The Sambians were a Prussian tribe . They inhabited the Sambia Peninsula north of the city of Königsberg (now Kaliningrad ). Sambians were located in a coastal territory rich in amber and engaged in trade early on (see Amber Road ). Therefore, they established contacts with foreign nations before any other Prussians. However, as with all other Prussians, they were conquered by the Teutonic Knights , and, exposed to assimilation and Germanization , became extinct sometime in the 17th century.
41-680: The Sambians bordered the Natangians in the south, and the Nadruvians in the east. Engaged in the amber trade, Sambia was the richest and most densely populated region of Prussia . It provides a wealth of artifacts from the Bronze Age , including imported goods from the Roman Empire . Sambians, unlike other Prussians, did not cremate their dead. They built earth barrows above graves and surrounded them with stone circles. The name of
82-622: A fief held by the Teutonic Order, and after 1525 held by secular Ducal Prussia . When German colonists settled in the area, the Natangians kept their local language and customs up until the 17th century. Later on, their identity disappeared by the end of the 17th century or the beginning of the 18th century as they merged with the German population, but the local populace still defined themselves as "Natangians" up to 1945 and even
123-413: 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
164-660: A 1238 treaty between the Knights and Duke Świętopełk II of Pomerania . They were conquered by the Teutonic Knights around 1239–1240. In order to prevent the Natangians from liberating themselves from Teutonic rule, the Teutonic Order erected the Kreuzburg Castle in Natangia. The Treaty of Christburg of early 1249, which assured personal freedom to newly converted Christians, included Natangians. However,
205-593: 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
246-456: 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
287-816: 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 –
328-597: 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
369-757: 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
410-588: 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 –
451-601: 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 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
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#1732772652336492-549: Is based on 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
533-526: 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
574-596: 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
615-587: The Great Prussian Uprising (1260–1274), the Natangians elected Herkus Monte , who was educated in Germany, as their chief. At first he was successful and defeated the Knights in the Battle of Pokarwis and Battle of Löbau . However, the rebels were unable to capture the brick castles built by the Knights and were defeated. Herkus, who had been one of the most prominent leaders of the Prussians,
656-615: 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
697-609: 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
738-582: 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
779-488: 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
820-487: 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 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
861-482: The Knights arrange a large campaign against the Sambians. King Ottokar II of Bohemia participated in the expedition and as a tribute the Knights named the newly founded Königsberg Castle in his honor. The Sambians rose against the Knights during the Great Prussian Uprising (1260–1274), but were the first ones to surrender. When other clans tried to resurrect the uprising in 1276 Theodoric, vogt of Sambia convinced
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#1732772652336902-541: 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 –
943-550: The Prussian Crusade-Holy War and Colonisation. New York. pp. 8, 60, 61, 62, 63, 196. ISBN 978-0-415-69171-0 Natangians Natangians or Notangians ( Prussian : Notangi ; Polish : Natangowie ; Lithuanian : Notangai ; German : Natanger ) was a Prussian clan , which lived in the region of Natangia , an area that is now mostly part of the Russian exclave Kaliningrad Oblast , whereas
984-517: The Sambians not to join the insurrection; Natangians and Warmians followed the Sambian lead and the uprising was crushed within a year. In 1243, the Bishopric of Samland (Sambia) was established as the church administration of the region, as arranged by the papal legate William of Modena . At the end of the 13th century, Sambians numbered only about 22,000. They gave in to Germanization later than western tribes that were conquered earlier. In 1454,
1025-683: The Teutonic Knights, a crusading military order from the Holy Roman Empire . Its goal was to conquer all pagans and convert them to Roman Catholicism . The conquest of Sambia during the Prussian Crusade was delayed by the First Prussian Uprising that broke out in 1242. The uprising technically ended in 1249 by signing the Treaty of Christburg , but skirmishes lasted for four more years. Only in 1254–1255 could
1066-469: 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
1107-420: 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
1148-462: The clan was first mentioned in 1073 by Adam of Bremen , who calls them "most humane people". Warfare with Danes continued from the mid-9th century to beginning of the 13th century. It is known that there was Wiskiauten , a Viking settlement in Sambia, that flourished for about 300 years. Swedes maintained more peaceful relations and fostered trade. The 13th century saw the rise of another enemy,
1189-408: 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
1230-631: The local newspaper of Landsberg (Górowo Iławeckie) was called "Natanger Zeitung" after 1919. Prussian language 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
1271-589: 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
Sambians - Misplaced Pages Continue
1312-534: 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
1353-693: The region was incorporated by King Casimir IV Jagiellon to the Kingdom of Poland . After the subsequent Thirteen Years' War , the longest of all Polish–Teutonic wars, since 1466, Sambia formed part of Poland as a fief held by the Teutonic Order, and after 1525 held by secular Ducal Prussia . According to Peter von Dusburg , Sambia was subdivided in 15 territorial units. Their German names (from east to west) are: Germau , Medenau , Rinau , Pobeten , Wargen , Rudau , Laptau , Quedenau , Schaaken , Waldau , Caimen , Tapiau , Labiau , Laukischken , and Wehlau . 5. Pluskowski, Aleksander. The Archaeology of
1394-414: 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
1435-654: The southern portion lies in the Polish Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship . In the 13th century, when the Teutonic Knights began their crusade against the Prussians, some 15,000 people might have lived in the area between the Pregolya and Łyna rivers. The Natangian lands bordered with Sambia in the north, Warmia in the west and south, and Bartia in the southeast. They likely spoke a West Baltic language , now extinct, similar to Old Prussian language . Natangians are first mentioned in
1476-529: 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 (
1517-461: The treaty failed to address the underlying causes of the conflict, and Natangians massacred 54 knights in the Battle of Krücken in November 1249. But the victory was short-lived, the Knights regained their strength in just two years and continued their crusade. In 1255 they built Königsberg (now Kaliningrad) at the mouth of Pregolya river, right on the border between Natangia and Sambia. During
1558-437: 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
1599-787: 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),
1640-500: Was captured and hanged in 1273. The Natangian nobles submitted to the Germans, who promised privileges and undisturbed ownership of their estates. Natangians, led by Sabynas and Stanta, rebelled for the last time in 1295. In 1454, the region was incorporated by King Casimir IV Jagiellon to the Kingdom of Poland . After the subsequent Thirteen Years' War , the longest of all Polish–Teutonic wars, since 1466, it formed part of Poland as
1681-732: 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