43-515: Wiltz ( Luxembourgish : Wolz [ˈvolts] or (locally) Wooltz [ˈvoːlts] ) is a commune with town status in north-western Luxembourg , situated in the canton of the same name . Wiltz is situated on the banks of the river Wiltz . It was also a battleground in the Battle of the Bulge , near the end of World War II . A local airfield (near the village of Noertrange)
86-417: A dialect continuum of gradual change. Spoken Luxembourgish is relatively hard to understand for speakers of German who are generally not familiar with Moselle Franconian dialects (or at least other West Central German dialects). They can usually read the language to some degree. For those Germans familiar with Moselle Franconian dialects, it is relatively easy to understand and speak Luxembourgish as far as
129-442: A few nominal phrases such as der Däiwel ("the devil") and eiser Herrgott ("our Lord"). Rare examples of the genitive are also found: Enn des Mounts ("end of the month"), Ufanks der Woch ("at the beginning of the week"). The functions of the genitive are normally expressed using a combination of the dative and a possessive determiner: e.g. dem Mann säi Buch (lit. "to the man his book", i.e. "the man's book"). This
172-528: A handwritten message from the people of Wiltz inviting Brookins back to town. Brookins had had no idea his brief role had been remembered after all that time. Brookins would return to Wiltz six times, the last in 2014. He was granted honorary citizenship of Wiltz, and in 2009 they erected a monument in his honor. In 2016, the government of Luxembourg awarded him the Luxembourg Military Honor Medal ; he died in 2018, aged 96. Wiltz has
215-471: A lighthouse was erected to commemorate the victims of the repression following the 1942 General Strike. In 2015, Wiltz absorbed the neighbouring commune of Eschweiler . In 1944, Wiltz had been under German occupation for about four years; among the many negative effects of the occupation, they had been unable to hold their traditional St. Nicholas Day celebrations. After American troops arrived in Wiltz in
258-477: A music and performing arts festival, takes place every summer. In 2015 it was the venue for the Linuxbierwanderung . Luxembourgish language Luxembourgish ( / ˈ l ʌ k s əm b ɜːr ɡ ɪ ʃ / LUK -səm-bur-ghish ; also Luxemburgish , Luxembourgian , Letzebu(e)rgesch ; endonym : Lëtzebuergesch [ˈlətsəbuəjəʃ] ) is a West Germanic language that
301-436: A quiet town centre. There is an outdoor musical hall with bands and classical musical shows held typically every fortnight. Looking out from the hill on the music hall one will see the largest lake in the country at Esch-sur-Sure , located around 20 km away. A local multi-carriage tourist "road-train" takes visitors around the village and its surroundings on the hour. There is also an international soccer training pitch. In
344-561: Is French, which had a certain influence on both the national language Luxembourgish and the Luxembourg national variety of German. Luxembourgish, German and French are the three official languages (Amtssprachen) of Luxembourg. As a standard form of the Moselle Franconian language , Luxembourgish has similarities with other High German dialects and the wider group of West Germanic languages . The status of Luxembourgish as
387-689: Is currently also the only political party in Luxembourg that wishes to implement written laws also in Luxembourgish and that wants Luxembourgish to be an officially recognized language of the European Union . In this context, in 2005, then- Deputy Prime Minister Jean Asselborn of the LSAP rejected a demand made by the ADR to make Luxembourgish an official language of the EU, citing financial reasons and
430-460: Is formed using the adverb méi : e.g. schéin → méi schéin The superlative involves a synthetic form consisting of the adjective and the suffix -st : e.g. schéin → schéin st (compare German schönst , English prettiest ). Attributive modification requires the emphatic definite article and the inflected superlative adjective: Predicative modification uses either the same adjectival structure or
473-675: Is known as a periphrastic genitive , and is a phenomenon also commonly seen in dialectal and colloquial German, and in Dutch. The forms of the personal pronouns are given in the following table (unstressed forms appear in parentheses): The 2pl form is also used as a polite singular (like French vous , see T-V distinction ); the forms are capitalised in writing: Like most varieties of colloquial German, but even more invariably, Luxembourgish uses definite articles with personal names. They are obligatory and not to be translated: A feature Luxembourgish shares with only some western dialects of German
