Upper German writing language

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Upper German / Upper German literary language

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historically ht. Southern Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , France , South Tyrol , the Czech Republic , Slovakia , Silesia , Hungary , Slovenia , Romania , various diaspora minorities
Linguistic
classification
Official status
Official language in -
Language codes
ISO 639 -1

no ISO code: de / ger / deu

The Salzburg Benedictine University, today Paris-Lodron University , was one of the intellectual centers of the Upper German writing language.

The Upper German written language (also called Upper German literary language and Jesuit German ; also called -teutsch ) was a written language and umbrella language about the Alemannic, Bavarian and Franconian dialects used from around 1550 to 1750, especially in Catholic regions of today's southern Germany , in Alsace and in Habsburg Austria of the region.

At that time there was no uniform, generally binding written standard for German. There was fierce competition between Saxon Meißnisch , which was preferred by writers in the Protestant countries, and Upper German writing language, which also takes into account southern German and Bavarian-Austrian dialectal peculiarities, and which was preferred above all by writers in the predominantly Catholic Bavaria and Austria. The Upper German regional printer languages ​​(especially Bavarian-Austrian) of the early New High German period can be seen as forerunners (see especially → Municipal German and → Maximilian Chancellery Language ), but the transition is fluid.

In early modern times, Switzerland had a different office standard, namely the Alemannic- based federal language .

Jesuit German and Luther German

The Upper German writing language was established primarily by the Catholic clergy, above all by the Jesuits and also the Benedictines , in opposition to the “ Electoral Saxon ” Luther German and was widely used by the middle of the 18th century. From the Protestant side it was therefore also referred to as Jesuit German . Both terms, both Luther German and Jesuit German, are to be understood as mutually derogatory terms ( stigma words ) against the background of the denominational conflicts of the time . Linguistically, the two variants differed primarily in their regional focus and also in the fact that in the Catholic regions new German word creations were rather rejected and the Latin, French and Italian foreign words were retained.

history

The Holy Roman Empire 1648

After the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648, the stalemate between the Protestant and Catholic countries was cemented. Neither side could establish hegemony in a military way , and so the confessional conflict shifted increasingly to the cultural and linguistic level. The idea of ​​constructing a uniform German written language had been in the air since Martin Luther; However, while Luther's German also prevailed in Catholic areas in the north, the new written language could not establish itself in the Catholic areas of the south.

In the Protestant north-east, especially in the Electorate of Saxony and in the Brandenburg-Prussian states, work began to further develop the linguistic language of German, which Luther had begun. This was borne primarily by the newly emerging language societies such as the Fruitful Society , as well as by individual scholars and self-appointed language purists , less from the political side.

In the largely Catholic South, the spread of the Luther Bible had also ensured broader literacy and the spread of Luther's neologisms . In the course of the Counter-Reformation , Catholic clergy, especially Jesuits and Benedictines, began to preach in the language of the people. In keeping with the Baroque zeitgeist, they also resorted to elaborate artistic means, such as the theater (see Jesuit theater ). In addition to theological texts, scientific works, plays, comedies and songs were created, which were written in a form of writing more appropriate to the Alemannic and Bavarian south. Out of this, the new Upper German writing language developed in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Later this movement was also driven by the Enlightenment motive to adapt the written language as closely as possible to the spoken idiom of the people and thus to enable easier access to education. Between 1744 and 1772, eight grammars and orthographies in 27 known editions were published for Jesuit colleges and academies in southern Germany, Austria and Bohemia that used the Upper German written language. The imperial chancelleries, on the other hand, and the administrative apparatus continued to use the old, conservative writing forms from the time of Emperor Maximilian I , the Maximilian chancellery language .

