Old Prussian is an extinct Baltic language, once spoken by the inhabitants of the area that later became East Prussia (now north-eastern Poland and the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia) prior to the German colonization of the area which began in the 13th century. In Old Prussian itself, the language was called “Prūsiskan” (Prussian) or “Prūsiskai Bilā” (the Prussian language). A few experimental communities involved in reviving a reconstructed form of the language now exist in Lithuania, Poland, and other countries. Old Prussia was the land extending from the south-eastern coast of the Baltic Sea to the Masurian Lakes district, known as Prussia, was called Brus in the 8th century map of the Bavarian Geographer. ... For other uses, see Prussia (disambiguation). ... An extinct language is a language which no longer has any native speakers, in contrast to a dead language, which is is a language which has stopped changing in grammar, vocabulary, and the complete meaning of a sentence. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... A language family is a group of languages related by descent from a common proto-language. ... For other uses, see Indo-European. ... The hypothetical Balto-Slavic language group consists of the Baltic and Slavic language subgroups of the Indo-European family. ... The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. ... The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. ... ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. ... ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages. ... ISO 639-3 is an international standard for language codes. ... Articles with similar titles include the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ... The Unicode Standard, Version 5. ... The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. ... Prussian tribes settlements. ... Old Prussia was the land extending from the south-eastern coast of the Baltic Sea to the Masurian Lakes district, known as Prussia, was called Brus in the 8th century map of the Bavarian Geographer. ... East Prussia (German: Ostpreu en; Polish: Prusy Wschodnie; Russian: Восточная Пруссия — Vostochnaya Prussiya) was a province of Kingdom of Prussia, situated on the territory of former Ducal Prussia. ... Kaliningrad Oblast (Russian: , Kaliningradskaya Oblast; informally called Yantarny kray (, meaning amber region) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) on the Baltic coast. ... Evolution of German linguistic area from 700 to 1950 Settlement in the East (German: ), also known as German eastward expansion, refers to the eastward migration and settlement of Germans into regions inhabited since the Great Migrations by the Balts, Romanians, Hungarians and, since about the 8th century, the Slavs. ... (12th century - 13th century - 14th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 to 1300. ... // Language revival is the revival, by governments, political authorities, or enthusiasts, to recover the spoken use of a language that is no longer spoken or is endangered. ...

The Æsti, mentioned by Tacitus in his Germania, may have been a people who spoke Old Prussian. However, Tacitus describes them as being just like the Suebi (a group of Germanic peoples) but with a more Britannic-like (Celtic) language. The Roman historian Tacitus in his book Germania mentions a Aesti or Aestii people. ... For other uses, see Tacitus (disambiguation). ... Map of the Roman Empire and Germania Magna in the early 2nd century, with the location of some Germanic tribes as described by Tacitus. ... Suebi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... The Celtic languages are the languages descended from Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, a branch of the greater Indo-European language family. ...

Old Prussian was closely related to the other extinct Western Baltic languages, Curonian and Sudovian. It is more distantly related to the surviving Eastern Baltic languages, Lithuanian and particularly Latvian, and to the Slavic languages. Compare the Prussian word zemē^[1], the Latvian zeme, the Lithuanian žemė, the Russian земля (zeml'á), and the Polish ziemia, all with the meaning of "earth" (soil). The Baltic languages are a group of genetically-related languages spoken in northeastern Europe and belonging to the Indo_European language family. ... The term Curonian language (Latvian: kurÅ¡u valoda; Lithuanian: kurÅ¡ių kalba) may refer to two different, but genetically related Baltic languages. ... Sudovian (otherwise known as Jatvingian or Yotvingian) is an extinct western Baltic language of north-eastern Europe. ... The Baltic languages are a group of genetically-related languages spoken in northeastern Europe and belonging to the Indo_European language family. ...  Countries where a West Slavic language is the national language  Countries where an East Slavic language is the national language  Countries where a South Slavic language is the national language The Slavic languages (also called Slavonic languages), a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup...

