Middle Low German

Middle Low German or Middle Saxon (autonym: Sassisch,[3][4] i.e. "Saxon", Standard High German: Mittelniederdeutsch, Modern Dutch: Middelnederduits) is a developmental stage of Low German. It developed from the Old Saxon language in the Middle Ages and has been documented in writing since about 1225/34 (Sachsenspiegel). During the Hanseatic period (from about 1300 to about 1600), Middle Low German was the leading written language in the north of Central Europe and served as a lingua franca in the northern half of Europe. It was used parallel to medieval Latin also for purposes of diplomacy and for deeds.[5]

Middle Low German
Sassisch, Dǖdisch, Nedderlendisch, Ôstersch
RegionNorthern Central Europe, viz. Northern Germany (roughly the Northern lowlands), Northeastern Netherlands, Northwestern/North-central (modern) Poland, modern Kaliningrad Oblast, also sporadically in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Latvia, Estonia (confined to cities)
Era13th to 16th centuries; evolved into Modern Low German; gradually superseded as an official language by High German and (in the far West) Dutch
Early form
Dialects
Latin (Fraktur)
Language codes
ISO 639-3gml
Glottologmidd1318[1]
Linguasphere52-ACB-ca[2]
Northern Europe in 1400, showing the extent of the Hanseatic League
A Middle Low German inscription on a half-timbered house in Hameln, Lower Saxony, Germany: Alle der warlde herlicheyt is alse ene blome de huete wasset un morgen vorgheit. Des herrn wort blift yn ewicheit. Translation: "All the world's magnificence is like a flower that grows today and vanishes tomorrow; the Lord's word remains in eternity." (1 Peter 1:24-25)
Der Keyserliken Stadt Lübeck Christlike Ordeninge/ tho denste dem hilgen Evangelio/ Christliker leve/ tucht/ frede unde enicheyt/ vor de yöget yn eyner guden Schole[n] tho lerende. Unde de Kercken denere und rechten armen Christlick tho vorsorgende. Dorch Jo. Bugen. Pom. beschreven. 1531, i.e. "The Imperial City of Lübeck's Christian Ordinance at the service of the Holy Gospel of Christian life, discipline, peace and unity, to teach the youth in a good school, and to provide Christianly for the church servants and the righteous poor. Written by Johannes Bugenhagen the Pomeranian, 1531."
Eyne vorrede ouer dyt boek van reynken deme vosse, i.e. "A prologue about this book of Reynard the Fox". Reynard the Fox is an allegorical epic that was popular in medieval Europe. This is from the 1498 edition published in Lübeck, one of the major Hanseatic cities. The typeface is typical for the blackletter used in MLG printing.

Terminology

While Middle Low German (MLG) is a scholarly term developed in hindsight, speakers in their time referred to the language mainly as sassisch (Saxon) or de sassische sprâke (the Saxon language). This terminology was also still known in Luther's time in the adjacent Central German-speaking areas.[6] Its Latin equivalent saxonicus was also used as meaning 'Low German' (among other meanings).[7][8] Some languages whose first contacts with Germany were via Low German-speaking 'Saxons', took their name as meaning 'German' in general, e.g. Finnish saksa 'German'.

In contrast to Latin as the primary written language, speakers also referred to discourse in Saxon as speaking/writing to dǖde, i.e. 'clearly, intelligibly'.[9][10] This contains the same root as dǖdisch 'German' (cf. High German: deutsch, both from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz 'popular, vernacular') which could also be used for Low German if the context was clear. Compare also the modern colloquial term Platt(dütsch) (from platt 'plain, simple') denoting Low (or West Central) German dialects in contrast to the written standard.

