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The Vistulan dialect (Template:Lang-de) was a dialect of Low Prussian, which belongs to Low German. The dialect was spoken in West Prussia, today in Poland. It had a border to Mundart der Weichselwerder. It was spoken around Jezioro Żarnowieckie (Zarnowitzer See), Gdańsk (Danzig) and Grudziądz (Graudenz).

Geography

It partly coincided with a transitional area of East Pomeranian dialect and Low Prussian. The transitional area would end at about Chojnice (Konitz). Other places within this area included Bytów (Bütow), Lębork (Lauenburg), Bydgoszcz (Bromberg) and Toruń (Thorn). Within Low German in West Prussia, there was a major bundle of isoglosses in roughly the line Brodnica-Gardeja-Nowe and continuing somewhere between Kościerzyna and Chojnice.

Phonology

In Gdańsk, it had High German a as ǫ before l in words such as ǫl for High German alt and hǫle for High German halten. Another typical example is mǫn for High German Mann. The dialect of Gdańsk also has mǭke for High German machen High German, nǭˠel for High German Nagel, šlǭˠen for High German schlagen inter alia. It had a and ä in cases such as nat and nät for High German Netz. It had ek ben I am for ek sī. In Gdańsk in originally open syllables before k and x, a became o:.

History

Numerous words in the Danzig area were from Dutch, in particular nautical and commercial vocabulary. Towards the end of the 18th century, the language spoken at home in long-established merchant families in Danzig was still Low German, this changed. Use in Danzig has since then been restricted to workers and small artisans. It was barely understood in privileged circles, but best by those who had the opportunity to hear it with their subordinates every day. In the countryside, Low German was still spoken by the landowners, if they preserved the rural way of life. In the second half of the 19th century, Low German had a considerable decline. Dialekt des Weichselgebietes is among the varieties on which Plautdietsch is based and has the greatest phonetic similarity to. Already in the age of the Teutonic Order there were Dutch colonists in Danzig. Low German with Dutch remnants was often still spoken in Danzig by Mennonite families at home in the first half of the 19th century. In 1780 a German hymnbook was introduced, partly translated from Dutch. Until then, the Danzig congregation had used Dutch songbooks. Until the second half of the 18th century, Mennonite sermons were in Dutch. By 1586 there were Mennonite congregations in both Graudenz and Danzig. There were numerous Mennonite congregations in West Prussia and East Prussia. Reimer distinguishes six West Prussian core groups according to families: The Flemish rural congregations, the Frisian rural congregations, the Frisian congregations in the upper Vistula lowlands, the Old Flemish congregations, the Flemish congregation of Danzig city area and the urban part of the Congregation of Elbing, the Frisian congregation of Danzig-Neugarten. The Flemish Mennonites originated from a group of religiously persecuted Mennonites who had fled from Flanders and other parts of present-day Belgium to the Netherlands, the country of origin of the Mennonites, around the middle of the 16th century. Here many settled, especially in Friesland, and formed independent congregations in the towns of Franeker, Harlingen, Dokkum and Leeuwarden, which agreed on nineteen common articles of faith in 1560 and formed the association Ordinance der vier Steden. Among the agreements of the Ordinance was that a preacher elected by the local congregation should also be recognised in the other congregations of the association and thus had permission to work in them as well. It was also decided that conflicts within a single congregation should be settled by all the preachers of the associated congregations. In addition, a centralised welfare service for the poor was envisaged. The Frisian Brotherhood of Mennonite Congregations, saw especially in these three points of the Flemish the autonomy of the local congregation, one of its basic principles, in danger. Despite many efforts on various sides, a split could not be prevented. The schismatic tendencies in both groups were reinforced by the different practices of faith and life, but also by the fact that leading Mennonite personalities joined one or the other faction. For example, Leenaert Bouwens (1515-1582) sided with the Frisians, whereas Dirk Philips (1504-1568) on the side of the Flemish. In June 1567, the two parties separated and imposed a church ban on the other grouping. This split did not only affect Dutch Mennonitism, but continued in all Mennonite settlement areas. The attributes Flemish and Frisian had long ceased to be geographical designations of origin; they became intra-Mennonite denominational names. The Old Flemish Mennonites were a denomination originating from a split from the so-called Flemish Mennonites around 1586 in Franeker. The derisive name