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148-480: Elbląg ( Polish: [ˈɛlblɔŋk] ; German : Elbing ; Prussian : Elbings ) is a city in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship , in northern Poland , located in the eastern edge of the Żuławy region with 127,390 inhabitants, as of December 2021. It is the capital of Elbląg County . Elbląg is one of the oldest cities in the province. Its history dates back to 1237, when

296-465: 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

444-402: 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

592-612: 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

740-751: A Polish victory in 1466, with the Second Peace of Thorn , in which the Teutonic Order renounced any claims to the city and recognised it as part of Poland. Within the Kingdom of Poland, the city was administratively part of the Malbork Voivodeship in the newly established autonomous province of Royal Prussia , later also within the larger Greater Poland Province . The city was known to the Polish crown by its Polish name Elbląg . With

888-492: A dredged channel in the lake and becomes an overland canal to the south; that is, the canal is composed of sections connected by tracks for lifting and lowering vessels. It joins a number of lakes to the south, but they are not drained by the canal. During its life the canal was used mainly to haul timber to the coast. After destruction in World War II the canal was restored in 1948 but finds little commercial use now. Instead

1036-400: A few reasons, such as wind. When there is a strong wind blowing to the south the bay can be a meter or so higher than the lake, which causes back currents in the river. The Prussians called Vistula Lagoon by the name "fresh-water bay", which it was in those days. Since then the greatly diminished egress of Vistula water, due to human uses, has brought Baltic water into the bay, now brackish. As

1184-532: A governable territory appeared in the 10th century; by the 11th the initial state of Poland had formed and was contending with the Dukes of Pomerania for control. It was probably at this time that Lekhitic developed and moved rapidly to Polish , Pomeranian , Kashubian and Slovincian . Eastern Pomerania was the Duchy of Pomerelia , which spit into others including Kashubian-speaking areas west of Gdańsk. Kashubian

1332-559: 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

1480-550: A missionary ( Adalbert of Prague ) to the pagan Prussians, a non-Slavic people, on a crusade of conquest and conversion. The crusade encompassed much of the Baltic Sea coast east of the Polish city of Gdańsk , up to Sambia . Starting in 1209 additional crusades were called for by Konrad of Masovia , who mainly sought to conquer Prussian territory, rather than actually convert the indigenous Prussians. Despite heroic efforts, Old Prussian sovereignty would eventually collapse after

1628-458: 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

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1776-679: A particularly sound defeat by Prussian forces in 1223, Polish forces in Chełmno , the seat of Christian of Oliva and the Duchy of Masovia , were forced onto the defensive. In 1226 Duke Konrad I of Masovia summoned the Teutonic Knights for assistance; by 1230 they had secured Chełmno (Culm) and begun claiming conquered territories for themselves under the authority of the Holy Roman Empire , although these claims were rejected by

1924-696: 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

2072-399: A result, back currents in the river bring intrusions of brackish water into the lake. Generally the southern end remains fresh. There probably always were reversals of river current, which must have speeded traffic between Frisches Haff and the lake. The lake is surrounded by and includes marsh, swamp and alder thickets. On its surface are floating Nymphaea , submerged are Potamogeton and

2220-483: 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

2368-469: A stone keep nearby, around which a new town of Germanic or mixed ethnicity would grow. There is no evidence yet that they practiced that method on Truso, although the question is still open. According to the Museum at Elbląg, Truso was burned down by pirates or robbers two centuries before. Its relationship to the order at Elbing remains unknown. Ptolemy , writing in the period of the initial lake, refers to

2516-577: A subsidiary port of Gdańsk . Traffic of smaller vessels at Elbląg is within the river and very marginal, while larger vessels were unable to reach the open Baltic Sea after 1945 without crossing into Russian territory. Construction of the Vistula Spit canal was completed in September 2022, allowing vessels access to the Baltic Sea while remaining within Polish territory. The city features three quay complexes, movable cranes, and railways. Elbląg

2664-471: A succession of wars instigated by Pope Honorius III and his frequent calls for crusade. Before the Prussians were finally brought to heel, Polish rulers and the Duchy of Masovia , both by then Christianised peoples, would be continually frustrated in their attempts at northern expansion. Aside from minor border raids, major campaigns against the Prussians would be launched in 1219, 1220, and 1222. After

2812-454: Is a 13 to 29 square kilometres (5.0 to 11.2 sq mi). body of water with a mean depth of about 1.2 metres (3.9 ft) and a maximum depth of 3 metres (9.8 ft). The lake is drained by the Elbląg River. There is only a 0.1 metres (3.9 in) difference in altitude between the lake and Elbląska Bay, which projects from Vistula Lagoon. The surface altitude of these bodies varies for

