West Baltic languages
75-728: Old Prussian is an extinct West Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European languages , which was once spoken by the Old Prussians , the Baltic peoples of the Prussian region . The language is called Old Prussian to avoid confusion with the German dialects of Low Prussian and High Prussian and with the adjective Prussian as it relates to the later German state. Old Prussian began to be written down in
150-403: A -stems, i -stems, u -stems), of which only the first agreed with the noun in gender. There was a comparative and a superlative form. When it comes to verbal morphology present, future and past tense are attested, as well as optative forms (used with imperative or permissive forms of verbs), infinitive, and four participles (active/passive present/past). The orthography varies depending on
225-467: A West Baltic language or dialect. Another possible classification is a transitional language between West and East Baltic. Sudovian is either classified as an Old Prussian dialect, a West Baltic language or a transitional language between West and East Baltic. The former two options would leave Sudovian in the West Baltic phylum. Old Curonian is the least securely classified language. It
300-575: A dual identifiable in the existent corpus. There is no consensus on the number of cases that Old Prussian had, and at least four can be determined with certainty: nominative, genitive, accusative and dative, with different suffixes . Most scholars agree, that there are traces of a vocative case , such as in the phrase O Deiwe Rikijs 'O God the Lord', reflecting the inherited PIE vocative ending * -e , differing from nominative forms in o-stem nouns only. Some scholars find instrumental forms, while
375-454: A few borrowings from Germanic , including from Gothic (e.g., Old Prussian ylo 'awl' as with Lithuanian ýla , Latvian īlens ) and from Scandinavian languages . The Low German language spoken in Prussia (or West Prussia and East Prussia ), called Low Prussian (cf. High Prussian , High German ), preserved a number of Baltic Prussian words, such as Kurp , from
450-816: A good little comrade if you want to drink (but) do not want to give a penny! This jocular inscription was most probably made by a Prussian student studying in Prague ( Charles University ); found by Stephen McCluskey (1974) in manuscript MS F.V.2 (book of physics Questiones super Meteororum by Nicholas Oresme ), fol. 63r, stored in the Basel University library. The longest texts preserved in Old Prussian are three Catechisms printed in Königsberg in 1545, 1545, and 1561 respectively. The first two consist of only six pages of text in Old Prussian –
525-595: A historian of the Teutonic Knights , encompasses 100 words (in strongly varying versions). He also recorded an expression: sta nossen rickie, nossen rickie ('This (is) our lord, our lord'). The vocabulary is part of the Preussische Chronik written c. 1517–1526 . The second one is the so-called Elbing Vocabulary, which consists of 802 thematically sorted words and their German equivalents. Peter Holcwesscher from Marienburg copied
600-561: A low level of national identity during the census usually choose the major nationality in their region. Orthodox autochthonous inhabitants are known as khakhly (without any negative connotations, though today in Ukraine it is known as an ethnic slur for Ukrainians). According to Mykhailo Lesiv, this name appeared after it was used to denote locals in the Russian Imperial Army . Many scientific researches prove that
675-534: A manuscript of the Logica Parva by Paul of Venice . West Baltic languages The West Baltic languages are a group of extinct Baltic languages that were spoken by West Baltic peoples. West Baltic is one of the two primary branches of Baltic languages, along with East Baltic . It includes Old Prussian , Sudovian , West Galindian , possibly Skalvian and Old Curonian . The only properly attested West Baltic language of which texts are known
750-756: A phonological merger of dentialveolar and postalveolar sibilants in many Polish dialects – states that it originated as a feature of Polonized Old Prussians in Masuria (see Masurian dialects ) and spread from there. In addition to Prussia proper, the original territory of the Old Prussians may have included eastern parts of Pomerelia (some parts of the region east of the Vistula River ). The language may also have been spoken much further east and south in what became Polesia and part of Podlasie , before conquests by Rus and Poles starting in