The best-known attempts to create a teaching model for the Upper German writing language with the help of one's own grammars came from the following Austrian and Bavarian language scholars:

  • Johann Balthasar Antesperg in Vienna: The Imperial Grammatick (1747)
  • Carl Friedrich Aichinger in the Upper Palatinate: Attempt to Teach German Language (1753)
  • Johann Siegmund Popowitsch in Vienna: The Necessary Beginnings of the German Art of Language, Done Out for Use in Austrian Schools (1754)
  • Augustin Dornblüth im Breisgau: Observations or thorough comments on the way to make a good translation, especially into the German language (1755)
  • Ignaz Weitenauer in Innsbruck: Doubts about the German language (1763)
  • Heinrich Braun in Munich: Instructions for the art of German language, On the use of schools in the Churlanden zu Baiern (1765)
  • Franz Joseph Bob in Freiburg im Breisgau: Instructions for German spelling (1768)
  • Johann Jakob Hemmer in the Palatinate: Treatise on the German language for the benefit of the Palatinate. 1769.
  • Johann Nast in Stuttgart: The German linguist. Journal, 1777–1778.
  • Friedrich Carl Fulda in Swabia: Basic rules of the German language. 1778.

The language dispute was finally decided in the second half of the 18th century, after Gottsched 's grammar and spelling, which he had published in 1748, became more and more popular. The end of the Upper German writing language, however, was the introduction of compulsory schooling in the Habsburg hereditary lands in 1774. After the Seven Years' War (1756 to 1763) the political position of the Habsburgs was so weakened that a special Upper German linguistic route no longer seemed possible, and so Maria Theresa decided - after a violent dispute among the scholars in Vienna - for political reasons too to introduce Gottsched's variant as a reference norm in the Habsburg hereditary lands. These new school regulations were carried out by their advisor, the Augustinian canon Johann Ignaz von Felbiger , who came from Lower Silesia . In 1780 this decision was confirmed again by her son, Emperor Joseph II , and the new language standard was also made mandatory for officials of the imperial administration by his minister Joseph von Sonnenfels . Even place and person names have been adapted to the new standard. However, some traces of the old spelling, especially in the vocabulary, have been retained.

The other southern German states, such as Bavaria and the Archdiocese of Salzburg, which until then had taken a wait-and-see attitude, followed suit. This marked the end of the baroque language dispute over a generally applicable writing standard in favor of the more northern variant, which then became the basis for today's modern standard German.

As a reaction to this, an independent dialect literature emerged from the late 18th and early 19th centuries , which had not existed before due to the lack of a general writing standard.

Specifics

This article or section needs revision: the article is certain to be inaccurate or even misleading. For example "" frömd "(foreign)" gives the impression that only "frömd" was written in Upper German. Antesperg, who is also mentioned here, wrote "foreign" in his Grammatick ("sounding so foreign to many of the times"). He also wrote "Bett" (not "Böth" and certainly not "böth", because it is a noun), "Blut" (not Bluet , compare with "blu [e] thbegirig"), "Elect or elect" (not "choose"), "bad" (not "ybel").
Antesperg's text (in the section "About the letter i") should also state that the character <i> stands for the sounds [i] and [iː], but <ie> is [iː], so war as usual with [iː ] ], not [ie], [iə], or [ia] (cf. with "For example, the <ie> in the word" war "[..] must be read as a diphthong (Kriag)"). Quote: "From the letter i. §. I. The i and the diphthong ie are almost identical in sound and pronunciation, only that ie as a diphthong is pronounced a little longer [.] [Examples, similar to New High German like pear , Ding, Dieb, Liebe ] §. II. The i changes the name in front of a vocals, and becomes a iodine; ZE [ as an example , that means for example ] yes, everyone, itch, etc. [etc.] often sounds like a (ie,) ZE me, you, we, study, purge, rule, including all similar foreign verbs, etc. Then it is pronounced like the ie, but not written mier, dier, wier, study etc. " Notes: 1. Spellings like mier existed (possibly early New High German and possibly rare) and spellings like studying existed and existed. 2. In his text, "diphthong" should mean "two vowel letters belonging together", not "two vowel sounds belonging together", as vowels and consonants denote letters, cf. with Latin (lit [t] era) vocalis / consonans and the designation "Semidiphthongus" for the umlaut letters ä, ü, ü.
It would be conceivable that the article mixes two things here, such as 1. Upper German dialects such as Alemannic, Baierisch, which can also be recorded in writing, as by Johann Peter Hebel (as an indefinite article there are e ( Hebels Allemanniſche poems ), ä (with Antesperg, who rejects it), a (in works by the Austrian organization FPÖ such as Immer wieder Österreich )) and 2. an Upper German standard language, an Upper German standard German, something like an older southern German-Austrian standard German (e.g. Antesperg ; indefinite article as usual one, one etc. as with Antesperg, who rejects ä ). Perhaps it is also time-dependent (that e.g. Upper German from 1600 is different from Upper German from 1750) or something similar, but then that should also become clear.
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The Styrian Völkertafel (approx. 1720/1730) is an example of the Upper German writing language.

