OLD PRUSSIAN LANGUAGE - History and Grammar Description

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This video presents the history and grammar structure of THE PRUSSIAN LANGUAGE (PRŪSISKA BILĀ / German = ALTPREUSSISCHE SPRACHE) was not the language of the Germanized "Prussians" so famous as the first great German state that unified Germany in the 19th century, but rather a relative of Lithuanian and Latvian, belonging to the Baltic languages, and Old Prussia was invaded and Germanized by the Order of Teutonic Knights in the Baltic Crusades of the 12th century and ended up extinct, buried by Germanic rule over the centuries, until its last speakers died around 1730. The only literary work in existence today in the language Old Prussian 'and a Lutheran catechism of 1545 which gives us a few thousand words with German translation, otherwise few records of this language, which never had abundant literary expression, exist today. On the MOPC Linguistics Channel you can see a summary of what we know and what could be reconstructed of this mysterious extinct language of Central Europe. Prussian was an SVO language, with prepositions and 3 grammatical genders (masculine, neuter and feminine) and two numbers (singular and plural) and a declension with four cases (simpler than Lithuanian and Latvian) and a verb conjugation as far as is known relatively simple, with present, simple past and a periphrastic perfect and future, with auxiliary + past participle, which curiously agrees with the subject's gender.
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@zorahna4562 5 ай бұрын

My grandmother was born in what was Danzig before the war. I never knew this about Prussian! Fascinating!

@seand6482 8 ай бұрын

Great video. It’s amazing to think how much was lost of a language spoken (relatively) recently. Every word we do know is like gold.

@slawekwojtowicz 7 ай бұрын

Germans committed genocide against Prussians. The genocide of the Old Prussians refers to the series of events during the 13th and 14th centuries, where the native Baltic tribe known as the Old Prussians was subjected to conquest, forced assimilation, and eventual extermination primarily by the Teutonic Order. Here is an overview: 1. Background: The Old Prussians were a group of pagan Baltic tribes that inhabited the region of Prussia, which is today split between northeastern Poland and the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia. 2. Teutonic Order’s Involvement: The Teutonic Order, a German Catholic religious order of crusading knights, became involved in the region during the 13th century. They were invited initially by Polish dukes to help Christianize the pagan Old Prussians. 3. Conquests and Crusades: A series of Northern Crusades were launched against the Old Prussians. These crusades, driven by the Teutonic Order with support from other European states, aimed not just at conversion but also territorial conquest. 4. Forced Assimilation and Colonization: After their conquest, the Teutonic Order initiated a massive colonization campaign. German settlers were brought into the region, cities were founded, and the Old Prussians were progressively subjected to German rule. They were forcibly converted to Christianity, and their lands were taken. The settlers were given special privileges over the indigenous population. 5. Rebellions and Suppression: The Old Prussians resisted Teutonic rule and attempted several uprisings. Each of these rebellions was brutally suppressed by the Teutonic Knights. 6. Cultural and Physical Extermination: Over the course of the 13th and 14th centuries, through warfare, forced assimilation, disease, and the socio-economic changes brought by German colonization, the Old Prussian culture and language gradually became extinct. Many of the Old Prussians were killed, while others assimilated into the new German-speaking society. 7. Legacy: The name “Prussia” was adopted for the region and eventually for the powerful German state that arose in the early modern period. However, this state had little connection to the Old Prussians, as their culture and language had been almost completely eradicated. The extermination of the Old Prussians is a tragic chapter in the history of the Baltic region, and it serves as a reminder of the severe impacts of colonization and forced assimilation on indigenous populations.

