostsiedlung , also called German eastward expansion, was the medieval eastward migration and settlement of Germans from modern day western and central Germany into less-populated regions and countries of eastern Central Europe and Eastern Europe. The affected area roughly stretched from Slovenia...
in the 13th century.
In addition to the German colonists, groups of people from Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, found refuge in Prussia during the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
and thereafter. Such immigration caused a slow decline in the use of Old Prussian, as the Prussians
Old Prussians
The Old Prussians or Baltic Prussians were an ethnic group, autochthonous Baltic tribes that inhabited Prussia, the lands of the southeastern Baltic Sea in the area around the Vistula and Curonian Lagoons...
adopted the languages of the others, particularly German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, the language of the German government of Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
. Baltic Old Prussian probably ceased to be spoken around the beginning of the 18th century due to many of its remaining speakers dying in the famine
Famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
s and bubonic plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
epidemics harrowing the East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
n countryside and towns from 1709 until 1711. The regional dialect of Low German
Low German
Low German or Low Saxon is an Ingvaeonic West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands...
spoken in Prussia (or East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
), Low Prussian
Low Prussian
Low Prussian , sometimes known simply as Prussian , is a dialect of East Low German that developed in East Prussia. Low Prussian was spoken in East and West Prussia and Danzig up to 1945. It developed on a Baltic substrate through the influx of Dutch and Low German speaking immigrants...
, preserved a number of Baltic Prussian words, such as kurp, from the Old Prussian kurpi, for shoe
Shoe
A shoe is an item of footwear intended to protect and comfort the human foot while doing various activities. Shoes are also used as an item of decoration. The design of shoes has varied enormously through time and from culture to culture, with appearance originally being tied to function...
(in contrast to the standard German Schuh).
The language is called “Old Prussian” to avoid confusion with the German dialects Low Prussian
Low Prussian
Low Prussian , sometimes known simply as Prussian , is a dialect of East Low German that developed in East Prussia. Low Prussian was spoken in East and West Prussia and Danzig up to 1945. It developed on a Baltic substrate through the influx of Dutch and Low German speaking immigrants...
and High Prussian
High Prussian
High Prussian is a dialect of East Central German that developed in the region of East Prussia. The dialect developed from High German, brought in by Silesian German settlers in the 13th—15th centuries, and was influenced by the Baltic Old Prussian language...
, and the adjective “Prussian”, which also relates to the later German state. The Old Prussian name for the nation, not being Latinized, was Prūsa. This too may be used to delineate the language and the Baltic state from the later German state.
Old Prussian began to be written down in the Latin alphabet in about the 13th century. A small amount of literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
in the language survives.
Until the 1930s, when the Nazi
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
government began a program of Germanization, and in 1945, when the Soviets
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
annexed Prussia and made Old Prussian place-names illegal, one could find Old Prussian river and place names in East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
, like Tawe, Tawelle, and Tawelninken.
Lord's Prayer
Lord's Prayer after Simon Grunau Simon Grunau Simon Grunau was the author of Preussische Chronik,Full title: Cronika und beschreibung allerlüstlichenn, nützlichsten und waaren historien des namkundigenn landes zu Prewssen or Chronicle and description of the most amusing, useful and true known history of the Prussian land the first...
|
Lord's Prayer after Prätorius
|
|
Lord's Prayer in mixed dialects
|
Lord's Prayer in the dialect of Insterburg (Prediger Hennig)
|
Lord's Prayer in the dialect of Nadruvia (Simon Prätorius)
- Tiewe musu, kursa tu essi Debsissa,
- Szwints tiest taws Wards;
- Akeik mums twa Walstybe;
- Tawas Praats buk kaip Debbesissa taibant wirszu Sjemes;
- Musu dieniszka May e duk mums ir szen Dienan;
- Atmesk mums musu Griekus, kaip mes pammetam musi Pardokonteimus;
- Ne te wedde mus Baidykle;
- Bet te passarge mus mi wissa Louna (Pikta)
A list of monuments of Old Prussian
- Prussian-language geographical names within the territory of (Baltic) Prussia. The first basic study of these names was by Georg Gerullis, in Die altpreußischen Ortsnamen ("The Old Prussian Place-names"), written and published with the help of Walter de Gruyter, in 1922.
- Prussian personal names.
- Separate words found in various historical documents.
