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141-617: The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine ( German : Großherzogtum Hessen und bei Rhein ) was a grand duchy in western Germany that existed from 1806 to 1918. The grand duchy originally formed from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1806 as the Grand Duchy of Hesse (German: Großherzogtum Hessen ). It assumed the name Hesse und bei Rhein in 1816 to distinguish itself from the Electorate of Hesse , which had formed from
282-465: 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
423-402: 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
564-729: A "Reform Association" to oppose the Progress Party and the National Association was a failure, as was his attempt to get the Federal Convention to ban the National Association. 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
705-612: 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
846-474: A close with military force, but accepted the farmers' demands. This marked the end of the "hot phase" of the revolution in the grand duchy, which thus lasted only two weeks. After March 1848, there was a reshuffle of the ministries, since Heinrich von Gagern was elected president of the Frankfurt Parliament and therefore had to resign from his role as a minister in the grand duchy. Nevertheless,
987-557: A coup d'état against the Landstände in autumn 1850. On 7 October 1850, he issued an edict setting aside the existing voting system, removing the sitting Landstände from power, and ordering a return to an electoral law like the one that existed before the March Revolution for "extraordinary" elections to the Landstände. These led to the election of the 14th (extraordinary) Landstände, in which pro-government representatives had
1128-543: A crisis in the grand duchy. Then on 24 February 1848, a revolution in Paris forced King Louis-Philippe to abdicate. The political tension grew so great that the government no longer waited for citizens' committees and other societies to take banned political actions before persecuting them. Within a few days, the situation had become so dire that, on 5 March 1848, Grand Duke Louis II named his son Louis III as his co-regent (in fact, Louis III became sole ruler, since Louis II
1269-559: 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
1410-549: A majority, and marked the beginning of comprehensive efforts to dismantle the achievements of the revolution. Even after the introduction of limited suffrage in October 1850, the Landstände still had many democratic and liberal members and the crisis regarding the Zollverein in 1852 showed how effective this opposition could still be. However, increased pressure on individual representatives (many of whom gave up and emigrated to
1551-468: A minority in favour of this policy. On 14 May 1852, the government went so far as to dissolve the city council of Friedberg with armed police. All of this did not help Dalwigk at all. In the end, Austria and Prussia came to an agreement between themselves on customs and Austria gave up on the idea of a customs union with the German middle states. The whole affair created an enduring enemy to Dalwigk, however:
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#17327723015471692-540: A mosaic of patrimonial fragments into a centralized, absolute monarchy". On 24 April 1809, Napoleon ordered the abolition of the Teutonic Order , amalgamating Kloppenheim and Schiffenberg Abbey [ de ] into the grand duchy. Between 1808 and 1810, there were plans to introduce the Napoleonic Code as only valid law for the whole grand duchy. However, these discussions were terminated by
1833-602: A narrow stretch of territory, which belonged to Prussia after 1866 and before that to Duchy of Nassau , the Free City of Frankfurt , and the Electorate of Hesse . About 25% of the land area was forested. The two sections had very different characters: Upper Hesse was the largest of the three provinces by area. Most of this territory was forested uplands of the Vogelsberg and the Hessian Hinterland . Only
1974-458: 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
2115-696: 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
2256-501: A prisoner to Stettin . By the Peace of Prague , Hesse-Kassel was annexed to Prussia. The elector Frederick William (d. 1875) had been, by the terms of the treaty of cession, guaranteed the entailed property of his house. This was, however, sequestered in 1868 owing to his intrigues against Prussia; part of the income was paid, however, to the eldest agnate, the landgrave Frederick (d. 1884), and part, together with certain castles and palaces,
2397-491: A result, on 8 March, a massive demonstration gathered before the residences of the Standesherren and stormed some of them. After this, the Standesherren agreed to the abolition of serfdom without compensation. In doing this, however, the farmers exceeded the limits of what the bourgeoise were willing to accept, since they were not willing to countenance interventions in private property . Von Gagern brought this protest to
2538-483: 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
2679-486: A series of reforms delivered most of the "March demands". The new organisation of the administration saw the three provinces and all of the districts abolished and replaced by a single level of local administration midway between them, the Regierungsbezirk ("government district"). Each of these had a Bezirksrat (district council) to represent the people. A reform of the justice system was also carried out in