@charlesrb3898 7 ай бұрын

The Poles rapidly exterminated of many of the Germans in their new territory awarded territory from 1945. Charles Balt

@times4937 7 ай бұрын

@Charles d'Etobicoke Yeap, Poles built concentration camps in which they quickly exterminated all the Germans they could capture. Now seriously, even if there were individual cases of lynchings, it is worth remembering that during the war, the Germans exterminated 5 million Polish citizens, certain events should not be taken out of context because it is simple manipulation. By the way, for Poland these were not new territories, they were territories that returned to Poland after 140 years (Royal Prussia) and 300 years (Ducal Prussia). In fact, it was Poland that was the midwife of the creation of the Prussian state, and, most amusingly, ( Kingdom of Poland) a Catholic country helped to birth the first Protestant state in the world ( Duchy of Prussia). I could tell you about how Poles helped the Germans hide from the Red Army, e.g. in the vicinity of Gleiwitz, where the Red Army massacred about 2,000 inhabitants of the city, people who did not decide to evacuate, but there is no point in discussing the topic on a channel that does not have no connection with the topic of World War II. Poles are not psychopathic by nature, revenge is not in the nature of this nation.

@slawekwojtowicz 7 ай бұрын

@@times4937 perfect answer to an uneducated barbarian.

@Mr.Vitality 7 ай бұрын

There was no genocide. The Teutonic Order was militarily stronger, so the Prussi assimilated.

@slawekwojtowicz 7 ай бұрын

@@Mr.Vitality learn history. They physically slaughtered them: every last man, woman and child and erased their culture. Just like Russians are trying to do in Ukraine now.

@marcins.1128 7 ай бұрын

I can see many similiarities to old Polish here. "Second" in old Polish was "wtóry", "to catch" was "imać" which is still alive in its old meaning in word "imadło" - "a vice". And so on. Great video, thanks!

@jgds9520 Ай бұрын

very similar to Lithuanian and Latvian

@times4937 7 ай бұрын

Gdansk in the historical sense is Pomerania, not Prussia, it was a Christian land inhabited by the Slavic tribe of Pomeranians, over time Germanized as a result of German settlement.

@Domjot5569 6 ай бұрын

It was also Kashubian (Slavic non-Germanized Pomeranians) for hundreds of years and even to this day the Kashubians inhabit Gdansk

@danielbriggs991 8 ай бұрын

've been reading the first couple chapters of Marija Gimbutas' *The Balts.* It's fascinating to try and pin down the area and extent of contact between them and Finnic speakers ca. the first millennium BC. It seems to be along the Daugava and Volga rivers, with the Finnic speakers to the north and the Baltic speakers to the south. Although Finnic has many many loanwords from Baltic, and Latvian and Lithuanian have almost none from Finnic, one naturally imagines Baltic tribes further east-such as the Galindians near Moscow, who survived even to the 12th century AD(!)-may have had significantly more loanwords from Finnic languages. Perhaps the Uralic language Merya was transitional between Finnic and Volgaic, and could have both received many loanwords from and given many loanwords to the Galindians near Moscow. The Russian Galindians should not be confused with the Prussian Galindians: their ethnonym seems to mean "end," and (Gimbutas) it is perhaps because each recognized itself as at an end of the Baltic region.

@linascharzevskis9944 8 ай бұрын

Just a short comment. Had this video running in the background so I missed the earlier parts, but around 19:30 where there is a comparison for the wording "to work" - prussian is Wirst delawuns and it is commented that it differs a lot from lithuanian. Just to note - virst (or virsti) is lithuanian for "to become", so I would still point out that the prussian "wirst delawuns" at least partly is the same as lithuanian "virsiu dirbanciu" - "will become working"/"will produce work action". Just of course this is a comment coming from a native lithuanian, without a wide knowledge of the language evolution :)

@mopclanguages2848 7 ай бұрын

thank you for your input

@manub.3847 7 ай бұрын

Even though the original Prussian language was already considered extinct in the 18th century, the local dialects seem to have persisted for a long time. I recognized some words and expressions because my grandmother and her family come from the regions around Königsberg and Warmia and the local German dialect seems to have picked up a lot of the words/expressions. However, since the German-speaking residents of these areas have either completely adopted the Polish language or live in other German areas for over 75 years, the dialect variant has probably also been lost. I only know a few words in this dialect. *virst comparable to German “du wirst”( wir werden),

@lfjj6186 8 ай бұрын

Berneker's book seems interesting. I especially like the false friends in the similar languages, for example, пустой("empty") comes from Proto-Balto-Slavic *paustas, further etymology is unknown but its cognate is Old Prussian pausto (“wild”). I imagined from the connection between пустой and pausto that the "empty" place would imply the one lacking any infrastructure, cultivated lands and people, or a wild one .