Another medieval term is ôstersch (lit. 'East-ish') which was at first applied to the Hanseatic cities of the Baltic Sea (the 'East Sea'), their territory being called Ôsterlant ('East-land'), their inhabitants Ôsterlinge ('Eastlings'). This appellation was later expanded to other German Hanseatic cities and it was a general name for Hanseatic merchants in the Netherlands, e.g. in Bruges where they had their komptôr (office; see Kontor).[11][12]

In the 16th century, the term nedderlendisch (lit. 'Lowland-ish, Netherlandish') gained ground, contrasting Saxon with the German dialects in the uplands to the south. It became dominant in the High German dialects (as ENHG niderländisch, which could also refer to the modern Netherlands), while sassisch remained the most widespread term within MLG. The equivalent of 'Low German' (NHG niederdeutsch) seems to have been introduced later on by High German speakers and at first applied especially to Netherlanders.[13]

Middle Low German is a modern term used with varying degrees of inclusivity. It is distinguished from Middle High German, spoken to the south, which was later replaced by Early New High German. Though Middle Dutch is today usually excluded from MLG (although very closely related), it is sometimes, esp. in older literature, included in MLG, which then encompasses the dialect continuum of all high-medieval Continental Germanic dialects outside MHG, from Flanders in the West to the eastern Baltic.[14][15]

Extent

Middle Low German covered a wider area than the Old Saxon language of the preceding period, due to expansion to the East and, to a lesser degree, to the North.[16]

In the East, the MLG-speaking area expanded greatly as part of the Ostsiedlung (settlement of the East) in the 12th to 14th century and came to include Mecklenburg, Brandenburg, Pomerania and (Old) Prussia, which were hitherto dominated by Slavic and Baltic tribes. Some pockets of these native peoples persisted for quite some time, e.g. the Wends along the lower Elbe until about 1700 or the Kashubians of Eastern Pomerania up to modern times.

In the North, the Frisian-speaking areas along the North Sea diminished in favour of Saxon, esp. in East Frisia which largely switched to MLG since the mid-14th century. North of the Elbe, MLG advanced slowly into Sleswick, against Danish and North Frisian, although the whole region was ruled by Denmark. MLG exerted a huge influence upon Scandinavia (cf. History), although native speakers of Low German were mostly confined to the cities where they formed colonies of merchants and craftsmen. It was an official language of Old Livonia, whose population consisted mostly of Baltic and Finnic tribes.

In the West, at the Zuiderzee, the forests of the Veluwe and close to the Lower Rhine, MLG bordered on closely related Low Franconian dialects whose written language was mainly Middle Dutch. In earlier times, these were sometimes included in the modern definition of MLG (cf. Terminology).

In the South, MLG bordered on High German dialects roughly along the northern borders of Hesse and Thuringia. The language border then ran eastwards across the plain of the middle Elbe until it met the (then more extensive) Sorb-speaking area along the upper Spree that separated it from High German. The border was never a sharp one, rather a continuum. The modern convention is to use the pronunciation of northern maken vs. southern machen ('to make') for determining an exact border. Along the middle Elbe and lower Saale rivers, Low German began to retreat in favour of High German dialects already during Late Medieval times (cf. Wittenberg whose name is Low German but whose inhabitants already spoke mostly/exclusively High German when the Reformation set in).[17]

History

Sub-periods of Middle Low German are:[18][19]

  • Early Middle Low German (Standard High German: Frühmittelniederdeutsch): 1200–1350, or 1200–1370
  • Classical Middle Low German (klassisches Mittelniederdeutsch): 1350–1500, or 1370–1530
  • Late Middle Low German (Spätmittelniederdeutsch): 1500–1600, or 1530–1650

Middle Low German was the lingua franca of the Hanseatic League, spoken all around the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. It used to be thought that the language of Lübeck was dominant enough to become a normative standard (the so-called Lübecker Norm) for an emergent spoken and written standard, but more recent work has established that there is no evidence for this and that Middle Low German was non-standardised.[20]

Middle Low German provided a large number of loanwords to languages spoken around the Baltic Sea as a result of the activities of Hanseatic traders. Its traces can be seen in the Scandinavian, Finnic, and Baltic languages, as well as Standard High German and English. It is considered the largest single source of loanwords in Danish, Estonian, Latvian, Norwegian and Swedish.

Beginning in the 15th century, Middle Low German fell out of favour compared to Early Modern High German, which was first used by elites as a written and, later, a spoken language. Reasons for this loss of prestige include the decline of the Hanseatic League, followed by political heteronomy of Northern Germany and the cultural predominance of Central and Southern Germany during the Protestant Reformation and Luther's translation of the Bible.