Huiskoopers, by which the Old Flemish were also referred to, originated from a controversial house purchase made by Thomas Bintgens, an elder of the Flemish Mennonite Church, had made and which led to a split among its members. The external cause was a house purchase that Thomas Bintgens (also spelled Byntgens or Bijntgens), elder of the Old Flemish Parish in Franeker, had made for 700 guilders, but had the seller issue him with a receipt for 800 guilders. Jacob Keest, Joos Jans and Jakob Berends, also members of the municipal council, condemned this behaviour as a serious breach of the duty to truth. Bintgens tried to justify himself; he had only wanted to prevent later bids on the house with the consent of the seller. He then told the council that he was sorry about the whole thing and that he would rather pay for the house twice than harm anyone. The opposing side did not accept these arguments, but additionally accused Bintgen of having bought the property from an indebted drunkard and profligate. He should have spent at least part of the purchase price to pay off the seller's creditors. Behind the specific accusations were probably also differences of opinion with regard to the church ban. Keest and his faction criticised Bintgens' strictness in this context. The dispute not only divided the local congregation; delegates from surrounding Flemish congregations tried to settle the disputes, but carried the conflict into their congregations. The factions were initially referred to by the names of their representatives (Thomas Bintgens volk; Jakob Keest volk) and later as Huiskoopers and Contra-huiskoopers. The name Contra-Huiskoopers soon fell into oblivion. The followers of Keest were then the Sachten' (= gentle, mild) Flemish or simply the Flemish in contrast to the stricter Old Flemish around Bintgens. The group around Bintgens became the nucleus of the Old Flemish Mennonites, which subsequently spread to the Netherlands, East Frisia, West and East Prussia. Despite the designation Old Flemish Mennonites, many of them were Hollanders. Furthermore, many were not Dutch-speaking. The Groningen Old Flemish split from the Flemish Mennonites in about 1630 because of their tendency to merge with other Mennonite groups. They soon founded the international Old Flemish Mennonite association Groninger Doopsgezinde Sociëteit with headquarters in Groningen. The internationally present Danzig Old Flemish, a grouping distinct from the Groningen Old Flemish, was given the designation Huiskoopers, which was no longer applied to the Groningen Old Flemish. Possibly in 1665, the Ukowallists denomination founded by Uko Walles merged with the Groningen Old Flemish. The term Ukowallists was thereafter also applied to the Old Flemish. In contrast to other Mennonite denominations, the Old Flemish practised a stricter form of church bans; they also stood for a stricter form of church orders and placed value on a simple way of life. Between the second half of the 18th century and the first decades of the 19th century, the split was largely reversed in the aforementioned regions. The Old Flemish integrated into Mennonitism in general, Groningen Old Flemish Sociëteit having been dissolved in 1815. Within the coastal area from Gdańsk to Elbląg, the denomination Flemish Mennonites once predominated among the Mennonites, whereas in Vistula valley the denomination Frisian Mennonites did. There were Frisian Mennonites in Rudniki, Kwidzyn County (Rudnerweide), Sporowo (Sparrau), Pastwa (Pastwa), Kowalewo Pomorskie (Schönsee), Barcice, Pomeranian Voivodeship (Tragheimerweide) and Mała Nieszawka (Obernessau). There were congregations of Frisian Mennonites in Gdańsk, Mątawy, Kowalewo Pomorskie and Barcice, Lesser Poland Voivodeship. There was a congregation of Flemish Mennonites in Dziewięć Włók. Gdańsk and Przechówko had an Old Flemish congregation each. In 1808, the Gdansk Old Flemish Mennonite congregation merged with the Gdansk Old Frisian Mennonite congregation. The Old Flemish parish of Stogi (Gdańsk) (Heubuden) had a branch in Pastwa, West Prussia, part of the parish in Jerczewo. In West Prussia there was also the Old Flemish parish of Jeziorka (Kleinsee). Among the most important surnames of Old Flemish Mennonites in Przechówko and Jeziorka and their descendants are, including variants, Becker, Buller, Foth/Voth, Janz, Jansen, Kryckert/Kroeker, Köhn, Nachtigall, Onrouw/Unruh/Unrau, Pankratz, Ratzlaff, Richert, Schellenberg, Sperling, Wedel. Some members of the Old Flemish Mennonite congregation of Przechówko moved to Błotnica, Lubusz Voivodeship (Brenkenhoffswalde) and Głęboczek (Franztal), now in Poland, where they lived until 1945. The switch from Dutch to High German as language of worship was earlier among Frisian Mennonites, which probably was due to High German refugees in the same area. In urban congregations, the change of language of worship from Dutch to High German was later, which possibly was caused by contact to Dutch congregations.