825-583: A scientific project and a humanitarian gesture. Some enthusiasts thereafter began to revive the language based on their reconstruction. Most current speakers live in Germany, Poland, Lithuania and Kaliningrad (Russia). Additionally, a few children are native in Revived Prussian. Today, there are websites, online dictionaries, learning apps and games for Revived Prussian, and one children's book – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 's The Little Prince –
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#1732764729333900-456: Is Old Prussian , although there are a few short remnants of Old Curonian and Sudovian in the form of isolated words and short phrases. Many West Baltic languages went extinct in the 16th century while Old Prussian ceased to be spoken in the early 18th century . The only languages securely classified as West Baltic are Old Prussian and West Galindian , which could also be a dialect of Old Prussian. Most scholars consider Skalvian to be
975-429: Is Drohiczyn that lies into northern and southern parts. The former is included in the modern-day Podlaskie Voivodeship with its capital at Białystok (the historical boundary goes exactly through the city). Sometimes, Siedlce has been considered the capital of the region. Podlaskie Voivodeship is a multicultural and multi-religious region. It is the region where people's identity has been shaped throughout history by both
1050-411: Is a historical region in north-eastern Poland . Its largest city is Białystok , whereas the historical capital is Drohiczyn . Similarly to several other historical regions of Poland, e.g. Greater Poland , Lesser Poland , Mazovia , Pomerania , Silesia , Warmia , Podlachia possesses its own folk costumes, unique traditional architecture and cuisine. Between 1513 and 1795 it was a voivodeship with
1125-419: Is argued to be either West Baltic with significant East Baltic influence, or East Baltic. West Baltic was presumably native to the north of Central Europe , especially modern Poland , and the western Baltic region , which includes parts of modern Latvia and Lithuania . The West Baltic branch probably fully separated from East Baltic around the 4th–3rd century BCE, although their differences go as far as
1200-528: Is believed to have retained an archaic feature from the Sudovian language — the usage of compound consonants šč , št , žd and st without inserting consonants k , g (e.g. auštas ‘high, tall’, pauštė ‘bird’, spiūsna ‘feather’, žvirždo s ‘sand, pebble’) — which also corresponds to examples found in Old Prussian (e.g. aūss ‘gold’, rīsti ‘whip’). Personal pronoun forms have also been noted for possessing features found in West Baltic languages, such as
1275-522: Is mainly a word-for-word translation, and Will phonetically recorded Megott's oral translation. Because of this, the Enchiridion exhibits many irregularities, such as the lack of case agreement in phrases involving an article and a noun , which followed word-for-word German originals as opposed to native Old Prussian syntax. The "Trace of Crete" is a short poem added by a Baltic writer in Chania to
1350-591: Is more often found in Pomesianan than in Sambian. Others argue that the Catechisms are written in a Yatvingized Prussian. The differences noted above could therefore be explained as being features of a different West Baltic language Yatvingian/Sudovian . The Prussian language is described to have the following consonants: There is said to have existed palatalization (i.e. [tʲ] , [dʲ] ) among nearly all of
1425-744: The Central Powers puppet Kingdom of Poland ) while the areas further east, including Białystok and the Suwałki Governorate, fell under Ober Ost . In the aftermath of World War I and the Russian Revolution , parts of the region, particularly Białystok, were contested by several states but ultimately became part of the Second Polish Republic following the Polish–Soviet War . During the interwar period