Phonology and Orthography

The description is based on Lasch (1914)[21] which continues to be the authoritative comprehensive grammar of the language (though not necessarily up-to-date in every detail).

Consonants
  Labial Alveolar Post-alv. Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n     [ŋ]  
Stop p  b t  d   [c] k  [g]  
Affricate   (t͡s)        
Fricative f  [v] s  [z] (ʃ) [ç]  [ʝ] [x]  ɣ h
Approximant ʋ r   j    
Lateral   l        
  • Square brackets indicate allophones.
  • Round brackets indicate phonemes that do not have phoneme status in the whole language area or are marginal in the phonological system.

It has to be noted that it is not rare to find one and the same word in MLG affected by one of the following phonological processes in one text and not affected by it in another, due to the lack of a written standard, the dialectal variation as well as ongoing linguistic change during the Middle Low German (MLG) era.

General notes

  • Final devoicing: Voiced obstruents in the syllable coda are devoiced, e.g. geven (to give) but gift (gift). This change took place early in MLG, but is not always represented in writing. Proclitic words like mid (with) might keep their voice before a vowel because they are perceived as one phonological unit with the following word. Also, as can already be seen in Old Saxon, lenited /b/ is devoiced to [f] before syllabic nasals or liquids, e.g. gaffel (fork) from PG *gabalō.
  • Grammatischer Wechsel: Because of sound changes in Proto-Germanic (cf. Verner's law), some words had different sounds in different grammatical forms. In MLG, there were only fossilised remnants of this "grammatischer wechsel" (grammatical change), namely for /s/ and /r/, e.g. kêsen (to choose) but koren ((they) chose), furthermore /h/ and /g/, e.g. vân < PG *fanxaną (to take hold, to catch) but gevangen < PG *fanganaz (taken hold of, caught).
  • Assimilation: Sounds becoming more similar to a (usually) neighbouring sound, usually in place or manner of articulation, is very common across all languages. Early MLG did mark assimilation much more often in writing than later periods, e.g. vamme instead of van deme (of the).
  • Dissimilation: In MLG, this frequently happened with /l/ vs. /r/ or /l/ vs./n/, e.g. balbêrer < barbêrer (barber), or knuflôk < kluflôk (garlic). Both forms frequently coexisted. The complete loss of a sound in proximity to an identical sound can also be explained in this way, e.g. the loss of /l/ in Willem (William) < Wilhelm.
  • Metathesis: Some sounds tended to switch their places, esp. the "liquids" /l/ and /r/. Both forms may coexist, e.g. brennen vs. (metathetised) bernen (to burn).
  • Gemination: In MLG, geminate consonants (which came into being by assimilaton or syncope) were no longer pronounced as such. Instead, geminate spelling was used to mark the preceding vowel as short. Many variants exist, like combinations of voiced and voiceless consonants (e.g. breifve letters, sontdage Sundays). Late MLG tended to use clusters of similar consonants after short as well as long vowels, for no apparent reason, e.g. tidth for tîd (time).
  • h spellings: A mute h appeared sporadically after consonants already in Old Saxon. Its use greatly increased in MLG, first at the end of a word, where it often marked the preceding vowel as long, but later on appeared in a largely random manner. In very late times, the use of h directly after the vowel is sometimes adopted from Modern High German as a sign of vowel length.

Specific notes on nasals

(Indented notes refer to orthography.)

  • /m/ had a tendency to shift to /n/ in the coda, e.g. dem > den (the (dat.sg.m.)).
    • Intervocalic /m/ is sometimes spelled mb, whether or not it developed from Old Saxon /mb/.
  • /n/ assimilated to [ŋ] before velars /k/ and /ɣ/.
  • Final /n/ often dropped out in unstressed position before consonants, e.g. hebbe(n) wi (we have), cf. Modern Dutch for a similar process. In a similar fashion, it often dropped from /ng/-clusters after unstressed vowels, esp. in Westphalian, e.g. jârlix (annually) < jârlings.
  • Furthermore, /n/ had been deleted in certain coda positions several centuries before (so-called Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law) but there were many exceptions and restorations through analogy. For example, the shifted form gôs (goose < PG *gans) with an unshifted plural gense (geese) was quite common. Non-shifted forms were (and are) common in the more innovative Eastern dialects.

