[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] NELL-Schemionken, Nicol-as- East Prussia

[Günther Böhm]

Sig Matt schrieb:

>In reply to Otto's question re Ostpreussen Plattdeutsch.
>Yes indeed, "die Ecke" (in German Hochdeutsch)
>becomes "de Eck" in Ostpreussen Plattdeutsch.
>
>Which leads to a question of my own.
>Where does the term "Low German" originate?
>

Hello Sig,
it is geographic. But we can also say that Hochdeutsch is the newer and 
Niederdeutsch the older variety of the German language. They are still 
today separated by the Benrather Linie (Essen = Niederdeutsch, Cologne = 
Hochdeutsch). Netherlands and Flamish are again subgroups of 
Niederdeutsch. The varieties were separated in the second German 
consonant shifting (Lautverschiebung) which happened in the 6th to 8th 
century when the High German language arose of the southern West 
Germanic dialects. Under 
www.uni-potsdam.de/u/germanistik/ls_dia/umfrage/ndeutsch.htm you find a 
map of the Lower German dialects.

Guenther