2820-513: A small portion was part of the fertile Wetterau , where there were also brown coal deposits. There were many streams and waterways in the area, but none of them were big enough to serve as transport routes. Agriculture brought only low yields, while there was no industry at all. This led to increasing poverty over the course of the 19th century and massive emigration to the established industrial centres in Germany and overseas. While Upper Hesse
2961-419: A system of civic and parish citizenship. Bürgermeister (mayors) were established for individual settlements and parish associations with at least 400 inhabitants. In 1831 there were 1092 parishes in the grand duchy, administered by 732 mayors. The mayoralties were administered by an elected local board, consisting of the mayor, deputies, and parish councillors. Male residents elected three men and one of them
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#17327723015473102-601: 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
3243-612: 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
3384-558: 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
3525-478: 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
3666-430: 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
3807-405: Is dated 10 November 1810. The Babenhausen district was attached to Strakenburg province, the other territories to Upper Hesse. In August 1810, there was a three-way agreement between France, Hesse, and the Grand Duchy of Baden . Baden placed its territories at French disposal and France gave them back to the grand duchy with a treaty signed on 11 November 1810. The Hessian certificate of possession
3948-585: Is dated 13 November 1810. At the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the grand duchy joined the German Confederation and received a portion of the former Mont-Tonnerre department , which had a population of 140,000 people and included the important federal Fortress of Mainz , as compensation for the Duchy of Westphalia , which Hesse had received in 1803 and which was now transferred to Prussia. During
4089-535: 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
4230-611: 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
4371-565: Is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark ), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are
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4512-435: 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
4653-597: 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
4794-401: 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
4935-525: 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
5076-776: Is the most spoken native language within the European Union . It is the most widely spoken and official (or co-official) language in Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , and the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and the Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia , as well as a recognized national language in Namibia . There are also notable German-speaking communities in France ( Alsace ),
5217-578: 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
5358-485: 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
5499-689: 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
5640-639: 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
5781-660: The Austro-Prussian War on the Austrian side, but received a relatively mild settlement from the Prussian victors. The grand duchy joined the German Empire in 1871. As a small state within the empire, the grand duchy had limits placed on its autonomy, but significant religious, social, and cultural reforms were carried out. During the November Revolution after World War I in 1918, the grand duchy
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5922-542: The Constitution of the German Confederation required each member state to establish their own "parliamentary constitution" ( Landständische Verfassung ). Louis I balked at this and was quoted as saying that a parliament "in a sovereign state [is] not necessary, not useful, and in some respects dangerous." In fact, the process of constitutional reform was mainly undertaken by the civil service rather than
6063-568: The Czech Republic ( North Bohemia ), Poland ( Upper Silesia ), Slovakia ( Košice Region , Spiš , and Hauerland ), Denmark ( North Schleswig ), Romania and Hungary ( Sopron ). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in Brazil ( Blumenau and Pomerode ), South Africa ( Kroondal ), Namibia , among others, some communities have decidedly Austrian German or Swiss German characters (e.g. Pozuzo , Peru). German
6204-537: 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
6345-417: 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
6486-604: The Frankfurt Parliament , Frederick William joined the Prussian Northern Union, and deputies from Hesse-Kassel were sent to the Erfurt Parliament . But as Austria recovered strength, the Elector's policy changed. On 23 February 1850, Hassenpflug was again placed at the head of the administration and threw himself with renewed zeal into the struggle against the constitution and into opposition to
6627-522: 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
6768-637: 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
6909-651: The Holy Roman Empire and joined the Confederation of the Rhine . The Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt was promoted to a grand duchy and Louis X thereafter styled himself Grand Duke Louis I ( German : Großherzog Ludewig I. , with an extra 'e') and announced not only the promotion, but also the territories he had received under the Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine in an edict on 13 August 1806. Along with