Specific notes on stops and fricatives

  • /b/ as a stop [b] is only found word-initially (blôme flower, bloom), at the onset of stressed syllables (barbêrer barber) and where (historically) geminated (ebbe ebb, low tide). Its allophones in other cases are word-internal [v] and word-final [f] (e.g. drêven to drive, vs. drêf drive (n.)).
  • Voiceless /f/ usually appeared word-initially (e.g. vader father), word-finally (merged with historical /b/, see above), otherwise between short vowels and nasals/liquids (also from historical /b/, e.g. gaffel fork) and in loans (e.g. straffen to tighten, from High German).
    • It was mostly written v in the syllable onset, f(f) in the coda. Exceptions include loans (figûre), some proper names (Frederik), cases like gaffel as mentioned before, furthermore sporadically before u (where v would be too similar graphically) and before l and r. Sometimes, w is used for v, and ph for f.
    • It has to be noted that in MLG (like in other medieval) texts, there is usually no clear graphic distinction between v and u. The distinction between both (consonant value as v, vocalic value as u) is used in modern dictionaries, grammars and in this article simply for better readability. Thus in authentic texts e.g. auer equals aver (but).
  • /w/ was originally an approximant [w~ʋ] but seems to have shifted towards a fricative later on. Its exact articulation likely differed from dialect to dialect, in many of them merging word-internally with [v], an allophone of /b/.
    • In writing, w for word-internal /w/ was kept strictly separate from [v] at first, but later on, the use of w was also expanded to [v].
    • The clusters /dw-/, /tw-/, /sw-/, /kw-/ were originally often written with v/u (svager brother-in-law), but later mostly shifted to a w-spelling, except for /kw-/ which kept qu due to Latin influence.
  • The dentals /t/ and /d/ tended to drop out between unstressed vowels, e.g. antwēr (either) instead of antwēder, and also in word-final clusters like /-ft/, /-xt/ or /-st/, e.g. often rech next to recht (law, right), schrîf next to schrîft ((he/she) writes).
  • Remnants of Old Saxon /θ/ shifted via /ð/ into /d/ in the early MLG period. After /l/ and /n/, this was the case already in late Old Saxon. For /rθ/, word-final /-θ/ and some frequent words like dat (that, the (neut.)), the change also happened very early. These changes happened earliest in Westphalian, latest in North Low Saxon.
  • /s/ was voiced intervocalically as [z]. Whether it was also voiced word-initially, is not fully clear. There seems to have been dialectal variation (voiceless [s] more likely for Westphalian, voiced [z] more likely for East Elbian dialects).
    • Because of this variation, definitely voiceless /s/ (for example in loans from Romance or Slavic) was often written tz, cz, c etc. for clarity.
  • The phonemic status of /ʃ/ is difficult to determine due to the extremely irregular orthography. Its status likely differed between the dialects, with early MLG having /sk/ (Westphalian keeping it until modern times) and no phonemic /ʃ/, while e.g. East Elbian and in general many later dialects had /ʃ/ from earlier /sk/. Where there is phonemic /ʃ/, it was also often employed instead of /s/ in clusters like /sl-/, /sn-/ and the like.
  • Connected with the status of /ʃ/ is the manner of articulation of /s/. Orthographic variants and some modern dialects seem to point to a more retracted, thus more sh-like pronunciation (perhaps [s̠]), esp. where there was no need to distinguish /s/ and /ʃ/. This is backed up by the situation in Westphalian today.
  • /t͡s/ held at best a marginal role as a phoneme, appearing in loans or developing because of compounding or epenthesis. Confer also palatalised /k/ (next point).
    • In writing, it was often marked by copious clustering, e.g. ertzcebischope (archbishop).
