LL-L "History" 2002.08.06 (01) [E/German]

Tue Aug 6 17:50:01 UTC 2002

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 06.AUG.2002 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian L=Limburgish
 LS=Low Saxon (Low German) S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic Z=Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
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Dear Lowlanders,

With respect to eastward migration to what is now Northern Poland, you
may be interested to read the excerpts I am posting below.  I am not
including Mennonite migration from the Netherlands and Northern Germany
to that area (and beyond), because a lot has been said about that.

Also, we have mentioned Saxon settlements in Zeeland and Western
Flanders before.  Can any of you provide more detail about this?

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

===

Lowlands-L 24.FEB.1997 (02):
From: "Reuben Epp" <repp at silk.net>
Subject: Re: LL-L: "Measure word" [A/E] - LOWLANDS-L 23.MAR.1997 (05)

Dear Ron and readers,
The term "Japs" is quite commonly-known in Plautdietsch as the space
between two hands cupped together. "Eene Japsvoll" is the the quantity
or
volume thus contained or measured.

Where this expression originated, remains a mystery to me, but I am
informed that in the homeland of Plautdietsch in Prussia, there was a
community known as "Klein Schottland" a suburb of Danzig. Perhaps this
rings some recognitional bells.

===

Lowlands-L 01.JUN.2001 (01):
From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Shared features

As for Scottisch emigration to Prussia, note the name of a town in the
Gdansk/Danzig region: Polish _Nowe Szkoty_, German/Low Saxon _Neu
Schottland_.

===

Lowlands-L 09.OCT.2001 (04):
From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Place Names

Also of interest to you may be the fact that Teltow-Fläming is on the
edge of Lower Lusatia (Niederlausitz), and Fläming is often mentioned as
"Fläming-Spreewald" with reference to the swampy area known in German as
_Spreewald_ ("(River) Spree Woods") and in Sorbian (Lusatian) as
_B{l/}ota_ ("The Swamp").  Since that area is or used to be on the
southeastern edge of the Low Saxon (Low German) area and is also at the
northwestern edge of Lower Sorbian, a West Slavic language, we ought to
assume that at the time the migrants from what are now Belgium and the
Netherlands came into contact with speakers of Saxon and Slavic.
Therefore, Dutch-Flemish influences on some northern Lower Sorbian
dialects ought to be considered possible also.  German (i.e., "High"
German) entered the picture only later in the wake of Germanization, and
its local dialects have Low Saxon and Slavic influences. Of course,
there are other areas in Germany with a history of migration from what
are now Belgium and the Netherlands.  (I deliberately do not say "The
Low Countries" here because I personally consider Northern Germany a
part of them, at least culturally and linguistically.)  There are, for
instance, Friedrichstadt (in the state of Schleswig-Holstein) and Das
Alte Land (Dat Ole Land ~ Olland, in the states of Hamburg and Lower
Saxony) which were apparently founded by migrants from the Netherlands.

===

Gustav Friedrich Meyer, _Unsere plattdeutsche Muttersprache : Beiträge
zu ihrer Geschichte und ihrem Wesen_, St. Peter-Ording: H. Lührs &
Dirchs, 1923, reprint 1983, ISBN 3-921416-24-8 (S./p. 33)

[English below]

Wie Ostholstein wurde auch das nördliche Gebiet an der Ostsee
(Mecklenburg, Vorpommern, Rügen und die Küstenstädte des Ostens)
vorwiegend von Niedersachsen besiedelt. Aber auch die Niederfranken
hatten sehr erheblichen Anteil an der Besiedelung, sie lieferten
besonders die bäuerliche Bevölkerung in den östlichen Landstrichen und
griffen überall da ein, wo es sich darum handelte, dem Wasser Boden
abzugewinnen, in den Überschwemmungsgebieten der Flüsse und in den
Brüchen, wo Deiche und Kanäle gebaut, Sümpfe trockengelegt werden
mußten, wie in den Oderbrüchen und an der Weichselmündung. Von den
Fürsten gerufen, wanderten damals die Holländer, Seeländer, Brabanten,
Flamen zu Tausenden nach "Oostland" und gründeten dort Niederlassungen
für den Ackerbau. Aus diesen Zeiten ist uns die alte Volksweise
überliefert:

        "Na Oostland willewy varen.
        Na Oostland willewy mee,
        Al ower de Berge und Dale,
        Vrisch ower de Heiden und ower de blaue See."

Die Spuren der Niederländer zeigen sich in der Sprache besonders in den
n-Formen der Verben und außerdem in Familiennamen wie Fleming, Fleme,
oder Ortsnamen wie Flemhude, Flämische Straße in Kiel, Rehm bei
Lütjenburg, Preußisch-Holland (südlich von Elbing).

[My translation]
As in the case of Eastern Holstein, it was predominantly Saxons that
settled in the northern regions along the Baltic Sea coast (Mecklenburg,
Western Pomerania, Rugia [Rügen] and the coastal cities of the east).
However, Lowlands Franks, too, played a considerable role in this
settlement movement. They particularly provided the rural population in
the eastern regions and got involved wherever soil had to be won from
water, in flood lands along rivers and marshes, wherever dikes and
canals needed to be built, wherever swamps needed to be drained, as in
the Oder marshes and around the Vistula delta. Summoned by princes,
Hollanders, Zeelanders, Brabanters, Flemings then emigrated by the
thousands to the _Oostland_ [Eastland] and established agricultural
settlements there. It is from those times that we inherited the old
folksong:

        "Na Oostland willewy varen.
        Na Oostland willewy mee,
        Al ower de Berge und Dale,
        Vrisch ower de Heiden und ower de blaue See."

        ["Let's travel to the Eastland!
        Let's join the throngs going east,
        Across all the mountains and valleys,
        Briskly across heaths and across the blue sea!"]

Linguistic traces of people from the Low Countries can be found
especially in the _-n_ forms of verbs [in the local Lowlands Saxon
dialects], furthermore in family names such as Fleming, Fleme, or place
names such as Flemhude, Flämische Straße in Kiel, Rehm near Lütjenburg,
Preußisch-Holland (south of Elblag/Elbing).

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