1500-786: The Kingdom of Poland of the Jagiellons . Podlachia is located along the middle stretch of the Bug River between Mazovia in the west, Polesia and Volhynia in the east, the Narew River in the north and the Chełm Land in the south. The borders of Podlachia changed with time and was not the same as historical Podlaskie Voivodeship . Podlachia is sometimes divided into two parts (southern and northern), which had different administrative subordination. Traditional capital of Podlachia
1575-513: The Latin alphabet in about the 13th century, and a small amount of literature in the language survives. In modern times, there has been a revival movement of Old Prussian, and there are families which use Old Prussian as their first language. Old Prussian is an Indo-European language belonging to the Baltic branch. It is considered to be a Western Baltic language. Old Prussian was closely related to
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#17327647293331650-847: The Middle Ages Podlachia was only partially under Polish rule, and since 1446 until 1569 the area belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . A better variant of this theory holds that the name originates from the period when the territory was within the Trakai Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, along the borderline with the Mazovia province, primarily a fief of the Poland of the Piasts and later on part of
1725-611: The Protestant Reformation and thereafter. Old Prussian ceased to be spoken probably around the beginning of the 18th century, because many of its remaining speakers died in the famines and the bubonic plague outbreak which harrowed the East Prussian countryside and towns from 1709 until 1711. In the 1980s, linguists Vladimir Toporov and Vytautas Mažiulis started reconstructing the Prussian language as
1800-644: The Soviet Union following World War II, Poland was left with only 2 Tatar villages, Bohoniki and Kruszyniany (both outside the historical borders of Podlachia). Some Tatars from the territories annexed to the USSR have been repatriated to Poland and clustered in cities, particularly Białystok. In 1925 the Muslim Religious Union ( Muzułmański Związek Religijny ) was formed in Białystok. In 1992,
1875-604: The Sudovian Book in the middle of the 16th century. Palmaitis regards them as Sudovian proper. In addition to the texts listed beneath, there are several colophons written by Prussian scriptors who worked in Prague and in the court of Lithuanian duke Butautas Kęstutaitis . The so-called Basel Epigram is the oldest written Prussian sentence (1369). It reads: Kayle rekyse thoneaw labonache thewelyse Eg koyte poyte nykoyte pênega doyte Cheers, Sir! You are no longer
1950-685: The Union of Tatars of the Republic of Poland ( Związek Tatarów Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej ) with autonomous branches in Białystok and Gdańsk began operating. The dominant language in Podlaskie Voivodeship is Polish. Autochthonous inhabitants speak a Podlachian variety . Many linguists relate them to the Ukrainian language. Linguists have been exploring them since 19th century, when they were also known as Siedlce dialects (because of
2025-572: The 10th century and the German colonisation of the area starting in the 12th century. With the conquest of the Old Prussian territory by the Teutonic Knights in the 13th century, and the subsequent influx of Polish, Lithuanian and especially German speakers, Old Prussian experienced a 400-year-long decline as an "oppressed language of an oppressed population". Groups of people from Germany, Poland , Lithuania , Scotland , England , and Austria (see Salzburg Protestants ) found refuge in Prussia during
2100-625: The 1795 Third Partition of Poland which brought an end to Poland-Lithuania, the former Podlachia Voivodeship was divided between the Kingdom of Prussia and the Habsburg monarchy ( Austrian Empire from 1804), with the Bug forming the border between them. Part of Podlachia's eastern border became the boundary between Prussia and the Russian Empire . Within Prussia the Podlachian territory
2175-731: The Bug ever since. At the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815, the Congress of Vienna transformed most of the Duchy of Warsaw, including the formerly Podlachian parts, into " Congress Poland " (formally the Kingdom of Poland) and placed it in a personal union with Russia; with that, all of Podlachia fell under Russian control. In theory this kingdom was created as an autonomous entity but in practice its separate laws and freedoms were simply ignored by
