78-668: Svitavy ( Czech pronunciation: [ˈsvɪtavɪ] ; German : Zwittau ) is a town in Svitavy District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic . It has about 16,000 inhabitants. It is the birthplace of Oskar Schindler and the centre of the Czech Esperanto movement. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone . Svitavy is made up of
156-465: 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
234-402: 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
312-612: 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
390-489: A former textile factory from 1926. It is a social centre with a theatre hall and a library. Svitavy is known for the basketball club Tuři Svitavy . Until the relegation in 2024, it played in the National Basketball League (top Czech league). The Svitavský stadion hosts football and athletics. The town is home to the football club TJ Svitavy, which plays in lower amateur tiers. Motorcycle speedway
468-559: 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
546-458: 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
624-696: 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
702-521: A result of the Beneš decrees . After 1945, the town was resettled by immigrants from the whole Czechoslovakia . There are no major companies based in the town, only middle-sized employers. The largest employers in Svitavy with more than 250 employees are Fibertex Nonwovens (manufacturer and processor of industrial textiles) and Westrock Packaging Systems Svitavy (producer of cardboard packaging). Svitavy
780-483: 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
858-601: 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
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#1732765231908936-646: Is a transport hub of the area. It is well-connected by rail to other parts of the Czech Republic as it is located on the Prague – Brno railway line. It also lies on a line of local importance from Česká Třebová to Skuteč . The town has an intercity bus station with services to various destinations. Two first class roads cross just north of Svitavy, the I/43 road (part of the European route E461 ), which connects
1014-612: 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
1092-558: 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
1170-478: 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
1248-430: 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
1326-535: 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
1404-611: 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
1482-584: Is held in the western outskirts of the town at the Areál Chihelna Svitavy. The stadium held a final round of the Czechoslovak Individual Speedway Championship from 1967 to 1973 and continues to hold qualifying races for the event. Svitavy has a valuable historical core. Its centre includes the almost 500 metres (1,600 ft) long main square with architecturally noteworthy civic buildings, which
1560-565: 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
1638-435: 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
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#17327652319081716-597: 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
1794-3157: Is part of the international E-road network . Route [ edit ] [REDACTED] Czech Republic E48 , E49 Karlovy Vary E55 Teplice E65 Turnov E67 Hradec Králové E462 Olomouc [REDACTED] Slovakia E50 , E75 Žilina External links [ edit ] Map of E-road International E-road network v t e International E-road network E1 E3 E4 E5 E6 E7 E8 E9 E10 E11 E12 E13 E14 E15 E16 E17 E18 E19 E20 E21 E22 E23 E24 E25 E26 E27 E28 E29 E30 E31 E32 E33 E34 E35 E36 E37 E38 E39 E40 E41 E42 E43 E44 E45 E46 E47 E48 E49 E50 E51 E52 E53 E54 E55 E56 E57 E58 E59 E60 E61 E62 E63 E64 E65 E66 E67 E68 E69 E70 E71 E72 E73 E74 E75 E76 E77 E78 E79 E80 E81 E82 E83 E84 E85 E86 E87 E88 E89 E90 E91 E92 E93 E94 E95 E96 E97 E98 E99 E101 E105 E115 E117 E119 E121 E123 E125 E127 [REDACTED] E134 E136 E201 E231 E232 E233 E234 E251 E261 E262 E263 E264 E265 E271 E272 E311 E312 E313 E314 E331 E371 E372 E373 E391 E401 E402 E403 E404 E411 E420 E421 E422 E429 E441 E442 E451 E461 E462 E471 E501 E502 E511 E512 E531 E532 E533 E551 E552 E571 E572 E573 E574 E575 E576 E577 E578 E579 E581 E583 E584 E591 E592 E601 E602 E603 E604 E606 E607 E611 E612 E641 E651 E652 E653 E661 E662 E671 E673 E675 E691 E692 E711 E712 E713 E714 E717 E751 E761 E762 E763 E771 E772 E773 E801 E802 E803 E804 E805 E806 E821 E840 E841 E842 E843 E844 E846 E847 E848 E851 E852 E853 E871 E881 E901 E902 E903 E931 E932 E933 E951 E952 E961 E962 E981 E982 E001 E002 E003 E004 E005 E006 E007 E008 E009 E010 E011 E012 E013 E014 E015 E016 E017 E018 E019 Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=European_route_E442&oldid=1139075011 " Categories : International E-road network Roads in
1872-401: 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
1950-525: 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
2028-461: Is the 4th longest square in the Czech Republic and has the 2nd longest arcade in the country. The Renaissance houses from the 16th century were reconstructed in the Baroque style after the fire in 1781. In the middle of the square is a Baroque Marian column from 1703. The column is surrounded by the three patron saints of the town – St. Sebastian, St. Florian and St. John of Nepomuk. In the grotto of
2106-578: 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
2184-485: 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
2262-431: Is used for commercial purposes. The adjacent Renaissance "U Mouřenína" House is one of the oldest preserved burgher house in Svitavy, built in 1554. The tourist information centre is now located in the building. Ottendorfer House is a red-brick historicist building with a tower, it is one of the symbols of the town, built in 1892 by the local native Oswald Ottendorfer on the site of his birthplace. It originally housed
2340-689: 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
2418-639: 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
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2496-537: 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
2574-542: The Esperanto Museum in Svitavy . Since 2011, Svitavy hosts the annual music festival Rosnička. The Town Museum and Gallery was founded in 1894 and it is based in its current premises since 1947. It includes permanent exhibition "From the History of Washing Technology" and an exhibition about the life of local native Oskar Schindler . The multifunctional cultural centre Fabrika was created by reconstruction of
2652-480: 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
2730-522: 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
2808-746: 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
2886-666: 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
2964-676: 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
3042-550: 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
3120-513: The Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries , such as Swiss German ( Alemannic dialects ) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est , such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian). After these High German dialects, standard German