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#1732797490067516-540: Is quite similar to that of Standard German . Luxembourgish has three genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter), and three cases ( nominative , accusative , and dative ). These are marked morphologically on determiners and pronouns . As in German, there is no morphological gender distinction in the plural. The forms of the articles and of some selected determiners are given below: As seen above, Luxembourgish has plural forms of en ("a, an"), namely eng in
559-499: Is seen today as an independent language. Luxembourgish managed to gain linguistic autonomy against a vigorous One Standard German Axiom by being framed as an independent language with a name rather than as a national pluricentric standard variety of German. As Luxembourgish has a maximum of some 285,000 native speakers, resources in the language like books, newspapers, magazines, television, internet etc. are limited. Since most Luxembourgers also speak Standard German and French, there
602-717: Is spoken mainly in Luxembourg . About 300,000 people speak Luxembourgish worldwide. The language is standardized and officially the national language of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. As such, Luxembourgish is different from the German language also used in the Grand Duchy. The German language exists in a national standard variety of Luxembourg, which is slightly different from the standard varieties in Germany , Austria or Switzerland . Another important language of Luxembourg
645-606: Is strong competition with these languages, which both have large language resources. Because of this, the use of Luxembourgish remains limited. Luxembourgish belongs to the West Central German group of the High German languages and is the primary example of a Moselle Franconian language . Furthermore, it is closely related to Transylvanian Saxon which has been spoken since the High Middle Ages by
688-416: Is that women and girls are most often referred to with forms of the neuter pronoun hatt : Adjectives show a different morphological behaviour when used attributively and predicatively . In predicative use, e.g. when they occur with verbs like sinn ("to be"), adjectives receive no extra ending: In attributive use, i.e. when placed before the noun they describe, they change their ending according to
731-419: Is the highest military decoration of Luxembourg. Established on 30 October 1945 by Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg , at the suggestion of then Prince Jean , it can be awarded for outstanding achievements and extraordinary deeds to all military personnel, without distinction of rank. The medal is a bronze circular disc. The obverse depicts the left facing profile of Grand Duchess Charlotte. Around
774-528: The Ardennes Offensive . Norman Cota , the commander of the 28th Infantry Division and his staff left Wiltz when the Germans came nearer. In the evening of 19 December, after some combat, the last Americans left Wiltz. In January 1945, Wiltz was again liberated by American troops after intensive combats during the days before. Wiltz was named Martyr Town after the war. A monument representing
817-752: The Province of Luxembourg ) and in small parts of Lorraine in France . In the German Eifel and Hunsrück regions, similar local Moselle Franconian dialects of German are spoken. The language is also spoken by a few descendants of Luxembourg immigrants in the United States and Canada . Other Moselle Franconian dialects are spoken by ethnic Germans long settled in Transylvania , Romania (Siebenbürgen). Moselle Franconian dialects outside
860-548: The Transylvanian Saxons in Transylvania , present-day central Romania . Luxembourgish is considered the national language of Luxembourg and also one of the three administrative languages, alongside German and French . In Luxembourg, 77% of residents can speak Luxembourgish, and it is the primary language of 48% of the population. It is also spoken in the Arelerland region of Belgium (part of
903-519: The Americans had done for them. In 1947, Wiltz reinstated their Saint Nicholas Day celebrations, but the goal was not just to honor St. Nicholas, but also to honor the "American St. Nick", as a representative of all of the American forces who had fought to liberate Luxembourg. His identity remained a mystery until 1977, when Brookins' fellow infantryman Frank McClelland tracked him down and delivered
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#1732797490067946-631: The Luxembourg state border tend to have far fewer French loanwords, and these mostly remain from the French Revolution. The political party that places the greatest importance on promoting, using and preserving Luxembourgish is the Alternative Democratic Reform Party (ADR) and its electoral success in the 1999 election pushed the CSV-DP government to make knowledge of it a criterion for naturalisation . It