7050-548: The Holy Roman Empire was abolished in 1806, its prince, William I , chose to retain the title of Elector , even though there was no longer an Emperor to elect. In 1807, with the Treaties of Tilsit , the area was annexed to the Kingdom of Westphalia , but in 1814, the Congress of Vienna restored the electorate. The state was the only electorate within the German Confederation . It consisted of several detached territories to
7191-468: The Kingdom of Prussia . On 2 September, the Diet was dissolved; the taxes were continued by Electoral ordinance; and the country was placed under martial law. It was at once clear, however, that the Elector could not depend on his officers or troops, who remained faithful to their oath to the constitution. Hassenpflug persuaded the Elector to leave Kassel secretly with him, and on 15 October, appealed for aid to
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#17327723015477332-566: The Kingdom of Westphalia under the rule of Jérôme Bonaparte . After the Battle of Leipzig in 1813, the French were driven out of Hesse-Kassel, and on 21 November, the Elector returned in triumph to his capital, Kassel . A treaty concluded by him with the Coalition (2 December) stipulated that he was to receive back all his former territories, or their equivalent, and at the same time restored
7473-717: The Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt . The reign of the Landgrave William IX was an important epoch in the history of Hesse-Kassel. Ascending the throne in 1785, he took part in the War of the First Coalition against French First Republic a few years later, but in 1795 the Peace of Basel was signed. In 1801 he lost his possessions on the left bank of the Rhine , but in 1803 he was compensated for these losses with some former French territory around Mainz , and at
7614-577: The Landratsbezirke [ de ] and Landgerichten established in the Souveränitätslanden , which meant that the Standesherren chose the local councillors and judges. This remaining power was only removed during the German revolutions of 1848–1849 . From the 50+ Ämter that had previously existed 24 Landratsbezirke and 27 Landgerichten were created. The new Landgerichte had their own judicial districts , which covered almost
7755-439: 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
7896-427: The Sprachraum in Europe. German is used in a wide variety of spheres throughout the country, especially in business, tourism, and public signage, as well as in education, churches (most notably the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK) ), other cultural spheres such as music, and media (such as German language radio programs by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation ). The Allgemeine Zeitung
8037-422: The Standard German language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition. Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardized in the process. The Deutsche Bühnensprache ( lit. ' German stage language ' ) by Theodor Siebs had established conventions for German pronunciation in theatres , three years earlier; however, this
8178-413: The United States ) and, especially, the new electoral law of 1856 weakened even this opposition. In external politics, Dalwigk and Louis III supported Austria, the German Confederation , and a pan-German solution to the German Question . The first crisis with Prussia arose in 1852 in connection with the Zollverein , the north German customs union dominated by Prussia. In 1851, the Prussians terminated
8319-400: The Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries , such as Swiss German ( Alemannic dialects ) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est , such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian). After these High German dialects, standard German
8460-466: The Vogelsberg , the Hessian Hinterland , and the Odenwald . In the south, the exclaves of the Wimpfen district [ de ] extended into the Grand Duchy of Baden . The territory consisted of two separate areas: the province [ de ] of Upper Hesse in the north and the provinces of Starkenburg and Rhenish Hesse in the south, as well as a number of much smaller exclaves. The northern and southern sections were separated by
8601-441: The great powers , Prussia and Austria. On the other hand, the government continually persecuted the opposition (although without much long-term success in the courts), since they feared a revolution. A political crisis was already broiling in Hesse at the time of the July Revolution in 1830: when Louis II succeeded as grand duke after the death of his father in 1830, he had a total debt of two million guilder , which he expected
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#17327723015478742-408: The pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied , a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from
8883-405: The Elector to reassemble the chambers, which he had dismissed at the first sign of opposition; and he avenged himself by refusing to transact any public business. In 1866, the end came. The elector, Frederick William, full of grievances against Prussia, threw in his lot with Austria; the electorate was at once overrun with Prussian troops; Kassel was occupied (20 June); and the Elector was taken as