2960-601: 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

3108-409: Is about 181 square kilometres (70 sq mi) in area and sometimes up to 1.8 metres (5.9 ft) below sea level. The delta ends at Elbląg upland (Wysoczyzna Elbląska), much of which is wooded. The delta itself is sparsely populated, despite the presence of large cities nearby ( Gdańsk , Elblag and others). Most of it is rich agricultural land and the rest is a wildlife habitat. The lake today

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3256-612: 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

3404-558: 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

3552-478: 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

3700-455: Is common. The Elbląg Canal ( Kanał Elbląski ) connecting Lake Drużno with Drwęca River and Lake Jeziorak is a tourist site. Elbląg is not a deep-water port. The draft of vessels using its waterways must be no greater than 1.5 m (4 ft 11.06 in) by law. The turning area at Elbląg is 120 m (393.70 ft) diameter and a pilot is required for large vessels. Deep water vessels cannot manoeuvre; in that sense, Elbląg has become

3848-430: 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

3996-677: Is cool throughout the year and there is a somewhat uniform precipitation throughout the year. Typical of Northern Europe, there is little sunshine during the year. [REDACTED]   Teutonic Order 1246–1454 [REDACTED] Kingdom of Poland 1454–1569 [REDACTED]   Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth 1569–1772 [REDACTED]   Kingdom of Prussia 1772–1871 [REDACTED]   German Empire 1871–1918 [REDACTED]   Weimar Germany 1918–1933 [REDACTED]   Nazi Germany 1933–1945 [REDACTED]   People's Republic of Poland 1945–1989 [REDACTED]   Republic of Poland 1989–present The settlement

4144-747: Is distinguished by a large number of Low German loans. On the right bank of the Vistula the Proto-Baltic speakers had been gradually giving ground to the Proto-Slavs in the east and lost Pomerania to Germanic expansion. They divided into West and East Baltic in the middle of the 1st millennium. The Goths achieved domination over the West Balts for a time and then were gone. After 1000 Old Prussian Galindian and Sudovian existed. In East Baltic Lithuanian and Latvian were distinct. Between east and west

4292-535: 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

4440-611: 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

4588-565: 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

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4736-609: Is located about 55 kilometres (34 miles) south-east of Gdańsk and 90 km (56 mi) south-west of Kaliningrad , Russia . The city is a port on the river Elbląg , which flows into the Vistula Lagoon about 10 km (6 mi) to the north, thus giving the city access to the Baltic Sea via the Russian-controlled Strait of Baltiysk . The Old Town ( Polish : Stare Miasto ) is located on

4884-591: Is no sign of any Venedi, Pomeranians or Kashubians . The Ruticli live in Pomerania with the Lugii to the south of them. Some Gotini (Goths) and Aelvaeones (Elbingers?, local name is to this day Albinger) dwell on the lower Vistula. On the right bank are the Gythones. It would not be surprising to find Goths there too, but if the Gythones are Danzigers, they must have extended to Vistula Spit . East of them were

5032-725: Is not named, but it is considered a lake drained by the Ilfing River. Being east of the Weissel, Truso, the lake and the river must be in Witland, but Wulfstan does not say that. He describes the Estonians (Balts) as being a rich and populous nation divided into towns, each of which was ruled by a king. The passage does not pinpoint Truso as being in Weonodland or Eastland and does not say if they are Estonians. By Ptolemy 's time

5180-435: 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

5328-597: 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

5476-401: 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

5624-462: Is seen as a transitory phenomenon created by accidents of topography and the growth of the Vistula Delta. The combined lake and bay might have served as a natural border in antiquity but whether it was one remains to be demonstrated. Truso must have been settled between the 2000 BP and 1000 BP lake maxima. Truso might well have been at Janów Pomorski , but the artifacts give no indication that

5772-525: 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

5920-776: 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 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 ),

6068-578: 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

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6216-485: 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

6364-689: 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

6512-533: The Preussische Fest-Lieder , a number of evangelical Prussian songs. In 1646 the city recorder Daniel Barholz noted that the city council employed Bernsteindreher , or Paternostermacher , licensed and guilded amber craftsmen who worked on prayer beads , rosaries , and many other items made of amber. Members of the Barholz family became mayors and councillors. During the Thirty Years' War ,

6660-639: 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

6808-566: The Amber Road to Carnuntium and further. In Old Prussian history it is known, that Northmen, Danes came to Prussia and intermarried. A number of swords along the Nemunas river, attest to their presence. Wulfstan of Hedeby left an account of a voyage dated to about 880 AD as told to Alfred the Great and inserted into his translation of Orosius ' Histories . It is the first mention of