989-431: The adoption of the "OLO" ( ofizjel lezebuurjer ortografi ) on 5 June 1946. This orthography provided a system for speakers of all varieties of Luxembourgish to transcribe words the way they pronounced them, rather than imposing a single, standard spelling for the words of the language. The rules explicitly rejected certain elements of German orthography ( e.g. , the use of ⟨ ä ⟩ and ⟨ ö ⟩ ,
1032-437: The adverbial structure am + - sten : e.g. schéin → am schéinsten : Some common adjectives have exceptional comparative and superlative forms: Several other adjectives also have comparative forms, not commonly used as normal comparatives, but in special senses: Luxembourgish exhibits "verb second" word order in clauses. More specifically, Luxembourgish is a V2 - SOV language , like German and Dutch. In other words, we find
1075-818: The basis of the standard orthography that became official on 10 October 1975. Modifications to this standard were proposed by the Permanent Council of the Luxembourguish language and adopted officially in the spelling reform of 30 July 1999. A detailed explanation of current practice for Luxembourgish can be found in Schanen & Lulling (2003). The Luxembourgish alphabet consists of the 26 Latin letters plus three letters with diacritics: ⟨é⟩ , ⟨ä⟩ , and ⟨ë⟩ . In loanwords from French and Standard German, other diacritics are usually preserved: In German loanwords,
1118-688: The capitalisation of nouns). Similarly, new principles were adopted for the spelling of French loanwords. This proposed orthography, so different from existing "foreign" standards that people were already familiar with, did not enjoy widespread approval. A more successful standard eventually emerged from the work of the committee of specialists charged with the task of creating the Luxemburger Wörterbuch , published in 5 volumes between 1950 and 1977. The orthographic conventions adopted in this decades-long project, set out in Bruch (1955), provided
1161-521: The digraphs ⟨ eu ⟩ and ⟨ äu ⟩ indicate the diphthong /oɪ/ , which does not appear in native words. Like many other varieties of Western High German, Luxembourgish has a rule of final n -deletion in certain contexts. The effects of this rule (known as the "Eifel Rule") are indicated in writing, and therefore must be taken into account when spelling words and morphemes ending in ⟨n⟩ or ⟨nn⟩ . For example: The consonant inventory of Luxembourgish
1204-399: The everyday vocabulary is concerned. The large number of French loanwords in Luxembourgish may hamper communication about certain topics or with certain speakers (those who use many terms taken from French). A number of proposals for standardising the orthography of Luxembourgish can be documented, going back to the middle of the 19th century. There was no officially recognised system until
1247-471: The fall. Members of the 28th Infantry Division decided to do what they could for the children of Wiltz and organized a holiday celebration to lift their spirits. Soldiers pooled their rations to provide candy and chocolate for the children. Corporal Richard Brookins , a tall encryptionist and projectionist, was recruited to portray St. Nicholas himself ( Kleeschen in Luxembourgish), making use of
1290-465: The following finite clausal structures: Non-finite verbs (infinitives and participles) generally appear in final position: These rules interact so that in subordinate clauses, the finite verb and any non-finite verbs must all cluster at the end. Luxembourgish allows different word orders in these cases: This is also the case when two non-finite verb forms occur together: Luxembourgish (like Dutch and German) allows prepositional phrases to appear after
1333-428: The grammatical gender, number and case of the noun: The definite article changes with the use of an attributive adjective: feminine d' goes to déi (or di ), neuter d' goes to dat , and plural d' changes to déi . The comparative in Luxembourgish is formed analytically, i.e. the adjective itself is not altered (compare the use of - er in German and English; tall → taller , klein → kleiner ). Instead it
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1376-438: The heart of Wiltz there is plenty to see with a second world war tank parked in the main plaza. One of the most popular nights out is the summer rave held 10 km in the wilderness. A local farm has been transformed into a pub and rave club, this is a favourite night out for scout units (male and female). Wiltz is a major centre for the international scouting movement. There are many scout campsites and buildings surrounding
1419-418: The local priest's vestments, a beard of rope, and a bishop's miter constructed by the local nuns. On December 5, 1944, he was driven through town in a jeep, rather than the traditional carriage, and gave out candy to the children. The role only lasted a few hours, and in less than two weeks the German forces had pushed back into Wiltz as part of the Battle of the Bulge . But the people of Wiltz didn't forget what
