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Wikipedia / Curonian language

The Curonian language (; ; ), or Old Curonian, was a Baltic language spoken by the Curonians, a Baltic tribe who inhabited Courland (now western Latvia and northwestern Lithuania).

Classification

Curonian was an Indo-European language of the Baltic branch, as proven by Jānis Endzelīns.

Curonian's relation to other Baltic languages is unclear:

History

Old Curonian disappeared in the course of the 16th century.

Since the end of the 20th century, there has been a revival of scientific and cultural interest in Latvia and Lithuania in the now extinct Baltic languages and tribes, including Yotvingian, Curonian, and Old Prussian.

Lexicon

Samogitian words such as (mosquito), (duck), (swallow), (skylark), (hare), (stone), (marsh), and (winter wheat) are considered to be of Curonian origin.

Further words show similarities with Old Prussian: and Old Prussian: compared to , , all meaning wheel.

Corpus

Evidence from other languages

Curonian left substrata in western dialects of the Latvian and Lithuanian, namely the Samogitian dialect. No written documents in this language are known, but some ancient Lithuanian texts from western regions show some Curonian influence. According to Lithuanian linguist Zigmas Zinkevičius, long and intense Curonian–Lithuanian bilingualism existed.

Onomastics

There are only few onomastics in the region considered to have been inhabited by the Curonians.

There are attested names of Curonian noblemen such as: , , , , .

Potential text in Curonian

Additionally, the Pater Noster reported by Simon Grunau is speculated to be in Curonian.

Lord's Prayer after Simon Grunau

See also

References

Literature

  • Ambrassat, August "Die Provinz Ostpreußen", Frankfurt/ Main 1912

  • Endzelin, J.: Über die Nationalität und Sprache der Kuren, in Finnisch-Ungarische Forschungen, XII, 1912

  • Gaerte, Wilhelm "Urgeschichte Ostpreussens", Königsberg 1929

  • Gimbutas, Marija "Die Balten", München-Berlin 1983

  • Kurschat, Heinrich A.: Das Buch vom Memelland, Siebert Oldenburg 1968

  • Kwauka, Paul, Pietsch, Richard: Kurisches Wörterbuch, Verlag Ulrich Camen Berlin, 1977,

  • Kwauka, Paul: Namen des Memellandes/ Unsere „fremdartigen“ Familiennamen, Archiv AdM, Oldenburg

  • Lepa, Gerhard (Hrsg) "Die Schalauer", Tolkemita-Texte Dieburg 1997

  • Mortensen, Hans und Gertrud "Die Besiedlung des nordöstlichen Ostpreußens bis zum Beginn des 17. Jahrhunderts", Leipzig 1938

  • Mortensen, Hans und Gertrud: Kants väterliche Ahnen und ihre Umwelt, Rede von 1952 in Jahrbuch der Albertus-Universität zu Königsberg / Pr., Holzner- Verlag Kitzingen/ Main 1953 Bd. 3

  • Peteraitis, Vilius: Mažoji Lietuva ir Tvanksta (Lithuania Minor and Tvanksta) Vilnius 1992

  • Pietsch, Richard (künstlerischer Entwurf und Text): Bildkarte rund um das Kurische Haff, Heimat-Buchdienst Georg Banszerus, Höxter, Herstellung: Neue Stalling, Oldenburg

  • Pietsch, Richard: Deutsch-Kurisches Wörterbuch, Verlag Nordostdeutsches Kulturwerk Lüneburg 1991,

  • Pietsch, Richard: Fischerleben auf der Kurischen Nehrung dargestellt in kurischer und deutscher Sprache, Verlag Ulrich Camen Berlin 1982

  • Schmid, Wolfgang P. (Hrg): Nehrungskurisch, Sprachhistorische und instrumentalphonetische Studien zu einem aussterbenden Dialekt, Stuttgart 1989

  • Schmid, Wolfgang P.: Das Nehrungskurische, ein sprachhistorischer Überblick

  • Tolksdorf, Ulrich "Fischerei und Fischerkultur in Ostpreußen", Heide/ Holstein 1991

  • Žadeikiene, Daiva, Krajinskas, Albertas: Kurenkahnwimpel,