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99-579: Sankt Andreasberg was founded in the 1480s. It was first mentioned in a letter from the Count Heinrich zu Stolberg to Dietrich von Witzlebenon on 3 November 1487. The establishment of the village took place around the market. The first silver mines are assumed to be the St. Andrews Cross Mine ( German : Grube St. Andreaskreuz ) at the foot of the Beerberg and the St. Andrews Mine ( Grube St. Andreas ) by

198-465: A de facto official language of Namibia after the end of German colonial rule alongside English and Afrikaans , and had de jure co-official status from 1984 until its independence from South Africa in 1990. However, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols of apartheid and colonialism, and decided English would be the sole official language upon independence, stating that it

297-402: A second language , and 75–100   million as a foreign language . This would imply the existence of approximately 175–220   million German speakers worldwide. German sociolinguist Ulrich Ammon estimated a number of 289 million German foreign language speakers without clarifying the criteria by which he classified a speaker. As of 2012 , about 90   million people, or 16% of

396-612: A "commonly used" language and the Pan South African Language Board is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it. Cameroon was also a colony of the German Empire from the same period (1884 to 1916). However, German was replaced by French and English, the languages of the two successor colonial powers, after its loss in World War I . Nevertheless, since the 21st century, German has become

495-476: A core trench was excavated into which the dam was embedded. The building material for this was excavated from the land earmarked for the future reservoir. Granite blocks needed for the up- and downstream sides of the dam were cut from small quarries; this also provided a supply of granitic sand. The mining of material for the dam enabled the future reservoir capacity to be further enlarged. The work took until 1722. Because excess water could neither be drained through

594-494: A few hours. This explains why the Oderteich overflows several times a year. There is no fishway at the Oderteich. The relatively acidic condition of the water is probably not a good habitat for fish. Most of the water comes from areas of raised bog and is rich in humic acid . Humic acid also causes its brown coloration. In addition, it reduces surface tension , something which causes conspicuous white horses such as occur in

693-574: A great improvement in the supply of water power for the mines there, but the Oder could still not deliver enough water during a period of extended drought. So the call for a water reservoir quickly became shrill. A glance at the Upper Harz 'ponds' ( Teiche ) near Clausthal-Zellerfeld and Hahnenklee suggested a solution. At that time there must have been 50 to 60 small reservoirs in operation. Their design, however, could not simply be copied, because there

792-559: A greater need for regularity in written conventions. While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, High German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG & MHG "house") → haus (regionally in later MHG)→ Haus (NHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa [ə]: taga (OHG "days")→ tage (MHG)). A great wealth of texts survives from

891-481: A heartless woman who would not help a starving miner. With the words Meine drei Brote sollen lieber zu Steinen werden ("I'd rather my three loaves became stones") she spurned the miner, whereupon the loaves grew into giant stones and squashed the woman into the mossy earth. The granite blocks were considered a warning against heartlessness. At the Dreibrodesteine is checkpoint no. 154 ( Dreibrodestein ) in

990-458: A native tongue today, mostly descendants of German colonial settlers . The period of German colonialism in Namibia also led to the evolution of a Standard German-based pidgin language called " Namibian Black German ", which became a second language for parts of the indigenous population. Although it is nearly extinct today, some older Namibians still have some knowledge of it. German remained

1089-696: A popular foreign language among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010 and over 230,000 in 2020. Today Cameroon is one of the African countries outside Namibia with the highest number of people learning German. In the United States, German is the fifth most spoken language in terms of native and second language speakers after English, Spanish , French , and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined), with over 1 million total speakers. In

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1188-483: A result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary. At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing. While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it

1287-475: A valve on the bottom of the shaft that operates in a similar way to the type of bathplug that is closed from below. This valve can be pushed up or pulled shut using a rod operated from the control hut or Striegelhaus positioned above the shaft. The oak chute is designed in such a way that, even when the valve is shut, it remains submerged in water and so does not rot. This explains why the oak chutes fitted in 1715 are still being used. The entire bottom outlet design

