Masurian dialect
Masurian is generally considered a Polish dialect that was in the South East Prussian landscape Mazury, that is, in the Old Prussian tribal areas Pogesanien, Barten, Galindow and Sudauen widespread. However, there is also the opposite view, that it is an independent Slavic language. The East Prussian Masuria defined their own name simply as " inhabitants ", which probably corresponds to the Polish " Maz " (man ).
On the origin of Masovians partially bold theories have been proposed. Roman Sołtyk looked for him in the early 19th century in the ancient horsemen of Massagetae. Also the Pannonian - Dalmatian tribe of Mazei was considered, because of the similarity of many toponyms. After that, the name meaning go back to " maz " ( large) ( Name of the climb Massarus ). However, appear similar Slavic tribal designations and similar Slavic toponyms in partially widely separated regions, without pointing necessarily to more than general Slavic similarities (see Serbs and Sorbs Slovenes and Slovincians, Belgrade and Belgard ).
The original language of Masovians likely to have been a proto- Polish dialect. The Masurian dialect in southern East Prussia fell to Polish roots and was heavily mixed with other languages , depending on the region: In the northeastern part, there was a mixture of Lithuanian and Polish, in the western part against a strong blending with German. Inside Mazury very different dialects came before. Relatively difficult to understand were the dialects of the areas around Angerburg and Lötzen for the other East Prussia. The purest Polish were encountered in the area around Soldau. Between the ordinary colloquial language and the Polish church, there were significant differences.
The Masovians wandered about in the 7th century from the south in their later area to the north, where they were initially hindered by the powerful people of the Galindians whose territory then handed until the Narew from entering Old Prussian tribal areas. However, from this time already leaked a single peaceful settler families in prußisches territory, where they mixed with the local population. The Old Prussian has the Masurian contributed many words that were often provided with a Polish ending.
The Masurian dialect already developed into religious times: "Neither the Slavic Masovier ( Mazury ) nor the Baltic language family belonging Lithuanians settled prior to the occurrence of the Teutonic Knights in East Prussia. Only the latter, and although relatively late, national has mainly hineingezögen to colonize the wilderness to the land of these peoples. " Besides these settlers there were still serfs Polish refugees fleeing the mercy of their landlords in the milder law of the Knights (and later Prussia ) fled were and despite strong protest from their "owner" and diplomatic negotiations were rarely delivered again. The influx increased during the time of the Polish-Lithuanian personal union. In addition, Polish settlers from Masovia (Polish Mazur = Masovians ) were recruited into the depopulated by war events area since the 15th century. After 1525 reformed Poland fled into the already secularized Prussia. The Lutheran Reformation of the Order of country contributed to a further decoupling of language development in the Catholic Kingdom of Poland. But Masurian remained a " language village ", as the official and written language has always been German.
According to the census of 1900 was Masurian spoken of the following population of the East Prussian specified counties:
After 1900, the percentage of speakers of the Masurian dialect walked slowly back to the general population. Most of the inhabitants were members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. After the First World War, the Mazury solidarity with Germany, so in the referendum on 11 July 1920, a total 99.32 % of voters voted in the Masurian circles to remain with Germany, with a voter turnout of 87.31 %.
After 1933, the use of the Masurian dialect of the German Nazi authorities, has been largely prohibited. Especially in 1938, many masurischsprachige place and personal names have been changed. From 1939 it was forbidden to hold church services in Masurian.
1945 many fled Mazury before the approaching Red Army or were expelled. In Masuria other people were settled, most of whom came from the lost territories in the east to Poland and Ukraine. From the original population received about 160,000 people, including many who spoke Masurian, a right to stay on the condition that they accepted Polish citizenship. The use of the German language was forbidden them. However, most of them settled in the 1950s, 1970s and 1980s as ethnic Germans to West Germany. Today the Masurian language is largely extinct. The present city name Masuria socialize with a few exceptions and easily polonisierter form back to the old Old Prussian name.