In addition to the German colonists, groups of people from Poland^[2][3], Lithuania, France^{[citation needed]}, Scotland^[4], England^[5] and Austria^{[citation needed]} found refuge in Prussia during the Protestant Reformation and thereafter. Such immigration caused a slow decline in the use of Old Prussian, as the Prussians adopted the languages of the others, particularly German, the language of the German government of Prussia. Old Prussian probably ceased to be spoken around the beginning of the 18th century. The regional dialect of Low German spoken in Prussia, Low Prussian, preserved a number of Prussian words, such as kurp, from the Old Prussian kurpi, for shoe (in contrast to the standard German Schuh). Evolution of German linguistic area from 700 to 1950 Settlement in the East (German: ), also known as German eastward expansion, refers to the eastward migration and settlement of Germans into regions inhabited since the Great Migrations by the Balts, Romanians, Hungarians and, since about the 8th century, the Slavs. ... This article is about the country. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... The Protestant Reformation was a movement which began in the 16th century as a series of attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church, but ended in division and the establishment of new institutions, most importantly Lutheranism, Reformed churches, and Anabaptists. ... Prussian tribes settlements. ... For other uses, see Prussia (disambiguation). ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... Low German (also called Niederdeutsch, Plattdeutsch or Plattdüütsch) is a name for the regional language varieties of the West Germanic languages spoken mainly in Northern Germany where it is officially called Niederdeutsch (Low German), and in Eastern Netherlands where it is officially called Nedersaksisch (Low Saxon). Low refers to... Low Prussian (Niederpreußisch) is a dialect of East Low German, which was spoken in formerly German areas, that belong to Poland, Russia and Lithuania. ... A shoe is an item of footwear worn on the foot or feet of a human, dog, cat, horse, or doll. ...

The language is called “Old Prussian” to avoid confusion with Low Prussian, a dialect of East Low German, and the adjective “Prussian”, which also relates to the later German state. The Old Prussian name for the nation, not being Latinized, was Prūsa. This too may be used to delineate the language and the Baltic state from the later German state. Low Prussian (Niederpreußisch) is a dialect of East Low German, which was spoken in formerly German areas, that belong to Poland, Russia and Lithuania. ... Low German (also called Niederdeutsch, Plattdeutsch or Plattdüütsch) is a name for the regional language varieties of the West Germanic languages spoken mainly in Northern Germany where it is officially called Niederdeutsch (Low German), and in Eastern Netherlands where it is officially called Nedersaksisch (Low Saxon). Low refers to...

Old Prussian began to be written down in the Latin alphabet in about the 13th century. A small amount of literature in the language survives. (12th century - 13th century - 14th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 to 1300. ... Old book bindings at the Merton College library. ...

Until the 1930s, when the Nazi government began a program of Germanization, and 1945, when the Soviets annexed Prussia and made Old Prussian place-names illegal^[6], one could find Old Prussian river and place names in East Prussia, like Tawe, Tawelle, and Tawelninken. Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... “CCCP” redirects here. ... East Prussia (German: Ostpreu en; Polish: Prusy Wschodnie; Russian: Восточная Пруссия — Vostochnaya Prussiya) was a province of Kingdom of Prussia, situated on the territory of former Ducal Prussia. ...

Monuments

A list of monuments of Old Prussian :

1. Prussian-language geographical names within the territory of (Baltic) Prussia. The first basic study of these names was by Georg Gerullis, in Die altpreußischen Ortsnamen (The Old Prussian Place-names), written and published with the help of Walter de Gruyter, in 1922.
2. Prussian personal names.^[7]
3. Separate words found in various historical documents.
4. Vernacularisms in the former German dialects of East and West Prussia, as well words of Old Curonian origin in Latvian, and West-Baltic vernacularisms in Lithuanian and Belarusian.
5. The so-called Basel Epigram^[8]. It reads: Kayle rekyse. thoneaw labonache thewelyse. Eg. koyte poyte. nykoyte. pe^nega doyte; which may be: Kaīls rikīse! Tu ni jāu laban asei tēwelise, ik kwaitēi pōiti, ni kwaitēi peningā dōiti. (In English: "Hello Sir! You are no longer a nice uncle, if you want to drink but do not want to give a penny!"^[9]) This is an inscription of the 14th century, most probably by a Prussian student studying in Prague, found by St. McCluskey in one of folios of the Basel university in 1974.
6. Various fragmentary texts:
   1. Recorded in several versions by Hieronymus Maletius in Sudovian Nook in the middle of the 16th century, as noted by V. Mažiulis, are
      1. Beigeite beygeyte peckolle - Run, run, devils!
      2. Kails naussen gnigethe - Hello our friend!
      3. Kails poskails ains par antres - (a drinking toast, reconstructed as Kaīls pas kaīls, aīns per āntran, or, in English : A healthy one after a healthy one, one after another!)
      4. Kellewesze perioth, Kellewesze perioth - A carter drives here, a carter drives here!
      5. Ocho moy myle schwante panicke (also recorded as O hoho Moi mile swente Pannike, O ho hu Mey mile swenthe paniko, O mues miles schwante Panick) - Oh my dear holy fire!
   2. an expression from the list of the Vocabulary of friar Simon Grunau, an historian of the German Order: sta nossen rickie, nossen rickie, This (is) our lord, our lord.
7. A manuscript fragment of the first words of the Pater Noster in Prussian, from the beginning of the 15th century: Towe Nüsze kås esse andangonsün swyntins.
8. 100 words (in strongly varying versions) of the Vocabulary by Simon Grunau, written ca. 1517–1526; these have been reconstructed into a more unified single system of spelling by V. Mažiulis.
9. The so-called Elbing Vocabulary, which consists of 802 thematically sorted words and their German equivalents. This manuscript, copied by Peter Holcwesscher from Marienburg on the boundary of the 14th and 15th centuries, was found in 1825 by Fr. Neumann among other manuscripts acquired by him from the heritage of the Elbing merchant A. Grübnau; it was thus dubbed the “Codex Neumannianus”. Again, the words have been reconstructed into a more unified single system of spelling by V. Mažiulis, a scholar and contributor to the revival of the Prussian language.
10. The three Catechisms^[10] printed in the Prussian language in Königsberg in 1545, 1545, and 1561 respectively. The first two consist of only 6 pages text in Prussian — the second one being a correction of the first into another sub-dialect. The third one, however, consists of 132 pages of Prussian text, and is a translation by Abel Will of Martin Luther’s Enchiridion.
11. An adage of 1583, Dewes does dantes, Dewes does geitka. This is, in all probability, not Prussian — the form does in the second instance corresponds to Lithuanian future tense duos ‘will give’ — however it is included in this list because it is commonly thought of as Prussian. As for trencke, trencke! (Strike! Strike!), it too is in all probability Lithuanian, not Prussian.