9024-423: The Electorate of Hesse, was an enclave within the grand duchy until 1866, when it was given to the grand duchy. Hesse-Homburg was inherited by the Grand Duke of Hesse in 1866, but had to be ceded to Prussia later that same year. The Biedenkopf district and the Hessian Hinterland were also annexed by Prussia in 1866. These territories were combined with Electoral Hesse, the Duchy of Nassau, and Frankfurt to create
9165-614: The Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Prague (German: Prag ) and Budapest ( Buda , German: Ofen ), to name two examples, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain; others, like Pressburg ( Pozsony , now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and cities like Zagreb (German: Agram ) or Ljubljana (German: Laibach ), contained significant German minorities. In
9306-495: The Estates were dissolved. William I died on 27 February 1821 and was succeeded by his son, William II . Under him, the constitutional crisis in Kassel came to a head. He was arbitrary and avaricious, like his father, and moreover shocked public sentiment by his treatment of his wife, a popular Prussian princess , and his relations with his mistress, one Emilie Ortlöpp , whom he created Countess of Reichenbach-Lessonitz and loaded with wealth. The July Revolution in Paris gave
9447-428: The French defeat in 1815, the grand duchy joined the new German Confederation . Westphalia was taken by Prussia , but Hesse received Rhenish Hesse in return. A constitution was proclaimed in 1820 and a long process of legal reforms was begun, with the aim of unifying the disparate territories under the grand duke's control. The political history of the grand duchy during this period was characterised by conflict between
9588-414: The Frisian languages— North Frisian (spoken in Nordfriesland ), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Saterland ), and West Frisian (spoken in Friesland )—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both Old Norse and the Norman language . The history of
9729-417: The German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period , which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon . This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants ( b , d , g , and p , t , k , respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below. While there is written evidence of
9870-399: The German states; the invention of the printing press c. 1440 and the publication of Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language. The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of chancery German, one being gemeine tiutsch , used in the court of
10011-623: The Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German and Low Franconian dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as Irminonic , Ingvaeonic , and Istvaeonic , respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by
10152-655: 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
10293-518: 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
10434-454: The National Association, which so overwhelmed the prosecutors, that the whole persecution was discontinued in 1861. In summer 1861, the National Association had 937 members in Hesse – the highest number outside Prussia. In 1862, the liberal Hessian Progress Party stood in the Landstände elections and won a landslide victory with 32 of the 50 seats in the lower chamber. Dalwigk's attempt to organise
10575-414: The Prussian representative in the Federal Convention , Otto von Bismarck . He advised the Prussian government to refuse to grant a new customs treaty to the grand duchy, unless Dalwigk resigned. However, this advice was not followed. The German National Association was founded in 1859. Its goal was to create a liberal Lesser Germany under Prussian leadership – the opposite goal from Dalwigk. He advised
10716-634: The Vogelsberg). Intensive agriculture was possible and profitable in many areas of these plains, such as fruit growing on the Bergstraße and viticulture in Rhine-Hesse. There were two large navigable rivers, the Rhine and the Main , which were the most important transportation routes until the development of the railway . Burgeoning industry developed in this region. The three major centres of
10857-609: The administrative system were separated at the lowest level in Starkenburg and Upper Hesse provinces. In Rheinhessen, this had already been done around twenty years earlier, while the area was under French control. The tasks that had previously been assigned to the Ämter were transferred to Landratsbezirke [ de ] ("local council districts", responsible for administration) and Landgerichten [ de ] ("local courts", responsible for judicial functions). This process took place over several years, since at first
10998-514: The ancient constitution of his country. This treaty, so far as the territories were concerned, was implemented by the Great Powers at the Congress of Vienna . They refused, however, the Elector's request to be recognized as "King of the Chatti " ( König der Katten ). At the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle (1818) , he was listed with the grand dukes as a "Royal Highness." William chose to retain
11139-481: The areas to the right of the Rhine, including the introduction of jury courts . A new electoral law was not passed until 1849. Under this law, all members of both chambers of the Landstände were now to be elected – the lower house by universal equal suffrage and the upper house by census suffrage . So much "democracy" was novel even for liberal politicians and the interior ministry urged people to act responsibly with their right to vote. Two elections were held under