1386-717: Is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe . It is the most spoken native language within the European Union . It is the most widely spoken and official (or co-official) language in Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , and the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and

1485-601: Is a recognized minority language in the following countries: In France, the High German varieties of Alsatian and Moselle Franconian are identified as " regional languages ", but the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1998 has not yet been ratified by the government. Namibia also was a colony of the German Empire, from 1884 to 1915. About 30,000 people still speak German as

1584-612: Is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects , with many varieties existing in Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments. Since 2004, heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met every year, and the Council for German Orthography has been the main international body regulating German orthography . German

1683-667: Is an Alpine Ski Centre of the Harz , with three T-bar lifts on the Sonnenberg as well as two double chairlifts and three T-bars at the Matthias Schmidt Mountain Centre. In the Teichtal there is the first snow tubing track in the Harz. The cross-country skiing trail network around Sankt Andreasberg has 40 km (25 mi) of tracks and is linked from the Sonnenberg to Oderbrück / Torfhaus and to

1782-558: Is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic , East Germanic , and West Germanic . The first of these branches survives in modern Danish , Swedish , Norwegian , Faroese , and Icelandic , all of which are descended from Old Norse . The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and Gothic

1881-419: Is an earth-fill dam or a masonry dam . It is probably a combination of the two. The tendency for the Oderteich to use particularly long-lasting materials is best demonstrated in the design of the bottom outlet. At the lowest point in the valley, a shaft was let into the dam, that had a cross-section of about 1.10 × 1.20 m. This shaft is edged with large, hewn granite blocks and descends to the natural floor of

1980-532: Is an important component of the water supply network known as the Upper Harz Water Regale ( Oberharzer Wasserregal ). Moreover, for 170 years, from the time it was completed to the end of the 19th century, the Oderteich had the largest dam in Germany . The dam lies at a height of 725 m above NN by the B ;242 federal highway, about a kilometre west of its intersection with

2079-478: Is called the "German Sprachraum ". German is the official language of the following countries: German is a co-official language of the following countries: Although expulsions and (forced) assimilation after the two World wars greatly diminished them, minority communities of mostly bilingual German native speakers exist in areas both adjacent to and detached from the Sprachraum. Within Europe, German

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2178-430: Is complicated by the existence of several varieties whose status as separate "languages" or "dialects" is disputed for political and linguistic reasons, including quantitatively strong varieties like certain forms of Alemannic and Low German . With the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties, it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a first language , 10–25   million speak it as

2277-535: Is generally seen as ending when the 1346–53 Black Death decimated Europe's population. Modern High German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which Wilhelm Scherer dates 1350–1650, terminating with the end of the Thirty Years' War . This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in

2376-611: Is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (known as

2475-524: Is known in the Upper Harz as a Striegel . Every reservoir needs a spillway which ensures that even under conditions of exceptionally high water, the water does not rise to an uncontrollably high level, possibly even pouring over the dam crest. On the Oderteich the spillway is located at the left hand (eastern) end of the dam. In the reservoir in front of the outlet are several stone columns, like standing stones in appearance, about 2.50 metres high and made of granite. They serve to keep ice floes away from

2574-565: Is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark ), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are

2673-435: Is one of the major languages of the world . German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language , after English, both as a first and as a second language . German is also widely taught as a foreign language , especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French), and in the United States. Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language, and

2772-597: Is one of the three biggest newspapers in Namibia and the only German-language daily in Africa. An estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in South Africa, mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the largest communities consists of the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of Low German concentrated in and around Wartburg . The South African constitution identifies German as

2871-517: Is open to swimmers in the summer. Coming from Torfhaus and Oderteich , the Brocken bypass section of the nearly 100 km (62 mi) long Harzer Hexenstieg hiking trail passes through the town and heads for Braunlage and Thale . Mountain rescue services are provided by the local Harz Mountain Rescue Club. Several Sankt Andreasberg sports clubs enjoy a long tradition. These include