Pater Noster may refer to: The Lords Prayer, a Christian prayer paternoster lift, a kind of elevator This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Enchiridion can refer to: Enchiridion of Augustine Enchiridion of Epictetus This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Examples of Prussian

Here are several basic Prussian phrases :

Prussian was a highly inflected language, as can be seen from the declination of the demonstrative pronoun stas, "that". (Note that translators of the Teutonic Order frequently misused stas as an article for the word "the".) Teutonic Knights, charging into battle. ...

Prussian also possessed a vocative case, like Latin. Look up case in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The nominative case is a grammatical case for a noun. ... The genitive case is a grammatical case that indicates a relationship, primarily one of possession, between the noun in the genitive case and another noun. ... Dative has several meanings. ... The term accusative may be used in the following contexts: A form of morphosyntactic alignment, as found in nominative-accusative languages. ... The vocative case (also called the fifth case) is the case used for a noun identifying the person (animal, object, etc. ...

See also

• Old Prussians
• Baltic languages
• Low Prussian
• High Prussian
• Prussia

Prussian tribes settlements. ... The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. ... Low Prussian (Niederpreußisch) is a dialect of East Low German, which was spoken in formerly German areas, that belong to Poland, Russia and Lithuania. ... High Prussian (German: ), sometimes known simply as Prussian (Preußisch), is a dialect of East Central German that developed in the region of East Prussia. ... For other uses, see Prussia (disambiguation). ...

References

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 49th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 49th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Literature

• G. H. F. Nesselmann, Thesaurus linguae Prussicae, Berlin, 1873.
• E. Berneker, Die preussische Sprache, Strassburg, 1896.
• R. Trautmann, Die altpreussischen Sprachdenkmäler, Göttingen, 1910.
• G. Gerullis, Die altpreussischen Ortsnamen, Berlin-Leipzig, 1922.
• R. Trautmann, Die altpreussischen Personnennamen, Göttingen, 1925.
• J. Endzelīns, Senprūšu valoda. – Gr. Darbu izlase, IV sēj., 2. daļa, Rīga, 1982. 9.-351. lpp.
• V. Mažiulis, Prūsų kalbos paminklai, Vilnius, t. I 1966, t. II 1981.
• W. R. Schmalstieg, An Old Prussian Grammar, University Park and London, 1974.
• W. R. Schmalstieg, Studies in Old Prussian, University Park and London, 1976.
• V. Toporov, Prusskij jazyk: Slovar', Moskva, 1975-1990 (nebaigtas).
• V. Mažiulis, Prūsų kalbos etimologijos žodynas, Vilnius, t. I-IV, 1988-1997.
• G. Blažienė, Die baltischen Ortsnamen in Samland, Stuttgart, 2000.
• A. Kaukienė, Prūsų kalba, Klaipėda, 2002.
• V. Mažiulis, Prūsų kalbos istorinė gramatika, Vilnius, 2004.

External links

• Prussian-German-English dictionary
• Dictionary of recovered and reconstructed Prussian
• Frederik Kortlandt: Electronic text editions (contains transcriptions of Old Prussian manuscript texts)
• Discussion forum in Prussian
• Nērtiks website (in Prussian)
• Prussian language on Ethnologue