6956-568: 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

7104-596: The Dominican Order was invited to build a monastery on a grant of land. Pomesania was not secured, however, and from 1240 to 1242 the order began building a brick castle on the south side of the settlement. It may be significant that Elbing's first industry was the same as Truso's had been: manufacture of amber and bone artifacts for export. In 1243 William of Modena created the Diocese of Pomesania and three others. They were at first only ideological constructs, but

7252-537: 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

7400-417: 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

7548-455: 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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7696-576: The Gulf of Danzig . It rose to prominence as that. The remains of Truso may be one of the archaeological sites in the area, or it may be under Elblag, or may have been obliterated by construction. In an attempt to make the inland region more accessible, the Prussian government opened the Elbląg Canal through the lake in 1860. The northern terminus of the canal route to the south is Elbląg . It runs through

7844-695: 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

7992-666: 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

8140-639: The Proto-Balto-Slavic language had divided into Proto-Baltic and Proto-Slavic , perhaps even into dialects. As the greater Venedi and the Weonods cannot have spoken the same language the name must once have applied to both Balts and Slavs (unless Ptolemy was wrong). Each were on a different bank of the Vistula , Ptolemy's border between Greater Germany and European Sarmatia. On the left bank Ptolemy lists only peoples he considers Germans. There

8288-427: 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

8436-422: 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

8584-418: The Teutonic Order constructed their fortified stronghold on the banks of a nearby river. The castle subsequently served as the official seat of the Teutonic Order Masters. Elbląg became part of the Hanseatic League , which contributed much to the city's wealth. Through the Hanseatic League, the city was linked to other major ports like Gdańsk , Lübeck and Amsterdam . Elbląg joined Poland in 1454 and after

8732-400: 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

8880-421: The War of the Polish Succession in 1734, Elbląg was placed under military occupation by Russia and Saxony . The town came again under occupation by Russia from 1758 to 1762 during the Seven Years' War . During the First Partition of Poland in 1772 Elbląg was annexed by King Frederick the Great of the Kingdom of Prussia . Elbing became part of the newly established province of West Prussia in 1773. In

9028-408: 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

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9176-445: The trade association that in 1358 would become the Hanseatic League . The Order seized on this association early and used it to establish bases throughout the Baltic. The Order's involvement in the League was somewhat contradictory. In whatever cities they founded the ultimate authority was the commander of the town, who kept office in the citadel, typically used as a prison. Lübeck law, on the other hand, provided for self-government of

9324-460: The 13th century the Teutonic Knights conquered the region, built a castle, and founded Elbing on the lake, with a population mostly from Lübeck (today the lake, now much smaller, no longer reaches the city). After the uprising against the Teutonic Knights and the destruction of the castle by the inhabitants, the city successively came under the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Poland (1454), the Kingdom of Prussia (1772), and Germany (1871). Elbing

9472-568: The 1815 provincial reorganization following the Napoleonic Wars , Elbing and its hinterland were included within Regierungsbezirk Danzig in West Prussia. In October and November 1831, various Polish infantry, cavalry and artillery units, engineer corps and sappers of the November Uprising stopped in the city and its environs on the way to their internment locations, whereas the general staff with Commander-in-Chief General Maciej Rybiński and generals Józef Bem , Marcin Klemensowski , Kazimierz Małachowski , Ludwik Michał Pac and Antoni Wroniecki

9620-419: The 1920s placed Truso at Gut Hansdorf. A large burial field was also found at Elbląg. Recent Polish diggings have found burned beams and ashes and thousand-year-old artifacts in an area of about 20 hectares . Many of these artifacts are now displayed at the Muzeum w Elblągu . Attempts to conquer Prussian land began in 997, when Bolesław I the Brave , at the urging of the Pope, sent a contingent of soldiers and

9768-446: The 19th century. It was then that the famous Elbląg Canal was commissioned. A tourist site and important engineering monument, it has been named one of the Seven Wonders of Poland and a Historic Monument of Poland . After World War II the city again became part of Poland. The war casualties were catastrophic – especially the severe destruction of the Old Town district, one of the grandest in Prussia . The town's population hitherto

9916-614: 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

10064-414: 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

10212-417: 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

10360-399: 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

10508-623: 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

10656-490: The Gythones appear at the mouth of the Vistula. These can be interpreted as Goths or the early settlements of Gdańsk might have been there under that name. There is no explicit mention of a town of Danzig and he does not give his usual list of river towns for the Vistula and eastward. Truso was at a location where already in the Roman Empire and before the (only) people who collected and traded amber shipped it south on