11280-605: The army to revert to the old uniforms and powdered pigtails. The Estates (Parliament), indeed, were summoned in March 1815, but the attempt to devise a constitution broke down; their appeal to the Federal Assembly Bundesversammlung at Frankfurt to call the Elector to order in the matter of the debt and the domains came to nothing, owing to the intervention of Klemens von Metternich ; and in May 1816
11421-564: The consequent friction with the Diet (lower house) was aggravated when, in 1832, Hans Hassenpflug was placed at the head of the administration. All the efforts of William II and his minister were directed to nullifying the constitutional controls vested in the Diet; and the Opposition was fought by manipulating the elections, packing the judicial bench, and a vexatious and petty persecution of political "suspects", and this policy continued after
11562-410: The conservative mediatised houses ( Standesherren ) and forces supporting political and social liberalisation . During the 1848 revolutions , the government was forced to grant wide-ranging reforms, including the full abolition of serfdom and universal manhood suffrage, but the reactionary government of Reinhard von Dalwigick rolled most of these back over the following decade. In 1866, Hesse entered
11703-510: The conservative government of Friedrich August von Lichtenberg [ de ] , which was opposed to social changes. On 11 May 1810, the grand duchy and the French Empire concluded a treaty, which granted the grand duchy further areas under French control, which had been taken from Electoral Hesse in 1806. Although the treaty was agreed in May, it was only signed by Napoleon on 17 October 1810. The Hessian certificate of possession
11844-455: The constitution of 1831, together with the reforms of 1848, and in April issued a new provisional constitution, under which the new diet had very narrow powers; and the elector was free to carry out his policy of amassing money, forbidding the construction of railways and factories, and imposing strict orthodoxy on churches and schools. In 1855, however, Hassenpflug who had returned with the Elector
11985-545: The constitution was formally granted by him. Louis I was honoured as a great lawgiver, with the Ludwigsmonument [ de ] in Darmstadt honouring him for "his" constitution. The constitution was followed by a wide range of further reforms in the grand duchy. After its territorial augmentation, the grand duchy consisted of numerous territories with different administrative systems. To regularise this, it
12126-430: The council of ministers on 25 September 1852. Louis III, who "imitated the image of a paternalistic ruler projected by his grandfather, without achieving his significance," and Dalwigk shared a conservative outlook and were both opposed to liberalism and democracy. For Dalwigk, "the democratic principle [was] perilous for the state, since it necessarily leads to socialism and communism . In this role, Dalwigk organised
12267-476: The country, and shots were exchanged between the outposts. But Prussia was in no condition to take up the challenge; and the diplomatic contest that followed resulted in the Austrian triumph at Olmütz (1851). Hesse was surrendered to the federal diet; the taxes were collected by the federal forces, and all officials who refused to recognize the new order were dismissed. In March 1852, the federal diet abolished
12408-482: The development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area. With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy. Nevertheless, even with
12549-456: The dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Luther said the following concerning his translation method: One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in
12690-567: The division of the Landgraviate of Hesse between the heirs of Philip I of Hesse ("the Magnanimous") after his death. Philip's eldest son, William IV , received Hesse-Kassel, which comprised about half the area of the Landgraviate of Hesse, including the capital, Kassel. William's brothers received Hesse-Marburg and Hesse-Rheinfels , but their lines died out within a generation, and the territories then reverted to Hesse-Kassel and to
12831-519: The eastern provinces of Banat , Bukovina , and Transylvania (German: Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen ), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like Temeschburg ( Timișoara ), Hermannstadt ( Sibiu ), and Kronstadt ( Brașov )—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas. In 1901, the Second Orthographic Conference ended with a (nearly) complete standardization of
12972-459: The existing customs treaty from the end of 1853. Austria then attempted to establish a customs union with the German middle states. Dalwigk signed up for this project, against all economic logic, since the grand duchy's exports to Austria were only 3% of its exports to Prussia. Massive protests followed. Even in the Landestände, which was now dominated by pro-Dalwigk conservatives, he found only
13113-424: The first elections in the grand duchy, it also caused massive protests, tax strikes , and even armed rebellions against the government in some parts of the grand duchy. The grand duke and his administration gave in to the pressure and a new constitution was promulgated on 17 December 1820. The new constitution contained most of what the opponents of the first constitution had wanted, but the grand duke saved face since