- Vernacularisms in the former German dialects of East and West Prussia, as well as words of Old Curonian origin in Latvian, and West-Baltic vernacularisms in Lithuanian and BelarusianBelarusian languageThe Belarusian language , sometimes referred to as White Russian or White Ruthenian, is the language of the Belarusian people...
. - The so-called Basel Epigram, the oldest written Prussian sentence (1369). It reads:
- Kayle rekyse •
- thoneaw labonache thewelyse •
- Eg koyte poyte •
- nykoyte • pe^nega doyte
Kaīls rikīse!
Tu ni jāu laban asei tēwelise,
ik kwaitēi pōiti,
ni kwaitēi peningā dōiti
Cheers, Sir!
You are no longer a good little uncle,
if you want to drink
(but) do not want to give a penny!- This jocular inscription was most probably made by a Prussian student studying in PraguePraguePrague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
(Charles UniversityCharles University in PragueCharles University in Prague is the oldest and largest university in the Czech Republic. Founded in 1348, it was the first university in Central Europe and is also considered the earliest German university...
); found by Stephen McCluskey (1974) in manuscript MS F.V.2 (book of physics Questiones super Meteororum by Nicholas Oresme), fol. 63r, stored in the Basel University library.- Various fragmentary texts:
- Recorded in several versions by Hieronymus Maletius in Sudovian Nook in the middle of the 16th century, as noted by Vytautas MažiulisVytautas MažiulisVytautas Mažiulis was a highly distinguished Lithuanian Balticist, an expert on the Old Prussian language and Indo-European languages.-Biography:...
, are:- Beigeite beygeyte peckolle ("Run, run, devils!")
- Kails naussen gnigethe ("Hello our friend!")
- Kails poskails ains par antres – a drinking toast, reconstructed as Kaīls pas kaīls, aīns per āntran ("A healthy one after a healthy one, one after another!")
- Kellewesze perioth, Kellewesze perioth ("A carter drives here, a carter drives here!")
- Ocho moy myle schwante panicke – also recorded as O hoho Moi mile swente Pannike, O ho hu Mey mile swenthe paniko, O mues miles schwante Panick ("Oh my dear holy fire!")
- A manuscript fragment of the first words of the Pater NosterPater NosterPater Noster is probably the best-known prayer in Christianity.Pater Noster or Paternoster may also refer to:* Paternoster, a passenger elevator which consists of a chain of open compartments that move slowly in a loop up and down inside a building* Paternoster, Western Cape, South Africa* Pierres...
in Prussian, from the beginning of the 15th century: Towe Nüsze kås esse andangonsün swyntins. - 100 words (in strongly varying versions) of the Vocabulary by friar Simon Grunau, an historian of the Teutonic KnightsTeutonic KnightsThe Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem , commonly the Teutonic Order , is a German medieval military order, in modern times a purely religious Catholic order...
, written ca. 1517–1526; these have been reconstructed into a more unified single system of spelling by Mažiulis. Except those words Grunau also recorded an expression sta nossen rickie, nossen rickie ("This (is) our lord, our lord"). - The so-called Elbing Vocabulary, which consists of 802 thematically sorted words and their German equivalents. This manuscript, copied by Peter Holcwesscher from MarienburgMalborkMalbork is a town in northern Poland in the Żuławy region , with 38,478 inhabitants . Situated in the Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999, it was previously assigned to Elbląg Voivodeship...
on the boundary of the 14th and 15th centuries, was found in 1825 by Fr. Neumann among other manuscripts acquired by him from the heritage of the Elbing merchant A. Grübnau; it was thus dubbed the Codex Neumannianus. Again, the words have been reconstructed into a more unified single system of spelling by V. Mažiulis, a scholar and contributor to the revival of the Prussian language. - The three Catechisms printed in the Prussian language in Königsberg in 1545, 1545, and 1561 respectively. The first two consist of only 6 pages of text in Prussian – the second one being a correction of the first into another sub-dialect. The third one, however, consists of 132 pages of Prussian text, and is a translation by Abel Will of Martin Luther’s EnchiridionEnchiridionEnchiridion is a Late Latin term referring to a small manual or handbook. Some notable enchiridions include:* Enchiridion of Augustine, a compact treatise on Christian piety...
. - Commonly thought of as Prussian, but probably actually LithuanianLithuanian languageLithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
:
- A manuscript fragment of the first words of the Pater Noster
- An adage of 1583, Dewes does dantes, Dewes does geitka: the form does in the second instance corresponds to Lithuanian future tense duos ("will give")
- Trencke, trencke! ("Strike! Strike!")