1462-619: The national language of Luxembourg and the existence there of a regulatory body have removed Luxembourgish, at least in part, from the domain of Standard German, its traditional Dachsprache . It is also related to the Transylvanian Saxon dialect spoken by the Transylvanian Saxons in Transylvania , contemporary central Romania . Luxembourgish was considered a German dialect like many others until about World War II but then it underwent ausbau , creating its own standard form in vocabulary, grammar, and spelling and therefore
1505-503: The nominative/accusative and engen in the dative. They are not used as indefinite articles, which—as in German and English—do not exist in the plural, but they do occur in the compound pronouns wéi en ("what, which") and sou en ("such"). For example: wéi eng Saachen ("what things"); sou eng Saachen ("such things"). Moreover, they are used before numbers to express an estimation: eng 30.000 Spectateuren ("some 30,000 spectators"). Distinct nominative forms survive in
1548-430: The oldest in Luxembourg. One of the main features of the town is Wiltz Castle which belonged to the former Counts of Wiltz. This castle, which is situated on 600 acres (2.4 km) of lawns and gardens, contains hundreds of rooms. It was completed in 1727, and the final Count died in 1793. It served as a private girls school from 1851 until 1950, and became a retirement home after that. The industrialisation of Wiltz
1591-405: The population and the dissemination of the language through mass media such as radio and television are leading to a gradual standardisation towards a "Standard Luxembourgish" through the process of koineization . There is no distinct geographic boundary between the use of Luxembourgish and the use of other closely related High German dialects (for example, Lorraine Franconian ); it instead forms
1634-579: The sufficiency of official German and French . A similar proposal by the ADR was rejected by the Chamber of Deputies in 2024. There are several distinct dialect forms of Luxembourgish including Areler (from Arlon ), Eechternoacher ( Echternach ), Dikrecher ( Diekirch ), Kliärrwer ( Clervaux ), Miseler ( Moselle ), Stater ( Luxembourg ), Veiner ( Vianden ), Minetter (Southern Luxembourg) and Weelzer ( Wiltz ). Further small vocabulary differences may be seen even between small villages. Increasing mobility of
1677-522: The town. The International Scouting One Penny Monument , dedicated to Robert Baden-Powell , is located in Wiltz. Nearby Wiltz, on a hill overlooking the town, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima is the site of an annual pilgrimage on Ascension Day . In particular it attracts many of the Portuguese people who form a sizeable proportion of the population of Luxembourg. The Festival of Wiltz ,
1720-566: The verb cluster in subordinate clauses: Luxembourgish has borrowed many French words. For example, the word for a bus driver is Buschauffeur (as in Dutch and Swiss German ), which would be Busfahrer in German and chauffeur de bus in French. Some words are different from Standard German, but have equivalents in German dialects. An example is Gromperen (potatoes – German: Kartoffeln ). Other words are exclusive to Luxembourgish. Listen to
1763-602: The words below. Note: Words spoken in sound clip do not reflect all words on this list. Neologisms in Luxembourgish include both entirely new words, and the attachment of new meanings to old words in everyday speech. The most recent neologisms come from the English language in the fields of telecommunications , computer science , and the Internet . Military Medal (Luxembourg) The Military Medal ( French : Médaille militaire German : Militärmedaille )
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1806-533: Was advanced in the late 19th and early 20th century by the leather industry, namely by IDÉAL Tannerie de Wiltz S.A. belonging to the Adler & Oppenheimer trust. During World War II, Luxembourg was occupied 10 May 1940 (the first day of the Battle of France ). On 31 August 1942, a general strike was initiated in Wiltz, that spread throughout the country. On 16 December 1944, the Wehrmacht surprisingly began
1849-556: Was used by both sides of the conflict, depending on the location of the Front. As of 2024, the town of Wiltz, which lies in the south of the commune, has a population of 5,848. The commune consists of the following villages: The name "Wiltz" comes from a Celtic word meaning "on the creek." Wiltz was originally inhabited by the Celts, and was first documented in 764AD. It received its town rights in 1240. The counts of Wiltz are among
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