Curonian language
| (Old) Curonian | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Spoken in |
Courland (today Latvia and Lithuania ) | |
| speaker | (extinct) | |
| Linguistic classification |
|
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639 -1 |
- |
|
| ISO 639 -2 |
bat (other Baltic languages) |
|
| ISO 639-3 |
xcu |
|
The Curonian language (Latvian kuršu valoda ; Lithuanian kuršių kalba ) is one of the Indo-European languages, more precisely one of the Baltic languages . It was originally spoken of the Kurland (western Latvia ) and northern East Prussia by the cures .
It is not clear whether Curonian belongs to the West or East Baltic group of Baltic languages, according to a not uncontroversial opinion it was previously a West Baltic language that later changed to the East Baltic type due to the influence of East Baltic languages. The language probably died out in the course of the 16th century, but left traces in Latvian and Lithuanian . No written sources have survived from the language.
The Curonian language should not be confused with the later Spit Curonian , which is closely related to Latvian. The actual Kurish language is often referred to as Old Kurish for the purpose of distinguishing it from the Nehrung Kurisch.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Harald Haarmann (2002), Miloš Okuka (ed.), Kurisch. Wieser encyclopedia of the European East. 10. Klagenfurt / Vienna, p. 957