10804-551: The Hanseatic League owing to its close business dealings with England. Famous inhabitants of the city at that time included native sons Hans von Bodeck and Samuel Hartlib . During the Thirty Years' War , Swedish Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna brought the Moravian Brethren refugee John Amos Comenius to Elbląg for six years (1642–1648). In 1642 Johann Stobäus , who composed with Johann Eccard , published

10952-655: 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

11100-518: 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

11248-638: The MSS was estimated at ca. 1400, but it was a copy. There is no evidence concerning the provenance of the original, except that it must have been in Pomesanian. In 1246 the town was granted a constitution under Lübeck law , used in maritime circumstances, instead of Magdeburg rights common in other cities in Central Europe . This decision of the Order was in keeping with its general strategy of espousing

11396-676: The Oberländischer Kanal ( Elbląg Canal ). Elbing became part of the Prussian-led German Empire in 1871 during the unification of Germany . As Elbing became an industrial city, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) frequently received the majority of votes; in the 1912 Reichstag elections the SPD received 51% of the vote. After World War I , as most of the province of West Prussia

11544-496: The Poles, whose ambition had been to conquer Prussia all along. The Teutonic Order's strategy was to move down the Vistula and secure the delta, establishing a barrier between the Prussians and Gdańsk. The victorious Teutonic Knights built a castle at Elbing. The Chronicon terrae Prussiae describes the conflict in the vicinity of Lake Drużno shortly before the founding of Elbing: Truso did not disappear suddenly to be replaced with

11692-546: The Slavs expanded beyond their Carpathian homeland in the 6th century AD, too late for the foundation of Truso. From the fact that the name of Charlemagne (742-814 AD), which became the Slavic word for king, entered Proto-Slavic, and other indicators used by historical linguists, it has been deduced that Old Church Slavonic is in fact Proto-Slavic. By 1000 AD it was showing traces of influence by regional dialects. By that time

11840-457: The Slavs had been on the Baltic coast for some time; i.e., Wulfstan's Weonods were speakers of Proto-Slavic. They were probably there before Charlemagne, but he encouraged them to settle along the Baltic. Adalbert's Danzig was not only Christian but very recently under Slavic control, if not to some degree Slavic speaking. After Adalbert events moved rapidly to produce great changes. Pomerania as

11988-811: The Teutonic Knights used them to clear the Vistula Lagoon ( Frisches Haff ) and the Vistula Spit of Prussians: Apparently the river was in Pomesania , which the knights had just finished clearing, but the bay was in Pogesania . The first Elbing was placed in Pogesania: Both landings were amphibious operations conducted from the ships. The Chronicon relates that they were in use for many years and then were sunk in Lake Drużno. In 1238

12136-1026: The Teutonic Order to suppress "rebellions" there. It is possible therefore that the Kashubian Duchy of Gdańsk was asserting a nominal claim over Lake Drużno and Truso, but it was never one recognized by the Old Prussians. The name of the settlement has been restored in Old Prussian by prominent worldwide acknowledged Balticists, on the basis of Wulfstan's German (t/d), as *Drūsā - cf. Druso first by Georg Gerullis (Die altpreußischen Ortsnamen, Berlin 1922, 187), and recently - by Vytautas Maziulis (Prūsu kalbos etimologijos zodynas I, Vilnius 1988, 231). The ending -o corresponds to Common Prussian nominative singular -o (long), well attested in known Old Prussian Written Monuments (so-called "Elbing Vocabulary"). The diphthong au in German Drausen points to

12284-691: The Venedae, south of whom were the Galindae (one of the Prussian tribes). The Venedae therefore must have been the coastal Estonians of Wulfstan, Western Baltic ancestral speakers. By Wulfstan's time the East Germanic tribes had abandoned the left bank of the Vistula. Some may have remained in and around the Vistula Delta, especially Danzig, possibly Truso. The Slavs had expanded north into Pomerania. Proto-Slavic began to differentiate after

12432-548: The Vistula Lagoon was the main southern Baltic base of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden , who was hailed as the protector of the Protestants. By 1660 the Vistula Lagoon had gone to Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg-Prussia , but was returned in 1700. The poet Christian Wernicke was born in 1661 in Elbląg, while Gottfried Achenwall became famous for his teachings in natural law and human rights law . In 1700–1710 it

