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What’s with this “Wren” thing?
The oldest extant version of the fable
we
are presenting here appeared in 1913 in the first volume of a two-volume anthology
of Low
Saxon folktales (Plattdeutsche
Volksmärchen “Low German Folktales”)
collected by Wilhelm Wisser (1843–1935). Read
more ...
(“Low German”)
Fritz
Reuter (1810–1874),
participant in the Low Saxon
reassersion movement and
celebrated
prose writer
in
the Mecklenburg dialect
Language information: North Saxon is the northernmost and largest dialect group, spoken in northern
Germany. The direct descendant of Old Saxon, Low Saxon—usually, with the inclusion
of Low Franconian varieties, known as “Low German” (Niederdeutsch, Plattdeutsch) in Germany—is originally used in the eastern parts of the Netherlands and in
the northern parts of Germany. It is closely related to both German and (especially)
Dutch but is recognized as separate regional language by the European Union.
The most important
precontemporary phases of this languages are Old Saxon (“Old Low German,” ca. 800–1100 C.E.) and Middle Saxon (“Old Low German,” ca. 1200–1650 C.E.). Middle Saxon served as the lingua franca of the medieval Hanseatic
Trading League and influenced a good number of languages, especially languages
used on the Baltic Sea coasts. Its influence greatly changed the Scandinavian
language, and its lexical influences on Kashubian (Eastern Pomeranian, Slavonic)
and
Estonian
(Finnic,
Uralic) were particularly strong.
Klaus
Groth (1819–1999),
participant in the Low Saxon
reassersion movement and
celebrated poet and lyricist in the
Dithmarschen dialect of Holstein
Major Modern
Low Saxon dialect groups:
Germany:
Northern Saxon
Elbe Marshes Dialects
Hamburg Dialects
Holstein Dialects
Schleswig Dialects
Lunenburg Heath Dialects
Northwestern Dialects
Eastern Friesland Dialects
Eastphalian
General Eastphalian
Heath Eastphalian
Elbe Eastphalian
Göttingen-Grubenhagen Dialects
Westphalian
General Westphalian
Münsterland Dialects
Eastern Low Saxon
Mecklenburgish-Western Pomeranian
Brandenburgish
Central Pomeranian
Eastern Pomeranian [area now partly in Poland, dialects moribund]
Low Prussian
(“Low Prussian”)
Western
Prussian [area now in Poland; most speakers have emigrated;
dialects moribund and extinct]
Mennonite dialects
(Plautdietsch; no
longer used in the original area)
Eastern Prussian
[area now in Poland and Kaliningrad; most speakers have
emigrated; dialects moribund and extinct]
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