  • /k/ before front vowels was strongly palatalised in Old Saxon (cf. the similar situation in closely related Old English) and at least parts of early MLG, as can be seen from spellings like zint for kint (child) and the variation of placename spellings, esp. in Nordalbingian and Eastphalian, e.g. Tzellingehusen for modern Kellinghusen. This palatalisation, perhaps as [c] or [t͡ɕ], persisted until the High Middle Ages and was then mostly reversed. Thus, for instance, the old affricate in the Slavic placename Liubici could be re-interpreted as a velar stop, giving the modern name Lübeck. A few words and placenames completely palatalised and shifted their velar into a sibilant (sever beetle, chafer, from PG *kebrô; the city of Celle < Old Saxon Kiellu).
    • Early MLG frequently used c for /k/ (cleyn small), which became rarer later on. However, geminate k (after historically short vowels and consonants) continued to be written ck (e.g. klocke bell), more rarely kk or gk.
    • gk otherwise appeared often after nasal (ringk ring, (ice) rink).
    • /ks/ was often written x, esp. in the West.
    • /kw/ usually came as qu, under Latin influence (quêmen to come).
  • Furthermore, after unstressed /ɪ/, /k/ often changed into /ɣ/, e.g. in the frequent derivational suffix -lik (vrüntligen friendly (infl.)) or, with final devoicing, in sich instead of sik (him-/her-/itself, themselves).
    • Sometimes, ch was used for a syllable-final /k/ (ôch also, too). The h can be seen here a sign of lengthening of the preceding vowel, not of spirantisation (see "h-spelling" below).
  • /ɣ/ was a fricative. Its exact articulation probably differed between the dialects. Broadly, there seems to have been on the one hand dialects that distinguished a voiced palatal [ʝ] and a voiced velar [ɣ], depending on surrounding vowels ([ʝ]: word-initially before front vowels, word-internally after front vowels; [ɣ] in those positions, but with back vowels), and on the other hand dialects that always used [ʝ] word-initially and -internally (Eastphalian, Brandenburgian, e.g. word-internally after a back vowel: voyet vogt, reeve). Nevertheless, [ʝ] was kept separate from old /j/. In the coda position, /ɣ/ came as a dorsal fricative (palatal [ç] or velar [x], depending on the preceding sound), thereby merging with /h/.
    • The spelling gh was at first used almost exclusively before e or word-finally, but began to spread to other positions, notably before i. It did not indicate a different pronunciation but was part of an orthographic pattern seen in many other parts of Europe. Furtherore, in early Western traditions of MLG, sometimes ch was used for /g/ in all positions, also word-initially.
    • Coda /g/ was mostly spelled ch because it completely merged with historic /h/ (see below).
  • After nasals and as a geminate, /ɣ/ appeared as a stop [g], e.g. seggen to say, penninghe pennies. In contrast to modern varieties, it remained audible after a nasal. Pronouncing g word-initially as a stop [g] is likely a comparatively recent innovation under High German influence.
    • gg(h) could be used for /ŋg/ in older MLG, e.g. Dudiggerode for the town of Düringerode.
  • /ɣ/ frequently dropped between sonorants (except after nasal), e.g. bormêster (burgomaster, mayor) < borgermêster.
  • /ɣ/ was often epenthetised between a stressed and an unstressed vowel, e.g. neigen (to sew) < Old Saxon *nāian, or vrûghe (lady, woman) < Old Saxon frūa. In Westphalian, this sound could harden into [g], e.g. eggere (eggs).
  • /h/ in the onset was a glottal fricative [h], while it merged with historic /ɣ/ in the coda (see above). Word-final /h/ after consonant or long vowel frequently dropped out, e.g. hôch or hô (high). Within a compound or phrase, it often became silent (Willem < Wilhelm William).
    • Onset /h/ was written h, while coda /h/ = [ç~x] was mostly written ch, but also g(h) and the like because of its merger with /ɣ/.
  • Coda /h/ = [ç~x] frequently dropped between /r/ and /t/, e.g. Engelbert (a first name) with the common component -bert < Old Saxon -ber(a)ht (bright, famous). In unstressed syllables, this could also happen between a vowel and /t/, e.g. nit (not) < Old Saxon niowiht (not a thing).
    • Often, h was employed for other purposes than its actual sound value, i.e. to mark vowel length (see h-spelling under "General Notes" above), to "strengthen" short words (ghân to go), to mark a vocalic onset (hvnsen our (infl.)) or vowel hiatus (sêhes (of the) lake).