12580-749: The Vistula from the Greater Venedi of Ptolemy. By mouth of the Vistula Wulfstan explains that he means the passage between Frisches Haff and the Bay of Danzig. The Ilfing River runs east of the Weisel from a lake on the banks of which stands Truso into the Estmere (Eastern Sea-Ostsee), where it is incorporated into the Weissel; i.e., Wulfstan sees the Ilfing as a tributary of the Weissel and Estmere as

12728-524: The behest of King Alfred the Great of England . The exact location of Truso was not known for a long time, as the seashore has significantly changed, but most historians trace the settlement inside or near to modern Elbląg on Lake Drużno . Truso was located at territory already known to the Roman Empire and earlier. It was an important seaport serving the Vistula River bay on the early medieval Baltic Sea trade routes which led from Birka in

12876-409: The citadel and churches, Elbing at the time was more of a small village by modern standards. Its area was 300 m × 500 m (984.25  ft × 1,640.42 ft). It featured a wharf, a marketplace and five streets, as well as a number of churches. The castle was completed in 1251. In 1288 fire destroyed the entire settlement except for the churches, which were of brick. A new circuit wall

13024-591: The citadel and town of Elbing during the Prussian Crusade. It had already burned down in the tenth century, with the population dispersed in the area. The Chronicon terrae Prussiae describes the founding of Elbing under the leadership of Hermann Balk . After building two ships, the Pilgerim (Pilgrim) and the Vridelant (Friedland), with the assistance of Margrave Henry III of Margraviate of Meissen ,

13172-742: The city in February 1832. Elbing industrialized . In 1828 the first steamship was built by Ignatz Grunau. In 1837 Ferdinand Schichau started the Schichau-Werke company in Elbing as well as another shipyard in Danzig (Gdańsk) later on. Schichau constructed the Borussia , the first screw-vessel in Germany. Schichau-Werke built hydraulic machinery, ships, steam engines , and torpedoes . After

13320-404: The city rebelled against the Teutonic Knights and expelled them, while welcoming Polish troops and paying homage to Polish King Władysław II Jagiełło , who afterwards vested Elbląg with new privileges. As the castle was lightly defended by a Polish garrison, the Teutonic Knights managed to retake it, promising the Polish defenders that they will be given free passage back to Poland. After the castle

13468-534: The country's largest brewery , founded in 1872. Elbląg derives from the earlier German-language Elbing , which is the name by which the Teutonic Knights knew both the river here and the citadel they established on its banks in 1237. The purpose of the citadel was to prevent the Old Prussian settlement of Truso from being reoccupied, the German crusaders being at war with the pagan Prussians. The citadel

13616-541: The creation of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569, the city was brought under direct control of the Polish crown. As one of the largest and most influential cities of Poland, it enjoyed voting rights during the royal election period in Poland. Elbląg was often visited by Nicolaus Copernicus between 1504 and 1530. With the 16th century Protestant Reformation the burghers became Lutherans and

13764-619: The defeat of the Teutonic Knights in the Thirteen Years’ War was recognized as part of Poland in 1466. It then flourished and turned into a significant trading point, but its growth was eventually hindered by the Second Northern War and the Swedish Deluge . The city was transferred to Prussia after the first partition of Poland in 1772. Its trading role greatly weakened, until the era of industrialization in

13912-482: 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

14060-456: 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

14208-519: 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

14356-673: The entire Gulf of Gdańsk as Venedicus Bay and states that the Greater Venedae occupied its coast. The name is known also among the Slavic Wends , but he may have meant by "Greater" that Balts were to be included; if not, one would have to ask where the historical Balts came from. There were some historical Vends later in Latvia, who may have been their descendants. Ptolemy does mention the Prussians by name (Borusci), but also

14504-815: The entire route has been converted into a recreational area featuring nature preserves such as Lake Druzno. Janow Pomorski was after 1945 the name of the village of Hansdorf about 7 km to the southeast of Elbing (now Elbląg ) where the traces of some workshops have been found that were on the then edge of the lake. A large abundance of finished and partly finished artifacts in antler and amber have been found. They were manufactured in structures of about 5 by 10 metres (16 ft × 33 ft), and long houses about 6 by 21 metres (20 ft × 69 ft) above ground, three rooms, made of wood, believed to be residences also. A cache of wrecked boats has been found. The artifacts are similar to both Slavic and Scandinavian equivalents. Some archaeologists suggest that this may be

14652-534: The first Lutheran Gymnasium was established in Elbląg in 1535. From 1579 Elbląg had close trade relations with England , to which the city accorded free trade . English, Scottish , and Irish merchants settled in the city. They formed the Scottish Reformed Church of Elbląg and became Elbląg citizens, aiding Lutheran Sweden in the Thirty Years' War . The rivalry of nearby Gdańsk interrupted trading links several times. By 1618 Elbląg had left

