84-577: The Hindenburg Bridge ( German : Hindenburgbrücke ) was a railway bridge over the Rhine between Rüdesheim in the German state of Hesse and Bingen -Kempten state of Rhineland-Palatinate , named in 1918 after Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg , later German President . The bridge was put in service in 1915, destroyed in the Second World War and never rebuilt. Since 2002 the remains of
168-465: 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
252-402: 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
336-612: 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
420-673: A freight connection between the Rhine-Main and Saar areas and opened a new market for Saar coal. The freight ferry carried wagons until 1900. The passenger ferry was operated by Prussian State Railways until July 1907. After that passengers were able to use the tram to Bingen and the Bingen–Rüdesheim ferry. In 1900 the Prussian Minister of Public Works in the Prussian House of Representatives spoke in favour of
504-559: 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
588-458: 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
672-696: 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
756-483: 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
840-713: A semi-circular arch, the height is half of the span. Bridges across deep, narrow gorges can have their arch placed entirely beneath a flat roadway, but bridges in flatter country rise above their road approaches. A wide bridge may require an arch so tall as to become a significant obstacle and incline for the roadway. Small bridges can be hump-backed , but larger bridges such as the Old Bridge, Pontypridd may become so steep as to require steps, making their use for wheeled traffic difficult. Railways also find arched bridges difficult as they are even less tolerant of inclines. Where simple arched bridges are used for railways on flat terrain
924-717: 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
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#17327719379461008-601: 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
1092-612: 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
1176-558: 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
1260-478: 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
1344-430: 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
1428-518: Is constructed in place or lifted into position. In some cases, this type of arch has been created by constructing cantilevers from each side, with the shoreside ends bolted securely down into heavy piers. The incomplete channel ends are then constructed toward each other and either filled by construction or by lifting a prefabricated center section. This type of construction was used in the Sydney Harbour Bridge illustrated above, with
1512-535: 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
1596-611: 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
1680-565: 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
1764-399: Is not practical to support the arch from beneath during construction. In modern construction, temporary towers are erected and supported by cables anchored in the ground. Temporary cables fly from each side to support arch segments as they are constructed. When the arches are almost complete a jacking bridge is placed over or beneath the gap to force the arches apart, whence the final section
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#17327719379461848-435: 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
1932-597: 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
2016-401: 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
2100-525: 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
2184-578: 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
2268-433: 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
2352-689: 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
2436-639: 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
2520-975: The Chaotianmen Bridge in China, the world's longest through arch bridge; Tyne Bridge of Newcastle upon Tyne ; the Bayonne Bridge that connects New York City to New Jersey , which is longer than the Sydney Harbour Bridge; the Ahwaz White Bridge ; the Bourne Bridge and Sagamore Bridge , smaller, near-twin bridges over the Cape Cod Canal ; the Pennybacker Bridge in Austin , Texas and as
2604-537: 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
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2688-417: 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
2772-522: 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
2856-621: The Glan Valley Railway , thus creating another German military railway to the French border. The German Empire provided over 75% of the cost of the bridge and access lines, the rest was funded by the participating states of Prussia and the Grand Duchy of Hesse . The connecting curve was from the bridge towards Geisenheim and on to Wiesbaden was not eligible for imperial funding, because military transport would apparently follow
2940-676: The Hernando de Soto Bridge in Memphis, Tennessee . Wylam Railway Bridge is an early through arch bridge upstream of the Tyne Bridge. The through arch bridge usually consists of two ribs, although there are examples like the Hulme Arch Bridge of through arches with a single rib. When the two arches are built in parallel planes, the structure is a parallel rib arch bridge. When the two arch ribs lean together and shorten
3024-746: 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
3108-666: 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
3192-676: 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
3276-550: 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
3360-460: 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
3444-469: 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
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3528-723: 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
3612-748: 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
3696-536: 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
3780-451: 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
3864-681: 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
3948-702: The Hindenburg Bridge was carried out on 15 March 1945 by pioneers of the Wehrmacht in order to impede the advance of the United States armed forces . In the summer of 1945, the wreckage of the bridge was cleared from the main navigation channel of the Rhine and in 1948 the bridge's superstructure on the river banks was demolished. Reconstruction of the bridge was discussed until the 1950s. The priority of Deutsche Bundesbahn (German Federal Railways)
4032-1097: The Hindenburg bridge has been the easternmost point of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley . The bridge was preceded by the Bingerbrück–Rüdesheim train ferry , opened in November 1861, making the first connection between the Nassau Rhine Railway of the Nassau State Railway ( German : Nassauische Staatsbahn ) and the Nahe Valley Railway of the Rhine-Nahe Railway Company ( Rhein-Nahe-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft ). This created
4116-547: 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
4200-644: 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
4284-408: 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
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#17327719379464368-446: The Rhine from Oberlahnstein , using the Lahntal railway . Two similar railway bridges were also built across the Rhine mostly for military reasons: the Crown Prince Wilhelm Bridge [ de ] at Urmitz and the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen . The construction of the Hindenburg Bridge began in June 1913 and it was opened on 16 August 1915. At the start of construction many foreign laborers, mostly Italians, were employed on