The Upper German writing language has some peculiarities, both in the spelling and especially in the vocabulary and idioms, as well as in the way in which certain letter combinations are reproduced phonetically. For example, no <ie> is written for a long pronounced [iː] . The combination <ie> rather stands for the diphthong typical of the Bavarian and Alemannic dialects. For example, the <ie> in the word " war " (see picture on the right) must be read as a diphthong (Kriag), as well as in " miessigwalk " (missiggang) and " aufriererisch " (riotous). The word " blu [e] thbegirig " is consequently written without <ie>. Analogous to the <ie>, the Upper German diphthongization of u and ü was given as <ue> and <ie>.

The letter <ö> is to be read in the Upper German writing language as a light closed [e] , such as in "böth" (bed), "Schwöth" (Swede), "hör" (army), "mör" (sea) , “Choose” (choose), “frömd” (foreign). The umlauts of / o / and / u / are either written as <ö> and <ü> or the rounded pronunciation that is still common today in most Upper German dialects is also reproduced in writing, as in the words "abtrinig" (apostate ) and "wanted" (desired). These rounded umlauts are also initially written with <y>: “ybel” (bad), “ybrig” (left over).

The final letter <e> is usually left out, as in "I have", "the language", "the eye" and "the feet" (see apocopes ).

As in the dialect, the verb “to do” is often used periphrastically : “to long for the first work”.

A distinction is made between <ai> and <ei>. The Upper German writing language marks two different diphthongs that go back to two different sounds from Middle High German , the <ei> in mhd. Words such as “teic”, “weize”, “ih weiz” and the long <î> in mhd. Words like "lîp", "wîz". In modern German orthography, these sounds have collapsed in the course of the New High German diphthongization , so that they are no longer differentiated, but instead have <ei> in all of these cases: "dough", "wheat", "I know" as well as "body" , "White colour). In the dialects these sounds did not coincide, and so the Upper German writing language differentiated on the one hand the <ai> in "Taig", "Waizen", "Ich waiss" from the <ei> in "Leib", "Weiß". In the modern Bavarian dialects, the former corresponds to an [oa] in "Toag", "Woazen", "i woas", while the latter corresponds to an [aɪ] in "Leib", " Weiß ". In some cases, the distinction between the Upper German written language cannot be traced back to Middle High German. For example, the words "meat", "spirit", "holy" are regularly spelled with <ei> - occasionally also the word "Kaiser" - although they do not correspond to a Middle High German <î>.

Authors from the southern Bavarian region, for example from Tyrol, also sometimes write an aspirated / k / , as in "khern" (core), "ackher" (field) or other southern Bavarian specifics, such as "nit" for "not".

Another feature of the Upper German writing language is that in some cases a vocabulary and an idiom were used that seem dialectal today and are even considered incorrect in modern standard German. Many Latin, Greek, French and Italian foreign words are used that are often no longer known today or have undergone a change in meaning.