2970-401: Is partly derived from Latin and Greek , along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English . English, however, is the main source of more recent loanwords . German is a pluricentric language ; the three standardized variants are German , Austrian , and Swiss Standard German . Standard German is sometimes called High German , which refers to its regional origin. German

3069-405: Is still visible in the terrain to the experienced eye. But when towards the end of the construction phase in there were still not enough stones to complete the dam wall, a steep, 80-metre-long Große Ausflut ("large spillway") was blasted out of the rock roughly 60 metres below the weir at right angles to the original spillway. Perhaps it was hoped that this would increase the hydraulic capacity of

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3168-525: Is the Sachsenspiegel , the first book of laws written in Middle Low German ( c.  1220 ). The abundance and especially the secular character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms. The Middle High German period

3267-578: Is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch , Yiddish , Afrikaans , and others. Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf - Benrath and Krefeld - Uerdingen , respectively) serve to distinguish

3366-769: Is true is that from its completion in 1722 to the end of the 19th century, a period of 170 years, it had the largest dam in Germany. Not until the Eschbach Dam in the Bergisches Land was finished in 1891 with a height of 23 m was there a higher dam than the Oderteich. In the middle of the 1990s, the operators of the Oderteich, the Harzwasserwerke , laid out a waterside footpath (the WasserWanderWeg ) as an educational trail . This runs along

3465-485: Is understood in all areas where German is spoken. Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide: As a result of the German diaspora , as well as the popularity of German taught as a foreign language , the geographical distribution of German speakers (or "Germanophones") spans all inhabited continents. However, an exact, global number of native German speakers

3564-689: The Ostsiedlung ). With the increasing wealth and geographic spread of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes, leading to

3663-639: The Alamanni , Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group ( Irminones ), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration. In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through monasteries and scriptoria as local translations of Latin originals; as

3762-483: The B 4 . The Oderteich was built in order to be able to deliver a reliable supply of water to the water wheels of the St. Andreasberg mine via the Rehberg Ditch, even during times of drought. Its capacity of 1.7 million cubic metres was, far and away, the largest of all the Upper Harz reservoirs at that time and was enough to cope with periods of low precipitation of up to three months. Today

3861-537: The Early Middle Ages . German is an inflected language , with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs . The majority of its vocabulary derives from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share

3960-417: The European Union 's population, spoke German as their mother tongue, making it the second most widely spoken language on the continent after Russian and the second biggest language in terms of overall speakers (after English), as well as the most spoken native language. The area in central Europe where the majority of the population speaks German as a first language and has German as a (co-)official language

4059-522: The German states . While these states were still part of the Holy Roman Empire , and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking principalities and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible regional dialects being spoken throughout

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4158-688: The Harzer Wandernadel hiking system and a memorial to the foresters and officials of the Andreasberg Forestry Office who fell in the two world wars . Other natural monuments are a group of chestnuts on the market square (ND GS 42) and the diabase deposit in the village of Silberhütte (ND GS 45). Johann Wolfgang von Goethe researched in 1783 the Hohe Klippen rocks (ND GS 146) on the Rehberg mountain above

4257-746: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I , and the other being Meißner Deutsch , used in the Electorate of Saxony in the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg . Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages ( Druckersprachen ) aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardisation in

4356-666: The Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle ), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c.  765–775 ), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their Latin equivalents. After the Abrogans , the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in

4455-676: The Sprachraum in Europe. German is used in a wide variety of spheres throughout the country, especially in business, tourism, and public signage, as well as in education, churches (most notably the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK) ), other cultural spheres such as music, and media (such as German language radio programs by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation ). The Allgemeine Zeitung