Specific notes on approximants

  • /j/ was a palatal approximant and was kept separate from [ʝ], the palatal allophone of /ɣ/.
    • It was often spelled g before front vowels and was not mixed up with gh = [ʝ]. The variant y was sometimes used (yöget youth).
  • /r/ was likely an alveolar trill [r] or flap [ɾ], like in most traditional Low German dialects until recently. Post-vocalic /r/ sometimes dropped out, esp. before /s/.
  • /l/ was originally probably velarised, i.e. a "dark l" [ɫ], at least in the coda, judging from its influence on surrounding vowels. It was however never extensively vocalised like Dutch /l/. During the MLG period, it seems to have shifted to a "clear l" in many dialects. In tends to drop out in certain usually unstressed words, esp. in Westphalian, e.g. as(se) instead of alse (as).

Vowels

Whereas modern renderings of MLG (like this article) often use circumflex or macron to mark vowel length (e.g. â or ā) to help the modern reader, authentic MLG texts marked vowel length not by accents but by doubling vowels, adding a lengthening e or i, by doubling the following consonants (after short vowels) or by adding h after the following consonant(s).

Morphology

Noun

Verb

Dialects

Lasch distinguished the following large dialect groups,[22] emphasising that she based it strictly on the orthography, which may often omit strongly dialectal phenomena in favour of more prestigious/"standard" forms. Nevertheless, the dialect groups broadly correspond with modern ones.

Westphalian (HG: Westfälisch, Dutch: Westfaals): Broadly speaking, the area between the middle Weser and lower Rhine. Main cities: Münster, Paderborn, Dortmund, Bielefeld, Osnabrück. Some Saxon dialects in the modern Netherlands (esp. modern Gelderland and Overijssel) belonged to this group. Dutch influence on them strongly increased since the 15th century.

Some features: In the West, strong influence from Low Franconian orthographic patterns (e.g. e or i as a sign of length, like oi = /oː/). The "breaking" of old short vowels in open syllables and before /r/ was often marked in writing (e.g. karn instead of korn). Old geminated /jj/ and sometimes /ww/ was hardened into [g]; /ft/ frequently shifted to /xt/ (sometimes reversed in writing); /s/ instead of /ʃ/ (sal vs schal). The native present plural verbs was -et but the written norm often impressed -en. Similarly, the participal prefix ge- was usually written, though probably only spoken in the Southwest. Lexically, strong connections with adjacent dialects further north (East Frisian and Oldenburgish), e.g. godensdach ('Wednesday') instead of middeweke. Westphalian was and is often thought to be altogether the most conservative dialect group.

North Low Saxon (HG: Nordniedersächsisch, Dutch: Noord-Nedersaksisch): Spoken in a long stretch of coastal regions from the Zuiderzee in the West to East Prussia in the East. Its orthographic habits come closest to what was traditionally perceived as a MLG standard (the Lübeck standard, nowadays disputed).

Some features: Short /e/ and /i/ in open syllables are stretched into a [ɛː]-like vowel. The personal suffixes -er and -ald appear as -ar and -old. The pronouns mî (1.sg.), dî (2.sg.) and jû (2.pl.) are used for both dative and accusative.

Three subgroups can be distinguished:

(1) East Frisian and Oldenburgish, i.e. the areas west of the lower Weser, in the North including dialects on Frisian substrate. As can be expected, there is much Westphalian, Dutch and Frisian influence (hem next to em 'him'; plurals in -s; vrent next to vrünt 'friend').

(2) Nordalbingian, between the lower Weser and the lower Elbe, and also Holstein on the right bank of the lower Elbe. main towns: Hamburg, Bremen, Lunenburg, Kiel.