Examples of Prussian
Here are several basic Prussian phrases :
Translation Phrase Prussian [language] Prūsiskan Prussia Prūsa and Prūsija Hello Kaīls Good morning Kaīls Anksteīnai Good-bye Ērdiw Thank you Dīnka How much? Kelli? Yes Jā No Ni Where is the bathroom? Kwēi ast Spektāstuba? (Generic toast) Kaīls pas kaīls aīns per āntran Do you speak English? Bilāi tū Ēngliskan?
Prussian was a highly inflected language, as can be seen from the declension of the demonstrative pronoun stas, "that". (Note that translators of the Teutonic Order frequently misused stas as an article, i.e. for the word "the"; Old Prussian, like the other Baltic languages, but unlike German, had no real articles.)
Case Grammatical caseIn grammar, the case of a noun or pronoun is an inflectional form that indicates its grammatical function in a phrase, clause, or sentence. For example, a pronoun may play the role of subject , of direct object , or of possessor...m.sg. f.sg. n.sg. m.pl. f.pl. n.pl. Nominative stas stāi stan stāi stās stai Genitive stesse stesses stesse stēisan stēisan stēisan Dative stesmu stessei stesmu or stesmā stēimans stēimans stēimans Accusative stan stan stan or sta stans stans stans or stas
Prussian also possessed a vocative caseVocative caseThe vocative case is the case used for a noun identifying the person being addressed and/or occasionally the determiners of that noun. A vocative expression is an expression of direct address, wherein the identity of the party being spoken to is set forth expressly within a sentence...
.
Revived Old Prussian
A few experimental communities involved in revivingLanguage revivalLanguage revitalization, language revival or reversing language shift is the attempt by interested parties, including individuals, cultural or community groups, governments, or political authorities, to reverse the decline of a language. If the decline is severe, the language may be endangered,...
a reconstructed form of the language now exist in LithuaniaLithuaniaLithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
, RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, PolandPolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, and other countries. About 200 people have learned the language and are attempting to use it in as many everyday activities as possible.
Important in this revival was Vytautas MažiulisVytautas MažiulisVytautas Mažiulis was a highly distinguished Lithuanian Balticist, an expert on the Old Prussian language and Indo-European languages.-Biography:...
, who died on 11 April 2009.
The current versions being used in these revival attempts are:- A dialect based on the Samland dialect as recorded in the Catechisms. It is admitted that the language of the Catechisms may contain material from the language of some SudoviaSudovia-In geography:* Sudovia/Yotvingia, ancient Baltic land inhabited by Sudovians/Yotvingians* Suvalkija, one of the five cultural regions of Lithuania* Suwałki Region, region in Poland near the border with Lithuania-In sport:...
ns whom the Teutonic Order resettled in northwest Samland. This revival necessitated much reconstruction of lost or missing vocabulary. This dialect is used:- In Lithuania, by Prāncis Arellis and Vytautas Rinkevičius
- In the Kaliningrad oblastKaliningrad OblastKaliningrad Oblast is a federal subject of Russia situated on the Baltic coast. It has a population of The oblast forms the westernmost part of the Russian Federation, but it has no land connection to the rest of Russia. Since its creation it has been an exclave of the Russian SFSR and then the...
, by Glabbis Niktorius - In Polish Warmia-Mazuria, by Nērtiks
- In Latvia, by the late Dailūns Russinis
- In BelarusBelarusBelarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
, by Alis Mikus
- For more information see the Vytautas Magnus UniversityVytautas Magnus UniversityVytautas Magnus University ) is a public university in Kaunas, Lithuania. The university was founded in 1922 during the interwar period as an alternate national university...
VMU
- Other dialects:
- A version based on PomesaniaPomesaniaPomesanians were one of the Prussian clans. They lived in Pomesania , a historical region in modern northern Poland, located between the Nogat and Vistula Rivers to the west and the Elbląg River to the east. It is located around the modern towns of Elbląg and Malbork...
n of the Elbing Vocabulary, by Mikkels Klussis and Valdis Muktupāvels, but used for sacred and poetic texts only. - In Germany, by Günter Kraft-Skalwynas. G.Kraft, has written many New Prussian texts. This version is a mixture of Old Prussian dialects (Samlandian and PomesaniaPomesaniaPomesanians were one of the Prussian clans. They lived in Pomesania , a historical region in modern northern Poland, located between the Nogat and Vistula Rivers to the west and the Elbląg River to the east. It is located around the modern towns of Elbląg and Malbork...
n) and Lithuanian and Latvian words. - In Poland, by Maciej Piegat. This version is said to be a far from accurate reconstruction, e.g. ignoring vowel lengths.