2250-482: The Catechisms display systematical differences in phonology, vocabulary and grammar. Some scholars postulate that this is due to them being recordings of different dialects: Pomesanian and Sambian. Phonetical distinctions are: Pom. ē is Samb. ī ( sweta- : swīta- 'world'); Pom. ō , Samb. ū after a labial ( mōthe [mōte] : mūti 'mother') or Pom. ō , Samb. ā ( tōwis : tāws 'father'; brōte : brāti 'brother'), which influences
2325-839: The Drohiczyn Uyezd was merged into Bielsk Uyezd . In 1844 the Podlachian Governorate was merged into the Lublin Governorate . In the 19th century the region was a stronghold of Polish resistance against Russian rule. Stanisław Brzóska , the last partisan of the January Uprising, operated there until 1865. He was hanged publicly by the Russians in Sokołów Podlaski in May 1865. As a result of
Old Prussian language - Misplaced Pages Continue
2400-608: The Duchy of Warsaw lay within the Łomża Department , itself based on the territory of the Prussian Białystok Departement after the removal of the Belostock Oblast. The Habsburg part of Podlachia became part of the Duchy of Warsaw by the 1809 Treaty of Schönbrunn , forming much of the Siedlce Department . Although Prussian and Austrian rule was brief, it has remained administratively divided by
2475-885: The Emperors and control was steadily centralised, particularly following the November and January Uprisings (1830–31, 1863–64). Within Congress Poland the former Siedlce Department became the Podlachia Voivodeship, while the former Łomża Department became the Augustów Voivodeship ; these became the Podlachian and Augustów Governorates in 1837. In 1842 the Belostok Oblast was dissolved and merged into Grodno Governorate , and
2550-751: The Greek-Catholic faith in northern Podlachia and it disappeared from the area. In 1875, Russians forbade this rite in the southern portion as well, and all Greek-Catholic inhabitants were forced to accept the Eastern Orthodox faith. However, the resistance of the local people was surprisingly strong and Ruthenian speakers from this area rejected the separation from the Pope . In 1874, blessed Wincenty Lewoniuk and 12 companions were killed by Russian soldiers in Pratulin . In reaction to these measures,
2625-535: The Old Prussian kurpe , for shoe in contrast to common Low German : Schoh (Standard German Schuh ), as did the High Prussian Oberland subdialect . Until the 1938 changing of place names in East Prussia , Old Prussian river- and place-names, such as Tawe and Tawellningken , could still be found. One of the hypotheses regarding the origin of mazurzenie –
2700-537: The Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, and since the Reformation, also by Evangelical churches. Until today, Podlaskie has been considered Poland's most culturally diverse region. Throughout its early history, Podlachia was inhabited by various tribes of different ethnic roots. In the 9th and 10th centuries, the area was inhabited by East Slavic tribes, mostly by Drevlians , with settlements of Dregoviches to
2775-958: The Pact would have given all of Podlachia to the Soviet Union, the final border agreed upon in the German–Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty signed after the invasion gave the southern part to the Nazi General Government , while the northern part of Podlachia was annexed by the Soviet Union as the Belastok Region of the Byelorussian SSR . Nazi Germany would annex the Soviet part as the Bialystok District in 1941. Under German occupation,
2850-504: The Polish nation ). Nowosiółki was the site of a massacre of hundreds of patients of a psychiatric hospital as part of Aktion T4 . German forces also committed crimes against Italian and French POWs at subcamps of the Stalag 366 POW camp with executions and massacres of Italians and French in Międzyrzec Podlaski and Hola , respectively, with the Italians also subjected to mass starvation, epidemics, beatings and killings at Biała Podlaska . Many Poles from Podlachia were among