14800-603: The first time Polish common law. The German-language Polish laws are based on the Sachsenspiegel and were written down to aid the judges. It is thus the oldest source for documented Polish common law and is in Polish referred to as the Księga Elbląska (Book of Elbląg). It was written down in the second half of the 13th century. In 1410, during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War , the inhabitants of

14948-530: The growth of the second lake, evolving into the Old Prussian reconstruction from which came the Germanic Drusen, High German Drausen. Such a derivation still does not pinpoint the language spoken by the settlers. However this view does not correspond to conclusions of the main Balticists. In 1897 and in the 1920s excavations near Gut Hansdorf brought a number of archaeological finds to light and it

15096-532: The historical linguist Julius Pokorny , whose conjectures are strongly outdated at least in the field of the Baltic linguistics, lists *trus- , "reed", as an Indo-European root, not used in English, but appearing in Old Church Slavonic and Lithuanian words from a Balto-Slavic form *trusom. If the place was named from the reeds, which are still there, it probably acquired the name Trusom during

15244-435: 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,

15392-540: The horizon; this part of the Vistula Delta ( Żuławy Wiślane ) is used mainly for agricultural purposes. To the south are the marshes and swamps of Drużno. The Elbląg River has been left in a more natural state through the city, but elsewhere it is a controlled channel with branches. One of them, the Jagiellonski Channel ( Kanał Jagielloński ), leads to the Nogat River, along which navigation to Gdańsk

15540-408: The inauguration of the railway to Königsberg in 1853, Elbing's industry began to grow. Schichau worked together with his son-in-law Carl H. Zise, who continued the industrial complex after Schichau's death. Schichau erected large complexes for his many thousands of workers. Georg Steenke , an engineer from Königsberg, connected Elbing near the Baltic Sea with the southern part of Prussia by building

15688-481: 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

15836-418: The lake in history and also briefly describes the Prussians of the times, which he calls "Aesti" .Aisti- Aesti (meaning easterners) was the name used for Baltic Prussian in records starting 800 years earlier. Wulfstan sailed from Hedeby (Haithabu), Jutland to Truso in seven days keeping Weonodland ("Wendland") on the right as far as the mouth of the Weissel (Vistula). These Venedi are on the opposite bank of

15984-583: The lake was deeper and of wider extent. In the troubled Viking Age and the conflicts and acts of piracy between the various tribes of the Balts and voyagers from Scandinavia and elsewhere, the lake would have been an ideal masked route for shallow-draft vessels, such as the Viking ships. When the lake became useless for that purpose Elblag was still a port with access to the Zalew Wislany and through there to

16132-480: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . Lake Dru%C5%BCno The German name Drausensee , in earlier records called Drusensee , is connected to the ancient trade city of Truso , which stood within the lands now occupied by Elbląg. The lake is greatly reduced from its original size partly due to large building expansion of housing in

16280-512: The last few decades, but mainly because of the natural death of the lake by sedimentation. The lake is the site of a nature reserve , one of the 13 sites in Poland protected under the Ramsar convention . An old mention of the name is as a place named Truso in the report of sailor Wulfstan from the end of the 9th century. The report was included in The Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan which

16428-472: The length of the river between Lake Drużno and Elbląg Bay ( Zatoka Elbląska , an arm of the Vistula Lagoon ), and spreads out on both banks, though mainly on the eastern side. To the east is the Elbląg Upland ( Wysoczyzna Elbląska ), a dome pushed up by glacial compression, 390 km in diameter and 200 m (656.17 ft) high at its greatest elevation. Views to the west show flat fields extending to

16576-458: The linguistic evidence points to the presence of Balts on this territory. In one theory the name is Slavic in origin: "(Z)Drużno" means "together" in Slavic languages . It might have been named from being a place of gathering and resting for the caravan traders of various nationalities. However the name Drużno is nothing else as a later polonizing of the original Baltic name. On the other hand,

16724-573: The longest of all Polish–Teutonic wars. The local mayor pledged allegiance to the Polish King during the incorporation in March 1454, and the burghers of Elbląg recognized Casimir IV as rightful ruler. After paying homage to the King, the city was granted great privileges, similar to those of Toruń and Gdańsk . Since 1454, the city was authorized by King Casimir IV to mint Polish coins. The war ended in

16872-474: The lower Weissel. Weonodland extends as far as the Weissel, after which Witland, the westernmost part of Eastland, begins. It is generally agreed that Wulfstan is interpreting the source of Tacitus' Aestii as Eastland. The Estonians ultimately inherited the name, but in Wulfstan it has to mean at least the Prussians, perhaps further. This passage tells us that the topography was more or less modern. The lake

