Benrath line

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Benrather line or maken-making line referred to in the German a isogloss within the continental West Germanic dialect continuum . It separates High German and Central German dialects from Low German and Low Franconian .

The Benrather line marks the northern area of the second sound shift and with the Tenuis shift k → ch associated. The isogloss describes the course of the northern verb maken compared to the southern one to make . The Benrath Line was named in 1877 by the linguist Georg Wenker after the place Benrath , in the vicinity of which it crosses the Rhine . With the Uerdinger line , this isogloss has a younger northwest branch line.

Isoglosses or isoglosses?

The Benrath line is actually not just a single isogloss , but rather a whole bundle of isoglosses, as they predominantly also with the course with the ik-ich-line , the dat-das-line , the Dorp-Dorf-line and the lift -has line and deviates only slightly from these isoglosses. The deviations are greatest in the west, in the area of ​​the Rhenish fan , while in the east there are only minimal deviations. For this reason it is also used as a dividing line between Low German , Low Franconian and High German .

course

The Benrath Line

The Benrath Line begins southeast of the Belgian city ​​of Eupen and then runs a semi-arc towards the Dutch border, which it crosses at Broekhuizen . The Isogloss meets north at Kerkrade - which remains on the southern side and therefore within the scope of the word "make" - on the German state border. Then it follows the line Aachen - Hünshoven - Linnich - Odenkirchen - Neuss - Düsseldorf-Benrath - Merscheid - Burg an der Wupper - Wipperfürth - Gummersbach .

From there, the Benrath line follows the route Gummersbach - Freudenberg - Hilchenbach - Schmallenberg - Sachsenberg - Sachsenhausen - Zierenberg - Immenhausen - Hedemünden - Worbis . From there, the Isogloss runs in a northerly direction until it runs again in an easterly direction at Bad Sachsa . It now follows the Bad Sachsa - Benneckenstein - Ballenstedt - Aschersleben - Calbe - Barby line , where the Benrath line meets the Elbe . The Isoglosse follows this river to the town of Aken and now makes its way towards Roßlau , where it leaves the course of the Elbe again and now follows the line Roßlau - Zahna - Seyda - Dahme - Märkisch Buchholz - Königs Wusterhausen . From there, the Isogloss makes a wide arc around the city of Berlin with the districts of Köpenick - Charlottenburg - Spandau as western border towns. East of Berlin, the Benrath line follows the Berlin - Fürstenwalde - Frankfurt route . Until the 16th century, the Benrath line ran further south in the following area, so that the state of Anhalt spoke Low German with Dessau, Bernburg, Köthen as well as Wittenberg and Berlin, but also Halle, Merseburg and Mansfeld.

Until 1945 or until the local German-speaking population was expelled , the Benrath Line ran east of the Oder, in the area of ​​today's Poland, via Küstrin , where it met the Warta in the vicinity . This she followed in the direction of Landsberg and south of Obersitzko the Isogloss made its way south. The Benrath Line ended east of the city of Poznan .

In East Prussia , its continuation represented the dialect border between Low Prussian and High Prussian . The Benrath line began again south of Deutsch Eylau and ran north-west until shortly before Marienwerder . From there it turned to the northeast via Christburg to Elbing and then ran east via Mühlhausen to Mehlsack . From there, the Isogloss followed roughly the historic northern border of the Principality of Warmia to expire southeast of Rößel .

Since 1945 at the latest, the course described here can be regarded as historical. The German language area of the former German territories and the numerous enclaves in Poland exist from little remains of the German minority in Poland anymore.

In many places, the Benrath Line is about to move northwards. The former speakers in northern and central Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg now speak a High German colloquial language, which is strongly influenced by the language used in the cities of Magdeburg , Halle an der Saale and Berlin . As a result, these regions are now often shaped by East-Central and no longer East-Low German . Here the course of the isogloss changes because the speakers of the former Low German dialects are slowly dying out.

See also

  • Unit plural line (there are several of these in the German-speaking area, including the Eider line )
  • Eider line (Another Germanic language border in Schleswig-Holstein. It separates Schleswig from Holstein.)
  • Speyerer Line (Isoglosse) (southern border of the Central German language area)
  • Bad Hönninger line

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Georg Wenker: Das Rheinische Platt, dedicated to the teachers of the Rhineland. Düsseldorf 1877.
  2. ↑ Simplified representation of the oap / aff (monkey) isogloss from the Digital Wenker Atlas.