Diaspora

Old Flemish Mennonites moved as far as Ukraine (then part of Southern Russia). Some of the Flemish colonists of Chortitza Colony were from the Danzig area. Gnadenfeld, Waldheim and Alexanderwohl were Old Flemish settlements on Molotschna in Ukraine. A variety in Molotschna not being part of Molotschna-Plautdietsch was the one of Waldheim, Gnadenfeld and Alexanderwohl originating from an area near Świecie in Poland. Becker was also a name in Gnadenfeld, Waldheim and Alexanderwohl. Most of the residents of Alexanderwohl moved to the following areas: Marion County, Kansas Harvey County and McPherson County, Kansas. Mennonites who were descendants of Groningen Old Flemish from the Netherlands moved from Poland to near Ostrog in Russia. In Hierschau in the Molotschna Colony in Ukraine, most of the inhabitants were Old Flemish from Brenkenhofswalde-Franztal. In 1821, they were near Ostrog in Volhynia (Ukraine) in two villages, Karolswalde and Antonovka, with 38 families. That is why they were called Ostrogers. The first and leading inhabited village was Karolswalde, located four miles south of Ostrog. In 1828, the neighbouring village of Karolsberge was settled. In 1857, the settled villages also included Jadvinin and Dossidorf. In 1874 Fürstendorf, Gnadenthal and Waldheim were added, but Dossidorf was not mentioned. Another village associated with the group was Fürstenthal. Nearly the entire group migrated to Canton and Pawnee Rock, Kansas, and Avon, South Dakota, in 1874. Pawnee Rock, Kansas was founded in 1875 by Mennonite immigrants originating from Karolswalde. Most of the 175 inhabitants of 1956 were Mennonites of Polish and Russian Mennonite descent, and members of the New Hopedale Mennonite Church (General Conference Mennonite Church). The members of the Emmanuel Mennonite Church (General Conference Mennonite) were of Karolswalde background, Karolswalde being settled by Mennonites from Graudenz, Culm, and Thorn areas. Prussian Mennonites from Russia began moving to Kansas in 1876. A larger group of them consisted of people from Alexanderwohl. John Holdeman founded the Mennonite Church of God in Christ in 1859, initially with few members, some of whom converted from the Amish. After 1878, immigrant Mennonites from Prussia, who had a different ethnic background from the previous members, were attracted to this church. Most of them were frustrated, landless Ostrogers who soon became the majority. Some, however, were spiritually troubled Mennonites from the Kleine Gemeinde of Molotschna who had experienced traumatic internal divisions. About 45-50 percent of Mennonite Church of God in Christ members are from the McPherson County group with names like Koehn, Schmidt, Unruh, Jantz, Becker, Nightengale, Wedel, Ratzlaff, and Jantzen/Johnson. About 25-30 per cent have a background from the Canadian province of Manitoba with names such as Toews, Penner, Friesen, Giesbrecht, Loewen, Isaac, Wiebe and Reimer. Prussian Mennonites founded Emmaus Mennonite Church, First Mennonite Church of Newton, and Zion Mennonite Church in Elbing. Members of First Mennonite Church (Newton, Kansas) were from Heubuden (Stogi). Zion Mennonite Church (Elbing, Kansas, USA) had members who came from Stogi (Heubuden) and Lubieszowo (Ladekopp). The Mennonite Church USA has First Mennonite Church of Newton and Zion Mennonite Church in Elbing, but not Emmaus Mennonite Church or any other church in Whitewater in its directory. These are not the only churches of Mennonite Church USA in the area.