4554-550: The Standard German language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition. Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardized in the process. The Deutsche Bühnensprache ( lit.   ' German stage language ' ) by Theodor Siebs had established conventions for German pronunciation in theatres , three years earlier; however, this

4653-513: The Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries , such as Swiss German ( Alemannic dialects ) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est , such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and   Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian). After these High German dialects, standard German

4752-469: The pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied , a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from

4851-654: The Ackerloipe / Altenau networks. On Matthias Schmidt Mountain a summer toboggan is open during the summer. Nordic walking , hiking, mountain biking and trekking are popular summer activities in the peaceful surroundings of the Sankt Andreasberg mountain town. In the spa park there is a ropes course and climbing park. The southern part of the Oderteich reservoir in the Harz National Park

4950-723: The Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Prague (German: Prag ) and Budapest ( Buda , German: Ofen ), to name two examples, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain; others, like Pressburg ( Pozsony , now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and cities like Zagreb (German: Agram ) or Ljubljana (German: Laibach ), contained significant German minorities. In

5049-748: The Frisian languages— North Frisian (spoken in Nordfriesland ), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Saterland ), and West Frisian (spoken in Friesland )—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both Old Norse and the Norman language . The history of

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5148-536: The German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period , which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon . This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants ( b , d , g , and p , t , k , respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below. While there is written evidence of

5247-451: The German states; the invention of the printing press c.  1440 and the publication of Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language. The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of chancery German, one being gemeine tiutsch , used in the court of

5346-623: The Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German and Low Franconian dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as Irminonic , Ingvaeonic , and Istvaeonic , respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by

5445-547: The Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser–Rhine group). Standard German is based on a combination of Thuringian - Upper Saxon and Upper Franconian dialects, which are Central German and Upper German dialects belonging to the High German dialect group. German is therefore closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects ) and Yiddish . Also closely related to Standard German are

5544-644: The Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia , as well as a recognized national language in Namibia . There are also notable German-speaking communities in France ( Alsace ), the Czech Republic ( North Bohemia ), Poland ( Upper Silesia ), Slovakia ( Košice Region , Spiš , and Hauerland ), Denmark ( North Schleswig ), Romania and Hungary ( Sopron ). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in Brazil ( Blumenau and Pomerode ), South Africa ( Kroondal ), Namibia , among others, some communities have decidedly Austrian German or Swiss German characters (e.g. Pozuzo , Peru). German

5643-408: The MHG period. Significantly, these texts include a number of impressive secular works, such as the Nibelungenlied , an epic poem telling the story of the dragon -slayer Siegfried ( c.  thirteenth century ), and the Iwein , an Arthurian verse poem by Hartmann von Aue ( c.  1203 ), lyric poems , and courtly romances such as Parzival and Tristan . Also noteworthy

5742-449: The Sankt Andreasberg Shooting Club (1522) and the Sankt Andreasberg Gymnastics and Sports Club (1861). Following the success of the 1st Winterfest in 1896 the Upper Harz Ski Club was founded on the Brocken; it is now called the St. Andreasberg Ski Club 1896. [REDACTED] Media related to Sankt Andreasberg at Wikimedia Commons German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] )

5841-430: The centre of the Harz National Park . Swimming is allowed in the southern third of the reservoir and in the vicinity of the dam. The northern area is barred to swimmers in the summer by a chain and is meant to be exclusively reserved as a biotope . There is a roughly 4.5 km long circular walk around the reservoir, for which good walking boots are recommended. This path is routed along board walks in places because of

5940-431: The dam crest to the two spillways, past the two additional basins and via the overspill marker then downhill alongside the Großer Ausflut and its chute to the downstream foot of the dam, from where there is an impressive view of the stonework on this side of the dam and where the bottom outlet and start of the Rehberg Ditch can be seen. Information boards along the path explain the various structures. The Oderteich lies in

6039-430: The development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area. With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy. Nevertheless, even with