2925-487: The Ruthenians of southern Podlachia began to identify themselves with the national movement of the Roman Catholic Poles. To preserve the full communion with the Pope, they changed their rite from Eastern to Latin before the compulsory conversion of Greek Catholics into Orthodox. In 1912, Russian authorities issued a tolerance edict that made it possible to change confession from Orthodox to Roman Catholic (but not to Greek-Catholic, which had been completely deleted). A majority of
3000-409: The adage, however, has been argued to be genuinely West Baltic, only an otherwise unattested dialect): Additionally, there is one manuscript fragment of the first words of the Pater Noster in Prussian, from the beginning of the 15th century: Towe Nüsze kås esse andangonsün swyntins Vytautas Mažiulis lists another few fragmentary texts recorded in several versions by Hieronymus Maletius in
3075-415: The author. As the authors of many sources were themselves not proficient in Old Prussian, they wrote the words as they heard them using the orthographical conventions of their mother tongue. For example, the use of ⟨s⟩ for both /s/ and /z/ is based on German orthography. Additionally, the writers misunderstood some phonemes and, when copying manuscripts, they added further mistakes. There
Old Prussian language - Misplaced Pages Continue
3150-525: The capital in Drohiczyn . Now the part north of the Bug River is included in the modern Podlaskie Voivodeship with the capital in Białystok , whereas southern parts are located in the Masovian and Lublin Voivodeships . The region is called Podlasie , Podlasko or Podlasze in Polish , Palenkė in Lithuanian , Padliašša (Падляшша) in Belarusian , Podljas’e (Подлясье) in Russian , "Podlyashe" (פּאָדליאַשע) in Yiddish , and Podlachia in Latin . There are two hypotheses regarding
3225-410: The consonant sounds except for /j/ , and possibly for /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ . Whether or not the palatalization was phonemic remains unclear. Apart from the palatalizations Proto-Baltic consonants were almost completely preserved. The only changes postulated are turning Proto-Baltic /ʃ, ʒ/ into Prussian /s, z/ and subsequently changing Proto-Baltic /sj/ into /ʃ/ . The following description is based on
3300-433: The eastern parts. According to Polish census of 2002 , in Podlaskie Voivodeship there were 46,041 Belarusians (3.9%) and 1,366 Ukrainians (0.1%). Autochthonous inhabitants have difficulties in national self-identification and identifying of their language. They often identify their nationality as " tutejszy " (literally "locals"). Based on comparison of a survey and the census, Marek Barwiński supposes that people with
3375-450: The following six key linguistic features: 1 – primordial diphthong *ei , 2 – equivalents to IE velars *k and *g , 3 – *AN type compounds, 4 – equivalents to palatals *k‘ and *g‘ , 5 – equivalents to Baltic consonant compounds *tj and *td , 6 – equivalents to Baltic vowels *ā and *ō . Based on the degree of consensus existing in the academic community, the first two points are sometimes regarded as strong features whereas
3450-588: The incomplete transition of diphthong ei to ie (e.g. sv ie kas ‘hello’, sv ie kata ‘health’, pasv ie k ‘get well’), turn of vowel u into i before consonant v (e.g. br i vai ‘eyebrows’, liž i vis ‘tongue’, ž i vis , ž i vė ‘fish’), use of diphthong ai instead of a (e.g. d ai lyti ‘distribute’), shortening of nominal singular endings (e.g. arkluks ‘little horse’, dieus , dies ‘god’, niks ‘nothing’, vaiks ‘child’), use of consonant z instead of ž (e.g. ząsis , ząsė ‘goose’, zvėris , zvėrys ‘beast’, zvaiždė ‘star’). The said subdialect
3525-408: The inhabitants of southern Podlachia changed their faith from Orthodox to Roman Catholic. At present, very few people in this area speak Ruthenian and nearly all consider themselves Poles. Meanwhile, the eastern part of northern Podlachia is still populated by Belarusians. Podlachia is also the cultural center of Poland's small Tatar minority as well. After the annexation of eastern Poland into
3600-465: The manuscript around 1400; the original dates from the beginning of the 14th or the end of the 13th century. It was found in 1825 by Fr Neumann among other manuscripts acquired by him from the heritage of the Elbing merchant A. Grübnau; it was thus dubbed the Codex Neumannianus . There are separate words found in various historical documents. The following fragments are commonly thought of as Prussian, but are probably actually Lithuanian (at least