(3) East Elbian, including Lübeck and the areas further east, like Mecklenburg, Pomerania, northern Brandenburg (Prignitz, Uckermark, Altmark), Old Prussia, Livonia. Very close to Nordalbingian. While the Eastern dialects are today clearly distinguished from the West by their uniform present plural verb ending in -en (against Western uniform -(e)t), in MLG times, both endings competed against each other in West and East. Main towns: Lübeck, Wismar, Rostock, Stralsund. High German influence was strong in the Teutonic Order, due to the diverse regional origins of its chivalric elite, therefore MLG written culture was neglected early on.

Eastphalian (HG: Ostfälisch): Roughly the area east of the middle Weser, north and partly west of the Harz mountains, reaching the middle Elbe, but leaving out the Altmark region. In the north, the sparsely populated Lunenburg Heath forms something of a natural border. Main cities: Hanover, Hildesheim, Brunswick, Goslar, Göttingen, Magdeburg, Halle (early times). The area within the Elbe's drainage was established by colonisation and is in many ways special. The southern part of this Elbe Eastphalian (HG: Elbostfälisch) area switched to High German already in Late Medieval times.[23]

Some features: Umlaut is more productive, occurring before -ich and -isch (e.g. sessisch 'Saxon, Low German') and shifting also e to i (e.g. stidde for stêde 'place'). Diphthongised short /o/ is rarely marked as such, contrary to other dialects. Before /r/, e and a are frequently interchanged for each other. Unstressed o (as in the suffix -schop) frequently changes into u (-schup). The modal verb for 'shall/should' features /ʃ/, not /s/ (i.e. schal). The past participle's prefix was commonly spoken e- but mostly written ge- under prescriptive influence. The local form ek ('I' (pron. 1.sg.)) competed with "standard" ik; in a similar way the oblique form mik ('me') with "standard" mî. Unusually, there is also a dative pronoun (1.sg. mê). Lexically, close connections with Nordalbingian. Unusual plural menne ('men').

(South) Brandenburgish (HG: (Süd-)Brandenburgisch) and East Anhaltish (HG: Ostanhaltisch): Roughly between the middle Elbe and the middle Oder, and along the middle Havel, bordering old Sorbian territory to the Southeast. Main cities: Berlin, Frankfurt/Oder, Zerbst. A colonial dialect strongly influenced by settlers speaking Low Franconian. Also strongly influenced by High German early on.

Some features: Old long ê and ô were diphthongised into [iə] and [uə], written i and u. Old Germanic coda /n/ is restored, contrary to Ingvaeonic sound changes, e.g. gans 'goose'. Present plural of verbs features the suffix -en. Lack of negative determiner nên ('no' (attr.)), instead: keyn, similar to High German. The past participle retains the prefix ge-. Lack of gaderen ('to gather') and tőgen ('to show'); instead of them, forms close to High German, i.e. samenen and teigen. In East Anhaltish, distinction of dative and accusative pronouns (e.g. mi vs mik, cf. HG mir and mich).