13254-714: The grand duchy had a population of roughly 630,000. The neighbouring Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel , which Napoleon had annexed into the Kingdom of Westphalia , was re-established by the Congress of Vienna as the Electorate of Hesse . After Louis I's counterpart in Hesse-Kessel, William I, Elector of Hesse , began styling himself "Elector of Hesse and Grand Duke of Fulda", Louis sought the additional title "Elector of Mainz and Duke of Worms " in order to match William I. However, Austria and Prussia refused to grant this. Instead, William gestured to this claimed title by changing
13395-410: The grand duchy were located here: the capital at Darmstadt , the largest industrial centre at Offenbach am Main , and Mainz which was the largest city and the most significant centre for trade. The grand duchy was divided into three provinces: The neighbouring states were: There were also a number of Hessian exclaves to the north and south: Amt Dorheim [ de ] , which belonged to
13536-466: The grand duchy. In Rhine-Hesse, the guilds had been abolished during French rule, while in the provinces on the right bank of the Rhine, guild privileges had only been abolished in a few places for a few industries. This abolition was expanded, but guild privileges continued to exist. The government in Darmstadt only implemented the Karlsbad Decrees in a moderate manner, to the displeasure of
13677-415: The grand duke himself. The members of the civil service who led the reforms were: In 1816, a three-man legal commission was established to craft a constitution and other necessary laws, composed of Floret and Carl Ludwig Wilhelm Grolman . The constitution which was promulgated by grand ducal edict in March 1820 provided for a parliament ( Landstände ), but with no authority of its own. Although this led to
13818-435: 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,
13959-464: The individual lords, in order to integrate their judicial powers into the state's court system. In some cases this took until the middle of the 1820s. The "Edict concerning Standesherren's Legal Relationships in the Grand Duchy of Hesse" of 27 March 1820 served as the frame of reference for these agreements. According to this edict, the individual Standesherren retained their personnel sovereignty in
14100-481: The influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century. German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire , which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe . Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of
14241-530: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . Electorate of Hesse The Electorate of Hesse ( German : Kurfürstentum Hessen ), also known as Hesse-Kassel or Kurhessen , was a state whose prince was given the right to elect the Emperor by the Imperial diet in 1803 . When
14382-463: The local councils to prosecute all known members of the Association, using the ban on all political associations as justification. After some prominent Hessians, including August Metz [ de ] , Carl Johann Hoffmann [ de ] and Emil Pirazzi [ de ] , were convicted to a symbolic few days imprisonment for this, there was a massive increase in membership of
14523-603: The local government offices were destroyed. The toll office in Heldenbergen and the Nidda courthouse were also affected. The grand duke introduced summary execution , which was unanimously approved by the Landstände. Under the command of the grand duke's brother, Prince Emil , the rebellion was suppressed by the army. Part of this suppression was the Södel Bloodbath , named for the number of dead and wounded. After
14664-468: The mayors, while in Rhinehessen, where this local district did not exist, the mayors were chosen directly by the provincial governments. The state was also interested in replacing the old agricultural ground rent , which was often based on the yield of the year's harvest, with a modern system of taxation. There had been plans for this since 1816. A first step in the process was also implemented during
14805-402: 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
14946-423: The name of the grand duchy to the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine ( German : Großherzogtum Hessen und bei Rhein ), which also helped to distinguish the two Hessian states. As a result of these territorial acquisitions, the grand duchy was composed of numerous disparate components. A constitution was therefore urgently needed in order to unite the various territories of the new state. Furthermore, article 13 of
15087-425: The neighbouring Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel . Colloquially, the grand duchy continued to be known by its former name of Hesse-Darmstadt . In 1806, the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt seceded from the Holy Roman Empire and joined Napoleon 's new Confederation of the Rhine . The country was promoted to the status of grand duchy and received considerable new territories, principally the Duchy of Westphalia . After
15228-479: The new Prussian Province of Hesse-Nassau in 1868. During the Napoleonic Wars , Louis X , Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt , initially sought Prussian protection against Napoleonic France , but after the Battle of Austerlitz , this policy became untenable. At the last minute, Louis X switched sides and supplied troops to Napoleon . Along with fifteen other states, the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt left