@Artur_M. 8 ай бұрын

Indeed! You can see this connection, for example, in modern Polish words: pusty (-a, -e) - empty pustka - emptiness pustynia - desert *puszcza - a great, wild forest*

@seerOfNatur 3 ай бұрын

It is time to separate slavic and baltic. In Lithuanian, empty is tuščias, which is authentic and completely different root. It is just that Prussians started borrowing germanic and slavic words. Slavic and Baltic have different origin, it is just for the sake of simplifying the classification some linguist put them in one branch, which is not truly correct - not by origin. Later yeah, people started assimilating words from other languages.

@martso9288 Ай бұрын

@@Artur_M. pūstas in lithuanian means bloated, išpūstas - inflated, so can mean empty, without substance, meaningless.

@dieskim675 8 ай бұрын

Thanks very much.

@matf5593 7 ай бұрын

Très intéressant! Cette langue m’intéresse 😊merci!

@priemonedukacine7720 6 ай бұрын

"jau as asma pargubusi" - thats is right i think- greets from Lithuania

@Bdrbs 7 ай бұрын

You are a pro. I would like to see your Lithuanian language video :)

@mopclanguages2848 7 ай бұрын

I do have a Baltic Languages video on mt Brazilian Channel = kzfaq.info/get/bejne/eOBiishiua_KaWw.html

@VD1350 6 ай бұрын

@@mopclanguages2848 i hope you will make it in english

@geeboom 8 ай бұрын

Interesting.

@yuann8019 8 ай бұрын

Dīnkun!

@marissants1164 7 ай бұрын

The eighth in Latvian is not ": astoņtais", it is "astotais". It is a mistake in Latvian

@seand6482 8 ай бұрын

The perfect is very similar to some Romance languages or Persian in its use of the participle (il est né, u āmadeh ast).

@jr0812 7 ай бұрын

The links to your multi language dictionary is not working. Pls. advise. Thanks

@mopclanguages2848 7 ай бұрын

is working for me = shorturl.at/biqY1

@tedgemberling2359 7 ай бұрын

Fascinating. It's amazing the word for breakfast looks almost like breakfast.

@maciejniedzielski7496 7 ай бұрын

07:55 picture of Old Town of Gdansk (Danzig) historical région of Poméranie however Germans created administrative région of West Prussia there during some période in time,now back in Poland since 1945

@helenchapman405 7 ай бұрын

How does Kashubian relate to Old Prussian? They were neighbours and that population was also prevalent in Old Prussia.

@mopclanguages2848 7 ай бұрын

not related , Kashubian is a slavic language

@kozodoev 3 ай бұрын

4:20 The reason why baltic and slavic languages share so many cognates isn't because of their "coexistence", it's because they have a common ancestor (proto-balto-slavic language - 8-2c BC) and form a distinct Indo-European branch (Balto-Slavic).

@janislulle3034 7 ай бұрын

Great to see an englishman, who knows other languages too! But i want to make some remarks ( i'm latvian myself). 1. Philologists say, that there are remnants of neutral gender in latvian language. One philologist told that latvian " comon gender ( latin. communis generis) family names ( including my famili name) are such remnants. 2 . There is an inaccuracy about numerics - correct forms for " the eight" in latvian are "astotais ( genus masculinum)" and " astotā ( genus femininum)."

@mopclanguages2848 7 ай бұрын

Thank you fo your info. Btw I am Brazilian.

@janislulle3034 7 ай бұрын

@@mopclanguages2848 May be you have latvian ancestors? Some thousands of latvian baptists in 1920 - ies came to Brazil and founded colony - village called "Vārpa (pt.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varpa)."