17020-420: The marshes feature tracts of Phragmites . It should have sedimented over long ago but the high throughput of water from various sources brings fresh Oxygen into the lake, retarding its aging. Twelve streams empty into the lake radially, with water from another twelve canals being pumped into it. They bring about 6.9 cubic metres per second (240 cu ft/s) into the lake (1970) with about 7 draining through

17168-402: 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

17316-439: The native populations were Prussian, Slavic or Scandinavian. It is true that in 1237 the entire right bank of the lower Vistula was occupied by Old Prussians and that Truso was in or projected into the Old Prussian dukedom of Pomesania . Moreover, Adalbert of Prague , who came with Boleslaw Chrobrie's soldiers, had been beheaded further north-east at the coast of the Baltic Sea near (Fischhausen), now Rybaki, for cutting down

17464-653: 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

17612-628: The north to the island of Gotland and to Visby in the Baltic Sea. From there, traders continued further south to Carnuntum along the Amber Road . The ancient Amber Road led further southwest and southeast to the Black Sea and eventually to Asia . The east–west trade route went from Truso, along the Baltic Sea to Jutland , and from there inland by river to Hedeby , a large trading center in Jutland. The main goods of Truso were amber , furs, and slaves. Archaeological finds in 1897 and diggings in

17760-588: The organisation. In 1454, the organisation led the revolt against the rule of the Teutonic Knights, and then its delegation submitted a petition to King Casimir IV of Poland asking him to include the region within the Kingdom of Poland . The King agreed and signed the act of incorporation of the region (including Elbing) to the Kingdom of Poland in March 1454 in Kraków , which sparked the Thirteen Years' War ,

17908-462: 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

18056-415: The river Elbląg connecting Lake Drużno to the Vistula Lagoon , about 10 km (6 mi) from the lagoon and 60 km (37 mi) from Gdańsk. The climate of Elbląg is an oceanic climate ( Köppen Cfb ) closely bordering on a humid continental climate ( Köppen Dfb ), owing to its position of the Baltic Sea , which moderates the temperatures, compared to the interior of Poland . The climate

18204-467: The river (1975). Variability in these figures as well as wind and back currents cause expansion and contraction of the lake over wide areas. The total capacity is about 22.4 million cubic metres (18,200  acre⋅ft ) with a catchment area of 1,084 square kilometres (419 sq mi). The lake is valuable currently mainly as a nature preserve. Some 20,000 migratory waterfowl use it, chiefly Anser , Anas , Grus and Chlidonias . In ancient times

18352-515: The sacred groves of the Old Prussians as part of an effort to conquer them under guise to convert them in (997 AD ). This circumstantial evidence is not conclusive about the ethnicity of the founders of Truso. In 1237 also the Teutonic Order opened hostilities against the Old Prussians, putting down a castle at the future Elbing . The order's modus operandi was to sack and burn an Old Prussian town and then hold it against reoccupation with

18500-425: The same long *-(Dr)ū-, regularly diphthongized in later Prussian. No problem persists for modern Prussologists as concerns Truso. Such a restoration shows the continuity of Western Baltic on this territory in course of several hundred years, probably even before the attested Truso, which is the first known settlement name in the coastal region. The possible originating cultures are not diminished by this restoration, but

18648-420: The site of Truso; however, the name may have referred to a collection of settlements. The settlement is dated from the late 8th century to the early 10th by pottery. Trenches nearby have uncovered two layers of peat sandwiching a layer of peat and sand over a thick layer of silt. The layers have been dated by a variety of methods. The history of the lake is roughly reconstructed as follows: The lake in this view

18796-546: 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,

18944-500: 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

19092-547: The tides of time turned them into reality in that same century. The foundation of Elbing was perhaps not the end of the Old Prussian story in the region. In 1825 a manuscript listing a vocabulary of the Baltic Old Prussian language , commonly known in English as Elbing Vocabulary , was found among some manuscripts from a merchant's house. It contained 802 words in a dialect now termed Pomesanian with their equivalents in an early form of High German. The origin of

19240-440: The town. Membership in the Hanseatic League meant having important trading contacts with England , Flanders , France , and the Netherlands . The city received numerous merchant privileges from the rulers of England , Poland, Pomerania, and the Teutonic Order. For instance, the privilege of the Old Town was upgraded in 1343, while in 1393 it was granted an emporium privilege for grains, metals, and forest products. Except for