3198-462: The bishop of Olomouc , Bruno von Schauenburg , and this year is considered to be the year of foundation of the town. In 1389, the town walls were built. They protected the town during the Hussite Wars , however the town was conquered. Svitavy often changed owners. In the 16th century, the town flourished economically. The prosperity was interrupted by the Thirty Years' War . In 1645, the town
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3276-469: 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
3354-723: 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
3432-748: 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
3510-536: 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
3588-451: 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
3666-681: 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
3744-655: 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
3822-970: 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 ), 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
3900-518: 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
3978-749: The Neo-Gothic Chapel of Saint Vincent de Paul from 1874. Svitavy is twinned with: 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 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
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#17327652319084056-618: The Ottendorfer House. The house belonged to one of the richest families in Svitavy, local businesspeople. During the Depression, it was rented out to the town treasury, which in turn in 1933 rented the house to the town authorities, who bought the house and transferred the town hall to it. Budig's Villa was built in German Renaissance style in 1892 for the former mayor and businessman Johann Budig. Nowadays houses
4134-480: The Town Museum and Gallery. Church of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary is located on the main square. It was probably originally a Romanesque structure built in around 1250. After the fire in 1781, it was rebuilt in the Baroque style. It has an accessible tower with a panoramic view. Church of Saint Giles was originally a Romanesque basilica built in around 1150. It was rebuilt in the early Baroque style in 1689 and includes preserved original interior equipment. In
4212-404: The column there is a statue of St. Rosalie. On the square there is also the Fountain of St. Florian from 1783. The town walls from 1389 were demolished during the 19th century. A semi-circular bastion is the only remnant. Old Town Hall is originally a Renaissance building with a tower, extensively rebuilt after the fire of 1781 and again in 1849. It served as the town hall until 1933 and now it
4290-430: 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
4368-404: 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
4446-435: 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
4524-435: 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,
4602-417: 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
4680-794: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . European route E442 Road in the Czech Republic and Slovakia [REDACTED] E442 Route information Length 607 km (377 mi) Major junctions From Karlovy Vary Major intersections Teplice Turnov Hradec Králové Olomouc To Žilina Location Countries [REDACTED] Czech Republic [REDACTED] Slovakia Highway system International E-road network A Class B Class European route E 442
4758-442: The largest public and most modern German-language library in Moravia, later a town cultural centre. Since 2008 the Esperanto Museum and a tea room are located on the ground floor, the ornate hall on the floor above continues to serve as a concert hall. Langer's Villa houses the present town hall. It is historicist building with rich stucco ornamentation, built in 1892. It was designed by architect Germano Wanderley, who also designed
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#17327652319084836-402: 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
4914-434: The municipal territory and flows through the town. Apart from a few small bodies of water, there are two significant fish ponds on the Svitava near the town, Svitavský and Rosnička. They are the remains of the original eleven water works around the town. Rosnička was founded in the first half of the 16th century and Svitavský was established in 1953. In addition to fish farming, they form a suburban recreational area. Svitavy
4992-423: 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
5070-462: 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
5148-492: 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,
5226-408: The structure has changed significantly. Svitavy was historically a German-speaking town with a Czech minority. At the beginning of the 20th century the town saw tensions between Czech and German speaking people. In October 1938, the town was annexed by Nazi Germany and administered as part of the Reichsgau Sudetenland . After the end of World War II in 1945, the German population was expelled as
5304-449: 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
5382-474: The town parts of Lačnov, Lány, Město and Předměstí. Svitavy was named after the river Svitava . The river's name referred to its clear water and was derived from svítat , which meant "be clear" in Old Czech. Svitavy is located about 57 kilometres (35 mi) southeast of Pardubice and 60 km (37 mi) north of Brno . It lies in the Svitavy Uplands . The highest point is at 475 metres (1,558 ft) above sea level. The Svitava River originates in
5460-420: The town with Brno, and the I/35 road (part of the European route E442 ), which replaces the unfinished section of the D35 motorway from Olomouc to the Hradec Králové Region . The Czech Esperanto Association is based in the town. It is a follower of several clubs from the first half of the 20th century, re-established in 1969. It co-organizes regional Esperanto meetings, organizes Children's Days, and manages
5538-414: The vicinity is the valuable Roman Catholic parish house, rebuilt in the Broque style in 1626–1636. Church of Saint Joseph is a three-nave Neo-Romanesque basilica built in 1894–1896 with valuable decoration. Today the building is owned by a hospital. Convent of the Sisters of Grace of the St. Vincent de Paul order, founded in 1871, served as a hospital and later became a social care facility. It include
5616-555: 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
5694-600: 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
5772-429: 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
5850-547: 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
5928-492: 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
6006-465: Was founded during the colonization by Premonstratensian monks from nearby Litomyšl around 1150. They built the Church of Saint Giles and founded a settlement called Stará Svitava near an old trade route. During the second wave of colonization in around 1250, mostly German-speaking settlers came and founded another settlement called Nová Svitava. Svitavy was first mentioned in 1256 when it was taken over by
6084-468: Was looted. In 1781, a large fire destroyed most of the town. During the Napoleonic and Austro-Prussian wars, the town suffered as armies passed through the town. In 1849, the railway was built, which contributed to the development of the town, especially the textile industry. Gradually, over a hundred textile factories were established. Svitavy has retained its industrial character to this day, although
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