@seerOfNatur 3 ай бұрын

He still knows more than you do.

@toTSX 7 ай бұрын

Thou mean - You, deiwas - god (deus). I think Curonian is in Prussian tree because those languages was close. Also nowadays is still Latvian - Curonian dialect still alive. Not sure how close that dialect is to original Curonian. btw - I'm latvian.

@Delfinas51 7 ай бұрын

deiwas произошло от dewa на санскрите

@seerOfNatur 3 ай бұрын

@@Delfinas51yes, and Baltic languages come from the mother of sanskrit. So it is Dievas.

@ukrainian_mf 25 күн бұрын

@@Delfinas51No it's not, they're both Indo-European languages and have this word from the same root, but it's not originated from one another. And please speak English, not every peasant here knows Cyrillic

@RenatasSam 7 ай бұрын

"Butas " means a flat or apartment in Lithuanian.

@Rasytojas1980 7 ай бұрын

Būtas laikas

@kestutisa3826 4 ай бұрын

Prussian language - the closest language to Lithuanian. It's like lost brother.

@kefyrass 2 ай бұрын

isnt Latvian closer?

@kestutisa3826 2 ай бұрын

@@kefyrass No.

@jeryndavelauan2453 Ай бұрын

what about sanskrit?

@kestutisa3826 Ай бұрын

@@jeryndavelauan2453 Lithuanian, Latvian, Prussian are quite close to Sanskrit

@Domjot5569 6 ай бұрын

There are actually ethnic Baltic Prussians that still speak their Baltic Prussian language. Most of which still live in their native lands of the former Prussia

@deagnasakaadam7840 3 ай бұрын

you are wrong there are people that still speak Prussian today there are only a few thousand peoples and they are Ethic Prussians and proud of it .

@patrickweissel5241 Ай бұрын

@@deagnasakaadam7840 🤔 Source ?

@noahriding5780 6 ай бұрын

There are people that say Finnish is related to Baltic.

@kimrizo1938 7 ай бұрын

One in Slavic was in , not jeden. Now in has the meaning - another! Jeden= eidene in Baltic , it means alone, single!

@seerOfNatur 3 ай бұрын

Jeden is of Germanic origin, not baltic. Vienas, viens is Baltic. No need to guess.

@mariuscorbu9924 7 ай бұрын

Again a map showing the Romanian principalities as being an integral part of the Ottoman empire - They were not occupied militarily.

@seboho6938 7 ай бұрын

BREDNIE 🤣

@srdjan5847 7 ай бұрын

The source of all slavic languages is serbian language. Croatian language is composed from serbian language in XIX century.

@simonmoorcroft1417 7 ай бұрын

That sounds more like a national myth than reality. The archaeological and genetic evidence indicates that original homeland of the slavic peoples was likely in the region of Belarus and northern Ukraine around the Pripet marshes. It takes around 150 to 250 years to produce distinct dialects and around 500 years of linguistic drift to create entirely new 'daughter' languages from the original tongue. Thus no 'modern' slavic language of the historical period can claim to be the 'original'. The slavic languages have mutated and developed for over 2000 years. The original dialect of proto-slavic is long extinct. It is a basic rule that the further a dialect is geographically from it origin point to more divergent characteristics it has from it mother tongue and Serbia is a long way from the Pripet marshes. The various slavic languages were likely the result of small tribal groups migrating away from the homeland in waves or groups over decades and centuries. With no written language to 'stabilise' and preserve the original proto-slavic language linguistic drift would have begun to happen within decades. So Serbian may be the origin of Serbo-Croatian dialects but it is unlikely to resemble the original Proto-slavic language except in its basic structure.

@angelina6543 7 ай бұрын

@@simonmoorcroft1417its a fabrication

@krasimirparvanov8139 6 ай бұрын

And what language did people speak in Duchy of Croatia in the 9th century when you were later a principality a little larger than Montenegro and you didn't even have a border with the Croats?