19388-399: The vocabulary remains unknown. Its format is like that of modern travel dictionaries; i.e., it may have been used by German speakers to communicate with Old Prussians, but the specific circumstances are only speculative. The manuscript became the Codex Neumannianus. It disappeared after a British bombing raid destroyed the library at Elbing but before then facsimiles had been made. The date of

19536-438: 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

19684-415: 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

19832-450: Was Curonian. This was the ethnic distribution when the Teutonic Order received Prussia from the Emperor Frederick II and from the pope. The papal bull also granted them the government of all the Balts, as well as the Finnic Estonians, with consequences that continue today. The Slavs had been moving in on the Old Prussians but had been stopped by them. The different duchies made hypocritical claims to lands they never controlled and invited

19980-445: Was German-speaking. The people who had not fled or had returned were entirely expelled and new Polish settlers took their place. Today, Elbląg has over 120,000 inhabitants and is a "vibrant city with an attractive tourist base ". It serves as an academic and financial center and among its numerous historic monuments is the Market Gate from 1309 and St. Nicholas Cathedral . Elbląg is also known for its archaeological sites, museums and

20128-429: 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

20276-407: 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

20424-427: 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

20572-400: Was first mentioned as "Ilfing" in The Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan , an Anglo-Saxon chronicle written in King Alfred 's reign using information from a Viking who had visited the area. During the Middle Ages , the Viking settlement of Truso was located on Lake Drużno , near the current site of Elbląg in historical Pogesania ; the settlement burned down in the 10th century. Early in

20720-405: Was heavily damaged in World War II , and its remaining German citizens were expelled upon the war's end in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement . The city became again part of Poland in 1945 and was repopulated with Polish citizens. The seaport of Truso was first mentioned c.  890 by Wulfstan of Hedeby , an Anglo-Saxon sailor, travelling on the south coast of the Baltic Sea at

20868-419: Was interned in the city. On December 22, 1831, the Prussian army attempted to pacify the Polish insurgents and launched a charge on the disarmed Poles, who resisted relocation, fearing deportation to the Russian Partition of Poland. Some insurgents eventually left partitioned Poland for the Great Emigration , including Józef Bem , who was expelled by the Prussians in December 1831, and Maciej Rybiński , who left

21016-459: Was named after the river, itself of uncertain etymology. One traditional etymology connects it to the name of the Helveconae , a Germanic tribe mentioned in Ancient Greek and Latin sources, but the etymology or language of the tribal name remains unknown. The oldest known mention of the river or town Elbląg is in the form Ylfing in the report of a sailor Wulfstan from the end of the 9th century, in The Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan which

21164-409: Was occupied by Swedish troops. In 1709 it was besieged, taken by storm on February 2, 1710, by Russian troops with support of Prussian artillery. The city was handed over to Polish King Augustus II in 1712. The Royal-Polish mathematician and cartographer Johann Friedrich Endersch completed a map of Warmia in 1755 and also made a copper etching of the galley named "The City of Elbing". During

21312-417: Was reintegrated with the reborn Polish Republic , Elbing was joined to the German province of East Prussia , and was separated from Weimar Germany by the so-called Polish Corridor . German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe . It

21460-447: Was started immediately. From 1315 to 1340 Elbląg was rebuilt. A separate settlement called New Town was founded ca. 1337 and received Lübeck rights in 1347. In 1349 the Black Death struck the town, toward the end of the European plague. After the population recovered it continued building up the city and in 1364 a crane was built for the port. The German-language Elbinger Rechtsbuch , written in Elbing documented among other laws for

21608-440: Was taken, the Knights broke their promise and subsequently murdered a number of the captured defenders while imprisoning the rest. In February 1440, the city hosted a convention at which delegates from various cities (including Elbing itself) and nobility from the region decided to establish the anti-Teutonic Prussian Confederation . In April and May 1440, further meetings were held in Elbing, at which more towns and noblemen joined

21756-439: Was written in Anglo-Saxon in King Alfred 's reign. The central coordinates of the lake are 54°4′N 19°27′E  /  54.067°N 19.450°E  / 54.067; 19.450 . It lies to the east of the Nogat , the main right branch of the lower Vistula, at the edge of the lowland of the delta (Żuławy Wiślane), which is a region of shifting sediments and channels partly controlled by dikes, dams and ditches. The lake

21904-457: Was written in Anglo-Saxon in King Alfred 's reign. The city was almost completely destroyed at the end of World War II . Parts of the inner city were gradually rebuilt, and around 2000 rebuilding was begun in a style emulating the previous architecture, in many cases over the same foundations and utilizing old bricks and portions of the same walls. The western suburbs of the old city have not been reconstructed. The modern city adjoins about half

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