4452-407: The Rhine, the line continued south from Büdesheim to Sarmsheim on the Bingerbrück–Bad Kreuznach line. Another curve connected with the Mainz–Bad Kreuznach line in Ockenheim station. In 1944, during the Second World War , another connection curve was built from Ockenheim station to a single-track branch line to the Left Rhine line towards Bingen. This curve was intended to make the line usable even if
4536-432: The bridge again in July 1930. In the summer 1938 timetable eleven weekday passenger services and 15 services on Sundays operated, mainly on the Wiesbaden– Bad Münster am Stein route. During the Second World War, the bridge was used to overcome disruption on the two Rhine lines. From August 1942 the bridge was the target of several air raids. On 13 January 1945, the spans of the bridge were destroyed. The final destruction of
4620-403: The bridge was destroyed. In the First World War the bridge was used almost exclusively for the supply of German troops on the Western Front . After the war, the left bank of the Rhine and a bridgehead at Wiesbaden was occupied by French troops. The occupation forces seized the bridge and converted it to allow carts and cars to use it. In addition, the bridge was used by military trains and from
4704-458: The construction of a bridge over the Rhine at Bingen. Studies by the Prussian State Railways initially favoured a location at Bingerbrück because the current around the Binger Loch (“Bingen hole”, a narrow passage created through a reef in the Rhine in the 17th century and subsequently widened) made a bridge unfeasible in Bingen. Therefore, a site for the bridge was selected upstream of the Rhine island of Rüdesheim Aue at Rhine km mark 525.26, where
4788-425: The cost of building long approach embankments may be considerable. Further issues are the foundations for the bridge. Arch bridges generate large side thrusts on their footings and so may require a solid bedrock foundation. Flattening the arch shape to avoid the humpback problem, such as for Brunel's Maidenhead bridge , increases this side thrust. It is often impossible to achieve a flat enough arch, simply owing to
4872-412: The deck but the top rises above it. It can either be lower bearing or mid-bearing . Thus, the deck is within the arch, and cables or beams that are in tension suspend the central part of the deck from the arch. For a specific construction method, especially for masonry arches, the proportions of the arch remain similar no matter what the size: wider arches are thus required to be taller arches. For
4956-405: The deck from the arch by tension rods, chains or cables and allow a gap in the arch, so the deck can pass through it. The first of these in particular cannot be achieved with masonry construction and requires wrought iron or steel. The use of a through arch does not change the proportions or size of the arch: a large span will still require a tall arch, although this can now reach any height above
5040-438: The deck without obstructing traffic. The arch may also reach downwards at its sides, to either reach strong foundations or to place the roadway at a convenient height for spanning a deep valley from a plateau above. The Tyne Bridge demonstrates both of these advantages. A well-known example of this type is the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia, which is based on the Hell Gate Bridge in New York City . Other bridges include
5124-417: The deliberate tension member that is the key to a tied-arch. Although visually similar, tied- and untied- through-arch bridges are quite distinct structurally and are unrelated in how they distribute their loads. In particular, cast iron bridges such as the Stanley Ferry Aqueduct may resemble tied-arch bridges, but as cast iron is weak in tension they are not structurally a tied arch. In some locations it
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#17327719379465208-430: 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
5292-404: 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
5376-408: The distance between the arches near the top, the span is a basket handle arch bridge. Many tied-arch bridges are also through-arch bridges. As well as tying the side-loads of the arch, the tension member is also at a convenient height to form the bridge deck, as for a through-arch. The converse is not true: through-arch bridges do not imply that they are tied-arch bridges, unless they also provide
5460-435: 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
5544-441: The end of 1919 by civilian freight trains at night and on a small scale. From October 1920 the bridge was available for use by German civilians, on payment of a high bridge toll (four marks after the hyperinflation culminating in 1923 ), which led to years of protests from the local business community. After the withdrawal of the occupation troops, Deutsche Reichsbahn (German State Railways) took over passenger rail services over
5628-435: 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,
5712-417: 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
5796-403: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . Through arch bridge A through arch bridge , also known as a through-type arch bridge , is a bridge that is made from materials such as steel or reinforced concrete, in which the base of an arch structure is below
5880-403: The limitations of the foundations – particularly in flat country. Historically, such bridges often became viaducts of multiple small arches. With the availability of iron or concrete as structural materials, it became possible to construct a through arch bridge : a bridge where the deck does not have to be carried over the top of the arch. This requires a structure that can both support
5964-402: 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
6048-653: 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
6132-462: 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
6216-664: The river is about 900 metres wide. Debates about whether to construct a railway bridge, a road bridge or a combined bridge continued for over a decade in the Reichstag until funds for the construction of a railway bridge were approved in March 1913. In this case, military concerns were decisive. The new Rhine bridge was a strategic railway connecting the Right Rhine Railway to the Nahe Valley Railway and
6300-546: 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,
6384-500: 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
6468-486: The truss spans was 94.2 m long and the other four were 77.0 m long. The double track bridge had a total width of 12 m of which 7 m was used for rail tracks. On both sides there was a footpath. The bridge together with connecting lines included a total of 11 kilometres of double track main lines. In the north, the bridge connected to two connecting curves to the Right Rhine Railway. On the south (left side) of
6552-546: The work. After a short interruption of construction at the beginning of the First World War work continued with the use of Russian prisoners of war. The bridge had a total length of 1,175 metres and consisted of two sets of arches each side of the main 741 m long steel bridge. The steel section consisted of two arches and five spans of parallel trusses , with the tracks mounted on the lower trusses. The steel arches were each 169.4 m long and were unusually high. One of
6636-555: 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
6720-600: 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
6804-429: 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
6888-547: 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
6972-492: 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
7056-587: Was to rebuild the Emperor Bridge in Mainz and from 1954 it had no interest in another bridge over the Rhine. In 1970 the abutments were demolished to improve road safety. From time to time the possibility of rebuilding the bridge is discussed. 49°58′26″N 7°56′32″E / 49.97389°N 7.94222°E / 49.97389; 7.94222 German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] )
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