However, there has never been a uniform, standardized spelling at this time, not even within the Upper German literary language. The exact graphic implementation of the language varies from writer to writer and in some cases individual printers and publishers have an identifiable spelling style. From the beginning of the 18th century onwards, a certain trend towards the Meissen spelling can be seen in the chronological view of some authors. In texts from around 1770, there are therefore only around 20 significant linguistic differences between Upper German and East Central German, whereas around 1600 there were still around 40 substantial differences.

Handwritten sources, on the other hand, have a much more regional writing than printed works. This is mainly due to the fact that the first book printers in Upper Germany often came from the Rhineland (Mainz) or Franconia (Nuremberg) and brought central German orthographic conventions with them from there.

In a certain way, rudiments of the Upper German writing language live on in the national standard variety of German in Austria (see Austrian German ). Even the writing of the Upper German dialects still follows this writing tradition for some authors.

people

Authors

Some important representatives of the Upper German literary language were:

  • Leonhard Rauwolf (1535–1596), Augsburg naturalist, doctor and explorer
  • Jeremias Martius (1535–1585), also Mertz and März , Augsburg doctor and first translator of Nostradamus "in common Teutsche Sprach"
  • Aegidius Albertinus (1560–1620), Dutch writer, founder of vernacular baroque literature in Bavaria, wrote and translated some of his works into Upper German, including his main work: Der Landstörtzer Gusman
  • Joachim Meichel (1590–1637), poet and translator from Latin into Upper German
  • Albert Curtz (1600–1671), Bavarian Jesuit, writer, translator and astronomer
  • Jacob Balde (1604–1668), Alsatian Jesuit and poet, wrote his works in Neo Latin and translated some of them into Upper German
  • Johannes Kuen (1606–1675), Catholic poet from Upper Bavaria
  • Georg Philipp Harsdörffer (1607–1658), Protestant Baroque poet, consciously turned against the Opitzian language requirement
  • Laurentius von Schnüffis (1633–1702), Capuchin from Vorarlberg, comedian, writer and poet
  • Abraham a Sancta Clara (1644–1709), Catholic preacher and writer from Upper Austria
  • Johann Beer (1655–1700), writer and composer from Upper Austria, Protestant
  • Eusebius Amort (1692–1775), Augustinian canon and co-founder of the learned society “Der bayerische Musenberg”.
  • Anton Roschmann (1694–1760), Tyrolean historian, Latinist and librarian
  • Ignatz Anton Weiser (1701–1785), Salzburg mayor and playwright
  • Andreas Felix von Oefele (1706–1780), Munich historian and librarian
  • Ignaz Weitenauer (* 1709 in Ingolstadt , † 1783 in Salemsweiler near Salem ), Bavarian philologist, Jesuit and orientalist
  • Franziscus Töpsl (1711–1796), Munich theologian and enlightener
  • Pius Kolb (1712–1762), Swiss Benedictine priest and librarian at St. Gallen Abbey
  • Leopold Mozart (1719–1787); It is said of him that he rewrote his textbook for violin lessons, the attempt at a thorough violin school (Augsburg 1756), and that the printing was therefore very delayed in order not to be criticized either by one side or the other for the form of writing used. He wanted to make sure that he no longer had to hear "that a beautiful book cannot come from anywhere but Hamburg and Leipzig."
  • Friedrich Carl Fulda (1724–1788), Protestant pastor, philologist and grammarian from Swabia
  • Joseph von Sperg (e) s (1725–1791), Tyrolean cartographer and state archivist in Vienna
  • Vincenz Bernhard von Tscharner (1728–1778), Swiss politician, writer and historian
  • Michael Lori (1728–1808), Tegernsee Benedictine and professor in Salzburg, cousin of Johann Georg Lori
  • Heinrich Braun (1732–1792), Bavarian school reformer, Benedictine
  • Andreas Dominikus Zaupser (1746–1795), Bavarian legal scholar, philosopher and dialect researcher
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791), many texts, such as the private letters he received, are written in an Upper German form of writing, sometimes also in the Salzburg dialect of the time.