3675-469: The middle of the last millennium BC. Unlike the East Baltic languages , West Baltic languages generally conserved the following features: the diphthong *ei (e.g. deiws 'god', ( ACC ) deinan 'day'), palatalized consonants /kʲ/ , /gʲ/ (they are preserved also in the Lithuanian language), and the consonant clusters /tl/ and /dl/ . They also preserved three genders: masculine , feminine and neuter . Sudovian and Old Curonian shared
3750-451: The name of Siedlce Governorate , where the dialects were mostly investigated). There is a problem if they should be considered as part of west Polisian dialects subgroup [ uk ] or as a separate subgroup of northern dialectal group [ uk ] of the Ukrainian language. In the Northern Podlachia Podlachian subdialects are also often considered to be Belarusian dialects or sometimes Ruthenian dialects. Since
3825-475: The nominative suffixes of feminine ā-stems ( crauyō [kraujō] : krawia 'blood'). The nominative suffixes of the masculine o-stems are weakened to -is in Pomesanian; in Sambian they are syncopated ( deywis : deiws 'god'). Vocabulary differences encompass Pom. smoy [zmoy] (cf. Lith. žmuo) , Samb. wijrs 'man'; Pom. wayklis , Samb. soūns 'son' and Pom. samien , Samb. laucks [lauks] 'field'. The neuter gender
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#17327647293333900-423: The north beyond the Narew River and likely Dulebes to the south, although a Masovian -like population had also been present. In the 14th century the area was annexed by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , although it later briefly fell under Mazovian Piast rule. In 1446, Podlachia became part of the Grand Duchy again, but from 1496 southwestern parts of Podlachia ( Drohiczyn Land and Mielnik Land ) and from 1501
3975-434: The northern part ( Bielsk Land ) used Polish law instead of Lithuanian. In 1513 King Sigismund I the Old formed the Podlaskie Voivodeship (adjective of Podlasie ). In 1566, the southeastern part of the Voivodeship became part of the newly formed Brest Litovsk Voivodeship as Brest Litovsk County. In 1569, after the Union of Lublin which formally united Poland and Lithuania as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth , Podlasie
4050-400: The northern part fell entirely within the Białystok Voivodeship while the southern part belonged to the Lublin Voivodeship ; the April 1938 reforms transferred Węgrów and Sokołów from Lublin to the Warsaw Voivodeship . In 1939 Poland was invaded and partitioned between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union following the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact . Although the border agreed upon in
4125-441: The origin of the name of the region. According to the first one, the name is derived from the Polish word las ("forest"), and means "near the forest". A common folk derivation is from the Proto-Slavic word les or las meaning "forest", i.e., it is "by the wood(s)" or an "area of forests", making Podlachia close in meaning to adjacent Polesia . The theory has been questioned, as it does not properly take into consideration
4200-424: The orthodox population in Podlachia have Ukrainian origin (19th century censuses, historical and linguistic researches), though today the number of people with the Ukrainian identity is very small. Until the 19th century, Podlachia was populated by the Polish-speaking yeomanry ( drobna szlachta ), Jews (primarily in towns), and Ruthenian Greek-Catholics speaking a dialect related to modern Ukrainian –
4275-771: The other extinct West Baltic languages , namely Sudovian , West Galindian and possibly Skalvian and Old Curonian . Other linguists consider Western Galindian and Skalvian to be Prussian dialects. It is related to the East Baltic languages such as Lithuanian and Latvian , and more distantly related to Slavic . Compare the words for 'land': Old Prussian semmē [zemē], Latvian : zeme , Lithuanian : žemė , Russian: земля́ , ( zemljá ) and Polish : ziemia . Old Prussian had loanwords from Slavic languages (e.g., Old Prussian curtis [kurtis] 'hound', like Lithuanian kùrtas and Latvian kur̃ts , cognate with Slavic (compare Ukrainian : хорт , khort ; Polish : chart ; Czech : chrt )), as well as