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6138-404: The dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Luther said the following concerning his translation method: One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in

6237-435: The eastern provinces of Banat , Bukovina , and Transylvania (German: Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen ), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like Temeschburg ( Timișoara ), Hermannstadt ( Sibiu ), and Kronstadt ( Brașov )—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas. In 1901, the Second Orthographic Conference ended with a (nearly) complete standardization of

6336-406: The height of the Oderteich Dam. The dam and the geology of the surrounding area were thoroughly examined. Digging exposed the seal of granitgrus and it was confirmed that this could not easily be worked with clay picks. These plans were later shelved for reasons that are not clear, although it is likely that the project was not seen as economical. The dam on the Oderteich differs considerably from

6435-435: The home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says ' ex abundantia cordis os loquitur ,' I would translate, if I followed the papists, aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund . But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No,

6534-417: The influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century. German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire , which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe . Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of

6633-457: The initial seven Lachter to nine Lachter (roughly equating to just under 18 metres). This resulted in an increase in the dam volume of around 55 percent and a doubling of the reservoir capacity to 1.67 million cubic metres. The cost of construction rose considerably during the build phase, not just as a result of the increase in dam height, but also other factors: in the end the Oderteich dam cost around 11,700 Reichstalers, almost four times

6732-422: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . Oderteich The Oderteich is an historic reservoir about seven kilometres northeast of Sankt Andreasberg in the Upper Harz in central Germany . It was built by miners from St. Andreasberg in the years 1715 to 1722 and, today,

6831-399: The main one and merges with the main spillway shortly before the high-water marker and its adjoining chute ( Schussrinne ). This additional spillway enables the discharge capacity during times of flood to be increased by about 50%. When the Oderteich is fully emptied the remains of coffer dam can be seen about 200 metres above the main dam. This was built in 1898 when the Oderteich Reservoir

6930-444: The market. In 1521, St. Andreasberg received the right to mine from Counts Heinrich and Ernst von Hohenstein. It was proclaimed in Mansfelder Land and in the mining areas of Saxony and miners were invited to dig for silver and other metals. The area around Sankt Andreasberg is especially rich in habitats worthy of protection in within the Harz National Park , but also around the town in the form of Upper Harz mountain meadows. In

7029-402: The mother in the home and the plain man would say, Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über . Luther's translation of the Bible into High German was also decisive for the German language and its evolution from Early New High German to modern Standard German. The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in early modern Germany , and promoted

7128-417: The national park north-northwest of Sankt Andreasberg are the Dreibrodesteine (at ca.  641 m above NN ;  51°43′57″N 10°30′40″E  /  51.73250°N 10.51111°E  / 51.73250; 10.51111 ; ND GS  43), three outsize blocks of granite that have been formed by spheroidal weathering . According to legend they originated as the three loaves of bread of

7227-653: The ninth century, chief among them being the Muspilli , Merseburg charms , and Hildebrandslied , and other religious texts (the Georgslied , Ludwigslied , Evangelienbuch , and translated hymns and prayers). The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment , and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from

7326-407: The originally estimated and approved cost. Because the structure was so convincing, however, subsequent requests and approvals for the additional extra funding were not a problem. The three chief miners ( Bergmeister ) and excavation engineers ( Grabensteiger ) were rewarded in 1724 with bonuses ranging from 12 to 100 Talers . The Sankt Andreasberg mine ground to a standstill in 1913. From then on

7425-518: The other dams in the Upper Harz Water Regale. The structure is clearly higher and the reservoir capacity just under three times the volume of the largest ponds around Clausthal-Zellerfeld and Hahnenklee. In addition completely different construction materials were employed. In the middle of the dam is a core, up to 11.5 metres thick, made of firmly tamped down, granitic sand. Left and right of that apparently 'normal' dam fill material