Literature

Sample texts

References
  1. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Middle Low German". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  2. "m" (PDF). The Linguasphere Register. p. 219. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 August 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
  3. Lasch, Agathe (1914). Mittelniederdeutsche Grammatik. Halle/Saale: Niemeyer. p. 5.
  4. Köbler, Gerhard (2014). "sassisch". Mittelniederdeutsches Wörterbuch (3rd ed.). Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  5. Cordes, Gerhard; Möhn, Dieter (1983). Handbuch zur niederdeutschen Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft. Erich Schmidt Verlag. p. 119. ISBN 3-503-01645-7.
  6. Bischoff, Karl (1967). Sprache und Geschichte an der mittleren Elbe und unteren Saale (in German). Köln. p. 243f. Luther hat sich nicht als Meißner, was im heutigen Sprachgebrauch Obersachse wäre, und nicht als Thüringer gefühlt: ‚Sonst bin ich keiner nation so entgegen als Meichsnern vnd Thoringen. Ich bin aber kein Thoring, gehöre zun Sachsen‘, hat er einmal bei Tische betont. Und er scheint noch in späteren Jahren des Niederdeutschen mächtig gewesen zu sein, in [Johann] Aurifabers Aufzeichnungen vom Februar 1546 heißt es: ‚Zu dem sagete der Doctor von Wücherern, daß man jtzt spreche in Sachsen: Wer sägt, dat Wucher Sünde si, / Die hefft kein Geld, dat gläube fri. Aber ich Doctor Luther sage dagegen: Wer sägt, dat Wucher kein Sünde si, / Die hefft kein Gott, dat gläube nur fri.
  7. Chyträus, Nathan (1582). Nomenclator latino-saxonicus. Rostock. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  8. Biblia sacra, Ebraice, Chaldaice, Graece, Latine, Germanice, Saxonice. [...]. Nürnberg: Elias Hutter & Katharina Dietrich. 1599. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  9. Lasch, Agathe (1914). Mittelniederdeutsche Grammatik. Halle/Saale: Niemeyer. p. 5.
  10. Köbler, Gerhard (2014). "düde (1)". Mittelniederdeutsches Wörterbuch (3rd ed.).
  11. Lasch, Agathe (1914). Mittelniederdeutsche Grammatik. Halle/Saale: Niemeyer. p. 5.
  12. Köbler, Gerhard (2014). "ōsterisch". Mittelniederdeutsches Wörterbuch (3rd ed.).
  13. Lasch, Agathe (1914). Mittelniederdeutsche Grammatik. Halle/Saale: Niemeyer. p. 6.
  14. D. Nicholas, 2009. The Northern Lands: Germanic Europe, c.1270–c.1500. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 180–198.
  15. Lasch, Agathe (1914). Mittelniederdeutsche Grammatik. Halle/Saale: Niemeyer. p. 1.
  16. The following section based on Agathe Lasch (1914): Mittelniederdeutsche Grammatik. Halle/Saale: Niemeyer, p. 1-2.
  17. Bischoff, Karl (1967). "Der Anschluss an das Mitteldeutsche". Sprache und Geschichte an der mittleren Elbe und unteren Saale (in German). Köln. pp. 219–280.
  18. Lexikologie. Ein internationales Handbuch zur Natur und Struktur von Wörtern und Wortschätzen. 2. Halbband / Lexicology. An international handbook on the nature and structure of words and vocabularies. Volume 2. Walter de Gruyter, 2005, p. 1180
  19. Hilkert Weddige, Mittelhochdeutsch: Eine Einführung. 7th ed., 2007, p. 7
  20. Mähl, S. (2012). Low German texts from late medieval Sweden. In L. Elmevik and E. H. Jahr (eds), Contact between Low German and Scandinavian in the Late Middle Ages: 25 Years of Research, Acta Academiae Regiae Gustavi Adolphi, 121. Uppsala: Kungl. Gustav Adolfs Akademien för svensk folkkultur. 113–22 (at p. 118).
  21. Lasch, Agathe (1914). Mittelniederdeutsche Grammatik. Halle/Saale: Niemeyer.
  22. Lasch, Agathe (1914). Mittelniederdeutsche Grammatik. Halle/Saale: Niemeyer. pp. 12–20.
  23. Bischoff, Karl (1967). Sprache und Geschichte an der mittleren Elbe und unteren Saale (in German). Köln. p. 236 f. Wenn Aken, Dessau, Köthen, Wittenberg, Walkenried, Eisleben, Merseburg, Halle mit ihren Umgebungen heute mitteldeutsche Mundarten haben, so ist das erst das Ergebnis einer großen sprachlichen Umlagerung, sie haben mit ihrer niederdeutschen Vergangenheit gebrochen. Aber ganz können sie sie nicht verleugnen, einige Reste sind auch im Bereich der Lautverschiebung unangetastet geblieben. [Translation: That Aken, Dessau, Köthen, Wittenberg, Walkenried, Eisleben, Merseburg, Halle and their vicinities today have Central German dialects, that is the result of a great linguistic shift; they have broken with their Low German past. But they cannot completely deny it; some remnants have also persisted in the issue of consonant shift.]
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