Influenced authors

In addition to the writers from the Upper German-speaking area, whose works can clearly be assigned to the Upper German literary language, there were other authors whose language and spelling are strongly influenced by Upper German. This was either because these writers spent a longer part of their lives in today's Swabia, Bavaria and Austria, or in Bohemia and Moravia, where they adopted the Upper German writing convention, or their works were first published in these regions and published by the publisher in the Upper German writing language edited. Well-known examples of this are the works of:

Advocates

Important scholars who took sides in the late Baroque language dispute for the Upper German written language as the generally applicable writing standard, or at least valid in southern Germany and in Habsburg Austria, were:

opponent

The opponents of a South German Catholic language separatism were:

  • Philipp von Zesen (1619–1689), writer and language purist
  • Johann Christoph Gottsched (1700–1766), scholar and writer, founder of modern standard German
  • Johann Christoph Adelung (1732–1806), librarian and Germanist, shaped the historical reception of the Upper German writing language. In addition to his negative comments, his dictionary offers a rich source on the Upper German language.
  • Joachim Heinrich Campe (1746–1818), writer and language purist

Historical quotes

Johann Christoph Adelung helped shape the polemical historical view of the Upper German writing language

Sebastian Helber described in his Teutsches Syllabierbüchl , published in Freiburg im Breisgau in 1593, the differences between the three common writing languages ​​at the time: “Our common Hochteutsche [language] is printed in three ways, one we would like to call the Mitter Teutsche, the other the Donawische, the third Höchst Reinische ", whereby with" Donawischen "he means the Upper German writing language common in Bavaria, Austria and Swabia, with" Höchst Reinische "the Alemannic without diphthongization and with" Mitter Teutsche "the central German. - Helber mentions, among other things, the differences between the Upper German writing language: "If the Donawi write the following word with ei according to Irish pronunciation, they want to indicate something different than if they write and print the same with ai."

Albert Curtz writes in the foreword of his work Die Harpffen Davids , published in 1659 : “Of the German language / which we use when considering these holy songs / little is to be reported / the whole work history is requested / and then for spiritual use / and consolation of the Austrian , Bavarian: and Swabian women's room: therefore one had to use the common language in these countries most of the time. May it be that a learned Meissner / or eloquent Maintzer should find it difficult / and profound / to print the words as they are understood in these rhyming lines. But it has persuaded this kind of pretended Orthen / taken so far out of hand / that it is just as difficult to oppose the same: and should fall out of the ordinary / as this may be unformally white in Meissen or on the Upper Rhine. "

The Munich enlightenment magazine Parnassus Boicus (1722–1740) complained about the lack of a larger southern German literature: “How now nothing like this has emerged in our Germany / Catholic part / our knowledge / on the other hand, there are non-Catholics in their bookstores at Derley Art swarms with scripts. "

Augustin Dornblüth 1755, title of his polemic against Gottsched: Observationes or thorough comments on the way to make a good translation, especially into the German language. Whereby the errors of the previous German translations, together with the causes of such errors and the resulting perversion of the German language, are sincerely discovered. In addition to an inevitable criticism of this project about Herr Gottscheden's so-called red art and German grammatical, or (as he calls them) the foundation of the German language. From patriotic eyfer to prevent further reversal and desecration of foreign books (Augsburg 1755).

Heinrich Braun 1765: “'Most of the other German provinces already conform to Low German; on the other hand, our previous Upper German style of writing has nowhere else been fortunate enough to find acceptance and approval. "

Maurus Lindemayr 1769: "In writing we want to be Saxons, but in preaching we want to be Austrians."