7524-483: The outlet. The channel carved out of the rock is very impressive especially on the spillway. To begin with the spillway was not large enough: in December 1760 water overspilled the dam during a period of exceptional high water. Damage was limited, which said something, especially about the stable design of the dam. In response to this incident the dam was raised by about a metre, which has probably merely compensated for

7623-708: The present-day Goethe Place on the Rehberger Graben (ditch), because he believed he would find evidence there for his assumptions about the earth's history. The boundary between the geological platform made of greywacke hornfels and the underlying fine-grained granite from Brocken runs by the Hohe Klippen. The population of Sankt Andreasberg is mostly Protestant. As a result of their elevation, Sankt Andreasberg (520–720 m [1,710–2,360 ft]) and Sonnenberg (800–850 m [2,620–2,790 ft]) still have fairly guaranteed snow. Sankt Andreasberg

7722-462: The pronunciation of the ending -ig as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]. In Northern Germany, High German was a foreign language to most inhabitants, whose native dialects were subsets of Low German. It was usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in fact, most of High German was a written language, not identical to any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until well into the 19th century. However, wider standardization of pronunciation

7821-405: The relatively small bottom outlet during the construction period nor be impounded, a spillway had to be continuously available whilst the dam was being built. This spillway had to be laid higher and higher as the dam grew in size. Shortly after work on the dam had started there were discussions about raising it even higher than originally planned. In 1717 it was agreed to increase its height from

7920-464: The reservoir drops. If there are several months of drought in succession, the reservoir can become empty. This happens about every five to ten years, the last occasions being in 1991, 1999 and 2003. The surcharge capacity of the Oderteich is very small. Its reservoir can only store 14% of its annual discharge. This results in unusually high fluctuations in the water level of the reservoir, which can even change from being largely empty to overflowing within

8019-602: The spillway, because these could jam the channel. The old outlet is clearly identifiable by a weir, which was built in 1895 by the Royal Central Smithy in Clausthal Königlichen Centralschmiede Clausthal . This weir enables the maximum storage level to be raised by a metre or so. Originally the spillway ran for almost a 100 metres in a straight line southwards before the water dropped into the valley. This course

8118-546: The states of North Dakota and South Dakota , German is the most common language spoken at home after English. As a legacy of significant German immigration to the country , German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region , such as New Ulm and Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), plus many other regions. A number of German varieties have developed in the country and are still spoken today, such as Pennsylvania Dutch and Texas German . In Brazil,

8217-409: The subsidence of the dam since that time. In 1886/87, however it appears that the conclusion was reached that the capacity of the spillway needed to be increased. To achieve this another spillway was built a few metres east of the existing one. It had an inlet breadth of 12 metres and its crest was about a metre higher than that of the old, main spillway. This outlet crosses under the B 242 parallel to

8316-410: The terrain which resembles that of a raised bog . Winter sports, such as skating, on the reservoir in winter are not recommended, because the large variations in the water level make the formation of a stable ice surface difficult, especially near the shores. Until the 1960s there was a dam keeper's house at the western end of the dam, which was used latterly as a restaurant. It was demolished when it

8415-500: The third most commonly learned second language in the United States in K-12 education. The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used language in science and the third most widely used language on websites . The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in

8514-406: The turbulence at the intakes and outlets of the reservoir. The Oderteich is frequently reported as the "oldest dam and reservoir in Germany". This accolade is disputed, however, because in the early 18th century in the area of Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Buntenbock and Hahnenklee there was already a large number of 'reservoirs' ( Talsperren ) as defined by the German industrial norm , DIN 19700-11. What

8613-414: The valley. From the bottom of the shaft runs a tunnel, 0.75 metres wide and 0.90 metres high into the reservoir. This tunnel enables the water in the reservoir to equalise with the water level in the shaft. From the bottom of the shaft, two wooden chutes ( Holzgerenne ) lead to the downstream side of the dam base. These chutes, made of oak, have a right-angled cross-section of about 25 × 25 cm and feature