15369-527: The new electoral system, in 1849 and 1850. Both times, the democrats received a strong majority in the lower chamber, which they used to block the enactment of a state budget. Grand Duke Louis III appointed Reinhard von Dalwigk [ de ] as director of the ministry of the interior on 30 June 1850, transferred him provisionally to the ministry of foreign affairs and the Grand Ducal House on 8 August 1850, and finally named him president of
15510-653: 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
15651-421: The north of Frankfurt , which survived until the state was annexed by Prussia in 1866 following the Austro-Prussian War . The Elector's formal titles included "Elector of Hesse, Prince of Fulda ( Fürst von Fulda ), Prince of Hersfeld , Hanau , Fritzlar and Isenburg , Count of Katzenelnbogen , Dietz , Ziegenhain , Nidda , and Schaumburg ." The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel originated in 1567 with
15792-482: The now empty title of prince-elector, with the predicate of "Royal Highness". William I had marked his restoration by abolishing with a stroke of the pen all the reforms introduced under the French regime, repudiating the Westphalian debt and declaring null and void the sale of the crown domains. Everything was set back to its condition on 1 November 1806; even the officials had to descend to their former rank, and
15933-464: The press, but reacted harshly to the distribution of The Hessian Courier , a pamphlet by Georg Büchner calling for social revolution. The persecution of his fellow contributors continued until 1839. In the 1840s, Karl du Thil [ de ] , chief minister from 1821 to 1848, inaugurated the "System du Thil", which entailed the complete suppression of all political discussion. Crop failures and rapidly rising prices for basic foodstuffs created
16074-453: The promotion to the rank of grand duchy, Hesse was also rewarded with territorial gains, such as the Electorate of Cologne . However, although all this territory lay under his sovereignty , the princes who had previously held these territories, the mediatised houses , retained a significant portion of their former powers. Before this territorial expansion, the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt had around 210,000 inhabitants in its territories on
16215-462: 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
16356-489: The reconstituted federal diet, which willingly passed a decree of "intervention". On 1 November an Austrian and Bavarian force marched into the Electorate. This was a direct challenge to Prussia, which under conventions with the Elector had the right to use the military roads through Hesse that were her sole means of communication with her exclaves in the Rhine provinces. War seemed imminent; Prussian troops also entered
16497-401: The reforms of 1821. However, this was only a limited reform, since only the ground rents paid to the state were removable. The removal of "private" ground rents, including those paid to churches, religious orders, and Standesherren, failed to pass the first chamber of the parliament. Furthermore, in order to remove the ground rent from their land, farmers were initially required to pay a fee which
16638-402: The retirement of Hassenpflug in 1837. The consequences emerged in the revolutionary year 1848 in a general manifestation of public discontent; and Frederick William, who had become Elector on his father's death (20 November 1847), was forced to dismiss his reactionary ministry and to agree to a comprehensive programme of democratic reform. This, however, was short lived. After the breakdown of
16779-544: The revolution of 1830 was over, the government regained the upper hand and decided that if they could not suppress the rising appetites for reform, they would at least try to control them. The bourgeoisie partially switched its focus to cultural activities, which the government then began to monitor warily. Thus, the Historical Society for Hesse [ de ] was allowed to be founded in 1833, but local societies that had originally been planned were not, and
16920-583: The right bank of the Rhine. After 1806, the population was around 546,000. At the same time, the Grand Duchy reached its greatest territorial extent, around 9,300 km. Almost simultaneously, there was a radical change in the state's internal politics. With two edicts on 1 October 1806, the Grand Duke revoked the financial privileges of the landed nobility on a large scale (the landed nobility became subject to taxation) and their Landstände (feudal estates) were abolished, which transformed Hesse-Darmstadt "from
17061-694: The same areas as the Landratsbezirke did. In general, the old seats of the Amtsmen remained either the seat of the Landrat or the Landgericht. Five further Landratsbezirke and six more Landgerichten were created over the following years as a result of the negotiations with the Standesherren. A modern system of civic administration, modelled on the French system, was also introduced in 1821. The outmoded cooperative parish associations were replaced by
17202-401: The same time he was raised to the dignity of Prince-elector ( Kurfürst ) William I, a title he retained even after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire . In 1806, William I signed a treaty of neutrality with Napoleon Bonaparte , but after the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt , the latter, suspecting William's designs, occupied his country and expelled him. Hesse-Kassel was then incorporated to
17343-507: The signal for disturbances; William II was forced to summon the Estates, and on 6 January 1831, a constitution on the ordinary Liberal basis was signed. The Elector now retired to Hanau , appointed his son Frederick William as regent, and took no further part in public affairs. Frederick William, without his father's coarseness, had a full share of his arbitrary and avaricious temper. Constitutional restrictions were intolerable to him; and