- By Joseph Pashka in ArizonaArizonaArizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, U.S.A. He named his language Sudovian, but some say that it is not dialect-specific.
- A version based on Pomesania
Literature
- G. H. F. Nesselmann, Thesaurus linguae Prussicae, Berlin, 1873.
- E. Berneker, Die preussische Sprache, Strassburg, 1896.
- R. Trautmann, Die altpreussischen Sprachdenkmäler, Göttingen, 1910.
- G. Gerullis, Die altpreussischen Ortsnamen, Berlin-Leipzig, 1922.
- G. Gerullis, Georg: Zur Sprache der Sudauer-Jadwinger, in Festschrift A. Bezzenberger, Göttingen 1927
- R. Trautmann, Die altpreussischen Personnennamen, Göttingen, 1925.
- J. Endzelīns, Senprūšu valoda. – Gr. Darbu izlase, IV sēj., 2. daļa, Rīga, 1982. 9.-351. lpp.
- L. Kilian: Zu Herkunft und Sprache der Prußen Wörterbuch Deutsch–Prußisch, Bonn 1980
- J.S. Vater: Die Sprache der alten Preußen Wörterbuch Prußisch–Deutsch, Katechismus, Braunschweig 1821/Wiesbaden 1966
- J.S. Vater: Mithridates oder allgemeine Sprachenkunde mit dem Vater Unser als Sprachprobe, Berlin 1809
- V. Mažiulis, Prūsų kalbos paminklai, Vilnius, t. I 1966, t. II 1981.
- W. R. Schmalstieg, An Old Prussian Grammar, University Park and London, 1974.
- W. R. Schmalstieg, Studies in Old Prussian, University Park and London, 1976.
- V. Toporov, Prusskij jazyk: Slovar', A – L, Moskva, 1975–1990 (nebaigtas, not finished).
- V. MažiulisVytautas MažiulisVytautas Mažiulis was a highly distinguished Lithuanian Balticist, an expert on the Old Prussian language and Indo-European languages.-Biography:...
, Prūsų kalbos etimologijos žodynas, Vilnius, t. I-IV, 1988–1997. - M. Biolik, Zuflüsse zur Ostsee zwischen unterer Weichsel und Pregel, Stuttgart, 1989.
- R. Przybytek, Ortsnamen baltischer Herkunft im südlichen Teil Ostpreussens, Stuttgart, 1993.
- M. Biolik, Die Namen der stehenden Gewässer im Zuflussgebiet des Pregel, Stuttgart, 1993.
- M. Biolik, Die Namen der fließenden Gewässer im Flussgebiet des Pregel, Stuttgart, 1996.
- G. Blažienė, Die baltischen Ortsnamen in Samland, Stuttgart, 2000.
- R. Przybytek, Hydronymia Europaea, Ortsnamen baltischer Herkunft im südlichen Teil Ostpreußens, Stuttgart 1993
- A. Kaukienė, Prūsų kalba, Klaipėda, 2002.
- V. Mažiulis, Prūsų kalbos istorinė gramatika, Vilnius, 2004.
- LEXICON BORVSSICVM VETVS. Concordantia et lexicon inversum. / Bibliotheca Klossiana I, Universitas Vytauti Magni, Kaunas, 2007.
- OLD PRUSSIAN WRITTEN MONUMENTS. Facsimile, Transliteration, Reconstruction, Comments. / Bibliotheca Klossiana II, Universitas Vytauti Magni / Lithuanians' World Center, Kaunas, 2007.
External links
- Studies in Prussian language, history, archeology and culture, experimental revival of Prussian, the fate of Baltic Prussia and Baltic Prussians, bibliography and links
- Prussian–German–English dictionary
- Dictionary of recovered and reconstructed Prussian
- Frederik Kortlandt: Electronic text editions (contains transcriptions of Old Prussian manuscript texts)
- Discussion forum in Prussian
- Nērtiks website (in Prussian)
- Prussian language on Ethnologue
- Map of former Old Prussian language area, with placenames in Old Prussian
- Discussion on possibiity of having a Prussian Wikipedia
- Bilingual catechism (first page) of 1545
- M. Gimbutas Map Western Balts-Old Prussians
- Unofficial prussian Wikipedia