8712-517: The water of the Oderteich still drives several hydropower stations within its own valley, at the Samson Pit and in the Sperrlutter valley. The dam also serves to prevent the regular flooding that happened each year in spring before the dam was built. In 1703 the new Rehberg Ditch was completed, diverting water from the river Oder and bringing it to St. Andreasberg. This was initially

8811-470: The water of the Oderteich was used to generate electricity instead. It was now routed to Sankt Andreasberg itself, where it was used in several power stations and especially the Samson Pit. The water is still used for this purpose today and guarantees the economic operation and maintenance of the Oderteich and Rehberg Ditch. In the late 1920s the Harzwasserwerke planned a further significant increase in

8910-555: The world being published in German. German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely Afrikaans , Dutch , English , the Frisian languages , and Scots . It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group , such as Danish , Norwegian , and Swedish . Modern German gradually developed from Old High German , which in turn developed from Proto-Germanic during

9009-600: The written form of German. One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of Luther's translation of the Bible into High German (the New Testament was published in 1522; the Old Testament was published in parts and completed in 1534). Luther based his translation primarily on the Meißner Deutsch of Saxony , spending much time among the population of Saxony researching

9108-429: Was a "neutral" language as there were virtually no English native speakers in Namibia at that time. German, Afrikaans, and several indigenous languages thus became "national languages" by law, identifying them as elements of the cultural heritage of the nation and ensuring that the state acknowledged and supported their presence in the country. Today, Namibia is considered to be the only German-speaking country outside of

9207-547: Was an artificial standard that did not correspond to any traditional spoken dialect. Rather, it was based on the pronunciation of German in Northern Germany, although it was subsequently regarded often as a general prescriptive norm, despite differing pronunciation traditions especially in the Upper-German-speaking regions that still characterise the dialect of the area today – especially

9306-466: Was duly taken up, but Caspar Dannenberger, the father of the Oderteich dams, did not survive to see it completed. He died on 23 April 1713. Planning was carried out in 1714 and, on 14 September, King George Louis authorised the construction of the Oderteich dam in a most gracious special decree and made the available the sum estimated for the project: a total of 3048 thalers and 27 gl. The construction phase actually started in early 1715. Initially

9405-414: Was empty in order to reduce the water flow whilst repairs were carried out to the bottom outlet. The coffer dam must have been demolished immediately after this repair had been completed. As a result of the use of water for electricity generation the Rehberg Ditch drew 200 to 300 litres of water per second continuously from the Oderteich. When the inflow of water is less than its outflow, the water level in

9504-492: Was established on the basis of public speaking in theatres and the media during the 20th century and documented in pronouncing dictionaries. Official revisions of some of the rules from 1901 were not issued until the controversial German orthography reform of 1996 was made the official standard by governments of all German-speaking countries. Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German which

9603-421: Was nowhere in the vicinity of the Oderteich to cut grass sods like those used to seal the dams of the Upper Harz reservoirs. In the meantime, the Rehberg Ditch, which had initially only been made of wooden channels ( Holzgefludern ), was being 'walled'; in other words the wooden conduits were being replaced by a considerably more durable artificial ditch made of earth embankments and dry stone walls. In doing so it

9702-509: Was realised that the sand resulting from the weathering of granite, so-called granitgrus , if it was thoroughly tramped down, produced a very good seal. In 1712, the deputy chief miner ( Vizebergmeister ), Caspar Dannenberger, wrote two letters to the Clausthal Mining Office, in which he proposed the construction of the Oderteich dam, sealed with granitic sand, as well as two embankments made of granite blocks. This proposal

9801-410: Was used. The up- and downstream sides were given cyclopean stonework walls made of large blocks of granite with a slope of 1:0.5. On the downstream side the dam measures about 19 m from its base. The dam wall has proved to be a very durable structure and, like the entire reservoir, is still virtually in its original condition. Fundamentally it is not quite clear whether the Oderteich dam structure

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