See also

• Danzig German

References

1. ^ Besch, Werner; Knoop, Ulrich; Putschke, Wolfgang; Wiegand, Herbert E. (14 July 2008). Dialektologie. 2. Halbband. ISBN 9783110203332. Archived from the original on 20 February 2022. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
2. "Dialekt-Karte_neu « atlas-alltagssprache". Archived from the original on 2021-01-10. Retrieved 2021-02-20.
3. Walther Mitzka: Kleine Schriften zur Sprachgeschichte und Sprachgeographie. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1968, p. 185
4. ^ Bernhard Jähnig and Peter Letkemann (eds.): Danzig in acht Jahrhunderten. Nicolaus-Copernicus-Verlag, 1985, p. 325
5. Walther Ziesemer: Die ostpreußischen Mundarten Ferdinand Hirt, Breslau, 1924, p. 132
6. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-09-20. Retrieved 2021-02-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
7. ^ "Mennonitische Geschichte | Chortitza" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-10-21. Retrieved 2021-02-23.
8. Benjamin Heinrich Unruh, ed. (1955). Die niederländisch-niederdeutschen Hintergründe der mennonitischen Ostwanderungen im 16., 18. und 19. Jahrhundert (in German). p. 61
9. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Flemish_Mennonites&oldid=146426
10. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Frisian_Mennonites&oldid=145195
11. Wilhelmus Johannes Kühler, ed. (1932). Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche Doopsgezinden in de Zestiende Eeuw. H.D. Tjeenk Willink. pp. 430
12. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Bintgens,_Thomas_(16th_century)
13. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Contra-Huiskoopers&oldid=94235 Online
14. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Huiskoopers
15. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Groningen_Old_Flemish_Mennonites
16. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Uckowallists
17. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Uckowallists
18. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Groningen_Old_Flemish_Mennonites
19. Horst Penner:Weltweite Bruderschaft Heinrich Schneider, Karlsruhe, 1952, p. 75
20. ^ Horst Penner:Weltweite Bruderschaft Heinrich Schneider, Karlsruhe, 1952, p. 72
21. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Danzig_Old_Flemish_Mennonite
22. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Przechovka_(Kuyavian-Pomeranian_Voivodeship,_Poland)
23. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Danzig_Mennonite_Church_(Gdansk,_Poland)
24. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Heubuden_(Pomeranian_Voivodeship,_Poland)
25. Benjamin Heinrich Unruh, ed. (1955). Die niederländisch-niederdeutschen Hintergründe der mennonitischen Ostwanderungen im 16., 18. und 19. Jahrhundert (in German)., p. 152
26. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Przechovka_(Kuyavian-Pomeranian_Voivodeship,_Poland)
27. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Brenkenhoffswalde_and_Franztal_(Lubusz_Voivodeship,_Poland)
28. ^ Penner, Nikolai (2009). The High German of Russian Mennonites in Ontario (PDF) (PhD). University of Waterloo. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-06-12. Retrieved 2021-06-12.
29. Benjamin Heinrich Unruh, ed. (1955). Die niederländisch-niederdeutschen Hintergründe der mennonitischen Ostwanderungen im 16., 18. und 19. Jahrhundert. p. 153
30. Siemens (2012), p. 47. sfnp error: no target: CITEREFSiemens2012 (help)
31. Benjamin Heinrich Unruh, ed. (1955). Die niederländisch-niederdeutschen Hintergründe der mennonitischen Ostwanderungen im 16., 18. und 19. Jahrhundert (in German)., p. 159
32. Quiring, Jacob (1928). Die Mundart von Chortitza in Süd-Russland (in German). Munich: Druckerei Studentenhaus München.
33. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Church_of_God_in_Christ,_Mennonite_(CGC)
34. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Volhynia_(Ukraine)
35. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Church_of_God_in_Christ,_Mennonite_(CGC)
36. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Volhynia_(Ukraine)
37. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Volhynia_(Ukraine)
38. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Volhynia_(Ukraine)
39. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Volhynia_(Ukraine)
40. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Volhynia_(Ukraine)
41. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Ostrog_(Rivne_Oblast,_Ukraine)
42. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Bergthal_Mennonite_Church_(Pawnee_Rock,_Kansas,_USA)
43. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Meno_(Major_County,_Oklahoma)
44. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Karolswalde_(Rivne_Oblast,_Ukraine)
45. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Canton_(Kansas,_USA)
46. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Kansas_(USA)
47. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Kansas_(USA)
48. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Church_of_God_in_Christ,_Mennonite_(CGC)
49. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Church_of_God_in_Christ,_Mennonite_(CGC)
50. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Church_of_God_in_Christ,_Mennonite_(CGC)
51. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Church_of_God_in_Christ,_Mennonite_(CGC)
52. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Church_of_God_in_Christ,_Mennonite_(CGC)
53. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Church_of_God_in_Christ,_Mennonite_(CGC)
54. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Kansas_(USA)
55. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=First_Mennonite_Church_(Newton,_Kansas,_USA)
56. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Zion_Mennonite_Church_(Elbing,_Kansas,_USA)

• Low Prussian dialect
• German dialects
• Languages of Poland
• Languages of Ukraine