Johann Christoph Adelung 1782: “The faded older sister looked at it scheelly from the beginning, envied the younger one because of her riding, and out of desperation tried to make her hateful by accusing her of heresy. In a good hour she forgot this cricket and even began to form after her; but the bad mood soon returned, and then she asserted in all seriousness that her wrinkles, her stiff and proud looks, and her archaisms were more regular than the gentle nicks of the pleasant young girl. At times she also shouted about despotism and Tyrraney, although the good girl was nothing short of despotic, and only sometimes held up the mirror to the older sister, when the coquetry of her younger years came to her, and reminded her of her wrinkles and faded rides. "- And further:" That the old Upper German dialect is still the common language of the writers and the social intercourse of the upper classes in southern Germany is proof that this half of the empire has lagged behind the northern half in culture "(Adelung, 1782)

During his stay in Vienna in 1784, Joseph von Sonnenfels complained that “the best-dressed lady of high society speaks as rabidly as her kitchen maid”.

Text examples

At Wikisource there are some documents in contemporary Upper German written language that provide a good impression of the printed language of that time. Here are some examples:

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Friedrich Carl Fulda: Basic rules of the German language. 1778.
  2. ↑ Temporal location according to Werner Besch: Sprachgeschichte. Chapter 192: Aspects of a Bavarian language history since the beginning of modern times. Walter de Gruyter, 1998, ISBN 3-11-015883-3 .
  3. ↑ Werner Besch (Hrsg.): Language history. A handbook on the history of the German language and its research. 2003, p. 2281.
  4. ↑ Peter von Polenz : German language history from the late Middle Ages to the present. Volume 2, 1994, ISBN 3-11-013436-5 , p. 173.
  5. ^ Andreas Gardt: History of Linguistics in Germany. Chapter 4.2.2 Carl Friedrich Aichinger , Walter de Gruyter, 1999, ISBN 3-11-015788-8 .
  6. ↑ Implementation of Standard German in Austria in the 18th century. In: Dieter Langewiesche, Georg Schmidt: Federal Nation. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2000, ISBN 3-486-56454-4 , p. 295.
  7. ↑ Ingo Reiffenstein: Aspects of a Bavarian Language History since the Beginning of Modern Times . In: Sonderegger / Besch, p. 2949.
  8. ^ Pius Kobl, Letter No. 170 to Lori of July 17, 1760.
  9. ^ Walter Tauber: Dialect and written language in Bavaria (1450–1800). Investigations into language norms and language norms in early New High German. P. 97, Chapter 7.1: Middle High German / ei / - der Wandel / ei / - / ai /. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-11-013556-6 .
  10. ↑ Peter Wiesinger: The development of the written German language from the 16th to the 18th century under the influence of denominations. Footnote 12.
  11. ↑ William Zannoth: The Augsburg physician Jeremias March (Online Antiquariat)
  12. ↑ Ingo Reiffenstein: Upper German and Standard German in letters to scholars of the 18th century. In: Verborum Amor. Pp. 481 and 483.
  13. ↑ Ingo Reiffenstein: Off with you to Paris!
  14. ↑ Peter von Polenz: German language history from the late Middle Ages to the present. Volume 2, 1994, p. 157.
  15. ^ A b Walter Tauber: Dialect and written language in Bavaria (1450–1800). Investigations into language norms and language norms in early New High German. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-11-013556-6 , p. 4, introduction .
  16. ↑ Peter von Polenz: German language history from the late Middle Ages to the present. Volume 2, 1994, p. 173.
  17. ↑ Ernst Cassirer : Postponed manuscripts and texts . 2003, p. 409.
  18. ↑ Anja Stukenbrock: Language nationalism: language reflection as a collective medium ... p. 197.
  19. ↑ Dieter Cherubim, Klaus Mattheier: Requirements and basics of the contemporary language. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-11-011349-X . Page 82
  20. ↑ Werner Besch (Hrsg.): A manual for the history of the German language and its research. P. 2974.

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