LL-L "Language varieties" 2007.03.03 (04) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

L O W L A N D S - L - 03 March 2007 - Volume 04

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language varieties

Sandy,

You wrote:

> she was doing a
> full-time course in Deaf Studies at her university near Dresden,

> I also asked her if she knew Low Saxon and said she heard plenty of it
> but had never got round to making it come out of her mouth!

I take it she isn't originally from the Dresden area.  If she were, it
wouldn't be surprising that she doesn't know any Low Saxon, because the area
is well south of the Low-Saxon-speaking region.  It is were mostly so-called
"Central German" varieties are spoken, the ones of this particular area
being referred to as "Saxon," with many special features, including
"fronting" (i.e. centralization) of back vowels, which gives them a unique
sound.

Today's German ("free") state of Saxony (German Freistaat Sachsen, Upper
Sorbian *Swobodny stat Sakska*) is south of the original Saxon region. It
got its name when it was under Saxon rule and for some reason stuck to it,
even though it was well outside the actual cultural and linguistic Saxon
region.

There are Slavonic cultural and linguistic substrates in that region as a
result of Germanization of Upper Sorbians (Upper Lusatians). Many, if not
most, place names there are of Old Sorbian origin; e.g., Dresden (Dresdene <
OS *Drežďany* > US *Drježdźany* "people of the lowland woods"),
Leipzig (< *urbs
Libzi* = US Lipsk "place of linden/lime trees"), Chemnitz (= US
Kamjenica"stony/rocky place"), Bautzen (<
Budissin = US Budyšin "border town" or "cottage town"), Meißen (~ Meissen <
Misen+aha = US Mišno after the river (Au ~ Ach < aha) Meise < *Misa < OS *
Miša), Görlitz = Polish Zgorzelec (= US *Zhorjelc* = Czech *Zhořelec* "place
on the mountain slope"?), and Zittau (= US Žitawa "place of rye").

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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