4350-459: The phonological analysis by Schmalstieg: Schmalstieg proposes three native diphthongs: With other remains being merely word lists, the grammar of Old Prussian is reconstructed chiefly on the basis of the three Catechisms. Old Prussian preserved the Proto-Baltic neuter. Therefore, it had three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter). Most scholars agree that there are two numbers, singular and plural, in Old Prussian, while some consider remnants of
4425-574: The population was subjected to mass arrests, executions and deportations to forced labour , concentration camps and Nazi ghettos , whereas under Soviet occupation the population was subjected to mass arrests, executions, deportations to forced labour in Siberia , Central Asia and the Far North . Sites of German massacres of either Polish or Jewish civilians include Mień , Olszewo (also Polish prisoners of war ), Moskwin , Grabarka , Białystok , Tykocin , Rajsk , Paulinów , Krasowo-Częstki , Wnory-Wandy , Jabłoń-Dobki (see Nazi crimes against
4500-528: The remaining four are identified as weak features . There are differences in vocalic variations in the root ( aR / eR and a / e ) between East and West Baltic languages that possibly emerged due to development of Baltic phonology, categories of word-formation, categorical semantics of the verb or traces of IE perfect. Findings on the Lithuanian Zatiela subdialect in present-day Dyatlovo suggest that it had preserved certain linguistic traits associated with West Baltic languages, primarily Sudovian, such as
4575-414: The second one being a correction of the first. The third catechism, or Enchiridion , consists of 132 pages of text, and is a translation of Luther's Small Catechism by a German cleric called Abel Will, with his Prussian assistant Paul Megott. Will himself knew little or no Old Prussian, and his Prussian interpreter was probably illiterate, but according to Will spoke Old Prussian quite well. The text itself
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#17327647293334650-428: The so-called Khakhlak ( Chachlak ) dialect, which derived its name from a derogatory term for Ukrainians ( khakhol or khokhol being the name of the traditional haircut of Ukrainian Cossacks ). In the 19th century, the inhabitants of Podlachia were under the rule of the Russian Empire , with southern Podlachia constituting a part of Russian-controlled Congress Poland . After 1831, Russian authorities forbade
4725-464: The suffix -ng- , which can be observed in various hydronyms and oeconyms (e.g. Apsingė , Nedzingė , Pilvingis , Suvingis , Palanga , Alsunga ) found in southern Lithuania, western Lithuania and Latvia. West Balts possessed double-stemmed personal names with distinct compounds (e.g. Net(i)- , Sebei- ), which are unusual to the anthroponymy of the East Balts. West Baltic languages are traditionally characterised by having at least few of
4800-510: The traditional view is that no instrumental case existed in Old Prussian. There could be some locative forms, e.g. bītai ('in the evening'). Declensional classes were a -stems (also called o -stems), (i)ja -stems (also called (i)jo -stems), ā -stems (feminine), ē -stems (feminine), i -stems, u -stems, and consonant-stems. Some also list ī / jā -stems as a separate stem, while others include jā -stems into ā -stems and do not mention ī -stems at all. There were three adjective stems (
4875-690: The turn of consonant v into j when applying instrumental or adessive singular cases (e.g. sajim ( INS ), sajip , savip ( ADE ) ‘with oneself’, tajim ( INS ), tajip ( ADE ) ‘with you’). Old literary Lithuanian texts from Lithuania Minor attest the use of the third person singular past tense form bit(i) ‘was’ as well as prefix–preposition sa(-) , which are most likely linguistic features inherited from West Baltic languages. Podlasie Podlachia, also known by its Polish name Podlasie ( Polish: [pɔˈdlaɕɛ] ; Lithuanian : Palenkė ; Belarusian : Падляшша , romanized : Padliashsha ),
4950-425: The uprising, in 1867 Congress Poland was formally absorbed into Russia as the Vistula Land (Privislinsky Krai), although the Kingdom still nominally existed. The Podlachian Governorate was also restored under the name Siedlce Governorate , and the Augustów Governorate was split between the Łomża and Suwałki Governorates ; Augustów itself went to Suwałki Governorate while the rest of the Podlachian territory went to