17484-491: The society's charter stated that the society must not occupy itself with "contemporary history and discussion of the political circumstances of more recent times." Above all, sports clubs were considered highly suspicious, even though a demonstration of sporting activities was presented in Darmstadt at the dedication of the Ludwig Monument in 1844. The government initially maintained its relatively open policy towards
17625-432: The state could make new rules about administration and justice only where it had unrestricted authority over these matters. The areas in which the grand duchy's sovereignty was unrestricted were called Dominiallande , while the areas where the Standesherren and other nobles exercised their own judicial and administrative authority were the Souveränitätslanden . In the latter areas, the state first had to forge agreements with
17766-547: The state to pay for. The liberal opposition in the Landstände considered this outrageous and rejected the proposal with a resounding vote of 41:7. In Upper Hesse province, a revolt broke out in September 1830, whose members expressed a general dissatisfaction with the state. Characteristically, the territories of the Standesherren were particularly affected: Büdingen and Ortenberg . In these areas, shops were burgled and
17907-546: 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,
18048-500: 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
18189-563: The turbulence of Hundred Days , when Napoleon returned from exile, Austria, Prussia, and the Grand Duchy of Hesse concluded a treaty on 30 June 1816, which regulated the region and went into more detail that the treaty signed at Vienna in the previous year. There were further border agreements and exchanges of small areas of territory with the Electorate of Hesse and the Kingdom of Bavaria. The patents of possession are dated 8 July 1816, but were only published on 11 July. After this consolidation,
18330-555: 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
18471-600: 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
18612-429: 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
18753-525: Was also the largest province by population at the start of the 19th century, by the end of the grand duchy in 1918 it had become the smallest. The only significant institution which was based here was the University of Giessen . Starkenburg and Rhenish Hesse were totally different. They lay almost entirely on the banks of the Rhine (except for the Odenwald , which faced similar structural problems to
18894-547: 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
19035-417: Was chosen as mayor: This system ensured that, if the authorities did not like a particular candidate, they could prevent them from taking office. Thus, for example, the entrepreneur Ernst Emil Hoffmann [ de ] received the most votes in Darmstadt two times, but the mayoralty was assigned to the second or third place candidates. In Upper Hesse and Starkenburg, the local council had oversight of
19176-476: Was dismissed; and five years later, after a period of growing agitation, a new constitution was granted with the consent of the federal diet (30 May 1860). The new chambers demanded the constitution of 1831; and, after several dissolutions which always resulted in the return of the same members, the federal diet decided to restore the constitution of 1831 (14 May 1862). This had been due to a threat of Prussian occupation; and it needed another such threat to persuade
19317-483: Was eighteen times their annual rent and most farmers could not afford this. The process of abolition would drag on into the second half of the 19th century. The constitution declared that an economic system based on liberal principles was the state's goal. Achieving economic freedom , which also required the abolition of guild privileges, proved difficult, as a result of "damage to multiple interests". Even in this area, different conditions applied in different parts of
19458-492: 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
19599-432: Was ill and died a few months later on 16 June 1848). The next day, Karl du Thil was dismissed and replaced as chief minister by Heinrich von Gagern . Von Gagern proclaimed that the new government would grant all of the "March demands". However, the rural population's demands that the Standesherren be stripped of their privileges and for serfdom to be abolished without requiring them to pay compensation were not fulfilled. As
19740-500: Was overthrown and replaced by the People's State of Hesse . The portion of the grand duchy on the right bank of the Rhine stretched most of the way from the south of the modern state of Hesse to Frankenberg . The portion on the left bank was located in the modern state of Rhineland-Palatinate . In addition to the great floodplains of the Rhine ( Hessian Ried ), Main , and Wetterau , the grand duchy also contained upland regions like
19881-456: Was urgently necessary to integrate the various regions. At the lower levels, the administrative system of these regions was still based on the Amt system which had become obsolete centuries earlier. As well as being the lowest level administrative subdivision, the Ämter were also the courts of first instance . Preliminary work on reforming this system began by 1816, and from 1821, the court system and
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