5025-452: The victims of the Soviet-perpetrated Katyn massacre . The region once again returned to Polish control in 1945. In 1999 the modern Podlaskie Voivodeship was established which encompasses the northern part of historic Podlachia, including Białystok and Drohiczyn, as well as surrounding areas, including Łomża and Suwałki. Its southern border lies along the Bug. While today Podlachia is mostly inhabited by Poles , many Belarusians live in
5100-465: The vowel shifts "a" > "e" > "i" in various Slavic languages (in fact, it mixes vowels from different languages). According to the second theory, the name is derived from the word liakh (or lach , Ukrainian : лях , "Pole"), and means "near Poland". The second theory holds that the term comes from the expression pod Lachem , which may be translated literally as "under the Poles" (see: Lechia ). Some claim it to mean "under Polish rule", though in
5175-456: The western and northern parts of Prussian Podlachia, became part of the Duchy of Warsaw , a Polish client state of the First French Empire , while the southeastern part including Białystok fell under Russian rule as the Belostok Oblast . The Podlachian territory within the Belostock Oblast corresponded with the Bielsk and Drohiczyn Uyezds (roughly "counties") and the western part of Belostok Uyezd. The small amounts of Podlachian territory in
5250-505: The Łomża Governorate. According to the Russian Imperial Census of 1897 , the most spoken languages in the Siedlce Governorate were Polish (66.13%), Yiddish (15.56%) and Ukrainian (13.95%). At the same time the most spoken languages in Bielsk Uyezd were Ukrainian (39.1%), Polish (34.9%), Yiddish (14.9%), Russian (5.9%) and Belarusian (4.9%); those in the Białystok Uyezd were Polish (33.95%), Yiddish (28.34%), Belarusian (26.13%), Russian (6.68%) and German (3.59%). In 1912 Siedlce Governorate
5325-623: Was Prussian toponomy and hydronomy within the territory of (Baltic) Prussia. Georg Gerullis undertook the first basic study of these names in Die altpreußischen Ortsnamen ('The Old Prussian Place-names'), written and published with the help of Walter de Gruyter, in 1922. Another source are personal names. Further sources for Prussian words are Vernacularisms in the German dialects of East and West Prussia, as well as words of Old Curonian origin in Latvian and West-Baltic vernacularisms in Lithuanian and Belarusian. Two Prussian vocabularies are known. The older one by Simon Grunau (Simon Grunovius),
5400-542: Was ceded to the Kingdom of Poland . It was the northernmost part of the Lesser Poland Province of Poland. The voivodeship was divided into three lands ( ziemie ): Drohiczyn, Mielnik and Bielsk. In the 18th and 19th century the private town of Białystok became the main center of the region, thanks to the patronage of the Branicki family and the development of the textile industry . Following
5475-759: Was once again abolished and divided between the Lublin , Łomża and Kholm Governorates , with all three gaining some parts of the former Podlachia; Kholm Governorate was also removed administratively from the Vistula Land, instead being made part of the Kiev General Governorate . During World War I the area was occupied by the German Empire , with most of the Vistula Land falling under the Government General of Warsaw (later
5550-678: Was organised as part of the Białystok Department of New East Prussia , which also included parts of the former Mazovian and Trakai Voivodeships ; the Habsburg portion lay mostly within the Siedlce Kreis of West Galicia ( Galicia and Lodomeria from 1803). In 1807, by the Treaties of Tilsit , Prussia ceded all of its gains in the second and third partitions, as well as part of the first. Most of this territory, including
5625-724: Was translated into Revived Prussian by Piotr Szatkowski (Pīteris Šātkis) and published by the Prusaspirā Society in 2015. Moreover, some bands use Revived Prussian, most notably in the Kaliningrad Oblast by the bands Romowe Rikoito , Kellan and Āustras Laīwan, as well as in Lithuania by Kūlgrinda on their 2005 album Prūsų Giesmės ('Prussian Hymns'), and Latvia by Rasa Ensemble in 1988 and Valdis Muktupāvels in his 2005 oratorio "Pārcēlātājs Pontifex" featuring several parts sung in Prussian. The Elbing Vocabulary and
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