Sorbian language

Sorbian ( serbšćina )
Spoken in	Germany
speaker	20,000 to 30,000
Linguistic ; classification	Indo-European Slavic West Slavic Sorbian ;
Official status
Official language in	Brandenburg and Saxony ( Sorbian settlement area )
Language codes
ISO 639 -1	-
ISO 639 -2	wen (language family) ; hsb (Upper Sorbian) ; dsb (Lower Sorbian)
ISO 639-3	hsb (Upper Sorbian) ; dsb (Lower Sorbian)

Map of the Sorbian dialects

The Sorbian language ( Sorbian for short , outdated Wendish, Lusatian Serbian , in both standard varieties serbšćina ) is the entirety of the Sorbian dialects. It belongs to the group of West Slavic languages and is spoken today mainly in Lusatia . A distinction is made between two written languages,

Upper Sorbian ( hornjoserbšćina , hornjoserbska rěč [ rɨtʃ ]) in Upper Lusatia and
Lower Sorbian ( dolnoserbšćina , dolnoserbska rěc [ riəts ]) in Lower Lusatia .

A number of transition dialects exist at the border between the two language areas .

Both languages, Upper Sorbian and Lower Sorbian, are threatened with extinction. Upper Sorbian is an endangered language . Lower Sorbian is a seriously endangered language, although it is only spoken in very few families.

Within West Slavonic, Sorbian forms a separate group and is somewhat more similar to the Lech group , especially the Polish , than the Czech-Slovak group. Upper Sorbian, however, has more similarities with Czech and Lower Sorbian with Polish. These similarities can be traced back to historical language contact; Especially between Lower Sorbian and Polish there was an area with transitional dialects until about the 17th century.

Historically, the term Wendish was used for Upper Sorbian and Lower Sorbian as well as for the neighboring Polabian languages to the northwest and Pomoran in the north. Wendish is therefore a non-differentiating term for Slavic languages west of Polish and north of Czech.

While on the threshold of the 20th century there were still native Sorbian children and young people on the entire territory of today's Sorbian settlement area , this is now almost only the case in the Catholic area of Upper Lusatia due to the assimilation efforts favored by Germanization efforts and economic developments.

The science for the research and documentation of the Sorbian language is called Sorabistik designated whose only university institute at the University of Leipzig is located. Outside the university, the Sorbian Institute in Bautzen and Cottbus is particularly concerned with Sorbian linguistics.

history

Bilingual title page of the first complete translation of the Bible in Upper Sorbian

The history of the Sorbian language in what is now Germany begins with the migration of peoples around the 6th century.

Even when today's Lusatia came into the focus of medieval chroniclers , it was inhabited by two different Slavic peoples, the Milceni in the south and the Lusici in the north. Even after subjugation by states of the Holy Roman Empire , Upper and Lower Lusatia were always under different sovereignty for less than a hundred years.

Since the 12th century, with the massive influx of rural settlers from Flanders , Saxony , Thuringia and Franconia and the previous devastation of the country through wars, the gradual decline of the Sorbian language began. In addition, Sorbian was legally subordinate to German , including in the Sachsenspiegel . Language bans were added later: "Wendish" was banned as a court language in the area of the Nienburg monastery in 1293, in Altenburg , Zwickau and Leipzig in 1327 , in Meißen in 1424 (although the tradition is only traceable for 1293). Furthermore, in many guilds in the towns in the area there was a requirement to only accept German-speaking members.

The oldest written language monument of Upper Sorbian is the " Burger Eydt Wendisch ", a citizen's oath of the city of Bautzen from the year 1532. Sorbian literature only emerged in connection with the Reformation , which remained dependent on the Sorbian vernacular for its expansion. The oldest known Lower Sorbian note to date was discovered in a manuscript from 1510 that was kept in the parish library of Jauernick . It is a marginal note to a Latin-language work by Ovid . Experts from the Manuscript Center of the University of Leipzig presented the find on May 13, 2011 in the archives of the Diocese of Görlitz . The marginal note, which should therefore be considered the oldest Sorbian language evidence , reads: "Ach moyo luba lubka / bit weßola thy sy / my luba" (translated: "Oh my dear love, be happy, you are dear to me").

Sorbian language area 1843

In the 13th to 16th centuries, language bans were issued in several cities and towns. The core area of the Milzener and Lusitzer , two of the twenty or so Sorbian tribes that lived in what is now Lusatia , was only slightly affected by German-speaking new settlements and legal restrictions. The language therefore had a good hold there. The number of speakers there grew to over 300,000 by the 17th century.

One of the oldest public inscriptions in Sorbian on the rectory in the Wendish churchyard in Bautzen

In the Baroque era , a philological interest in the Sorbian language arose for the first time, which was reflected in the extensive grammatical and lexical works of Lower Sorbian Johannes Choinan and Upper Sorbs Jurij Hawštyn Swětlik and Xaver Jakub Ticin . Sorbian received a considerable boost at the beginning of the 18th century through the activities of the evangelical Wendish preacher colleges in Leipzig and Wittenberg . When the Wendish seminary , a convict for the next generation of Catholic priests, was established in Prague , an important connection to the Czech language and nationality was established. After the Seven Years' War the attention for the Sorbian language sank again.

Only the influence of Romanticism brought a new upswing in literary activity, and a specifically Sorbian national consciousness emerged. In the 19th century, especially in Prussia, the "Germanization policy" was very repressive, although the Sorbs received numerous privileges in 1848 for their allegiance to the king.

In the census of 1900, a total of 93,032 residents of the German Empire gave "Wendisch" as their mother tongue. The actual number of speakers is likely to have been a little higher. In 1904 the Wendish House (Serbski dom) was inaugurated on the Lauengraben in Bautzen with the participation of the official bodies as the seat of Maćica Serbska , the Smoler bookshop and other Sorbian institutions. On October 13, 1912, the Domowina Association for the preservation of the Sorbian language and culture was founded in Hoyerswerda .

Already in the Weimar Republic , but especially in the German Reich from 1933 to 1945 , the Sorbian language and culture was suppressed by court decisions, bans, Germanization and the like. During the Weimar Republic there was a specially established Wenden department to suppress the Sorbian language and culture . After the Nazi state had tried in vain to integrate the Sorbs into the new structures, the Domowina and then all other associations and Sorbian-language publications were banned and in some cases expropriated from 1937 . During the Second World War , v. a. Sorbian pastors and teachers were forcibly transferred from Lausitz as carriers and multipliers of Sorbian identity.

Domowina was re-established on May 10, 1945; as early as 1947, Sorbian newspapers appeared again. During the GDR era , the Sorbian language and culture - especially in the 1950s - received extensive state support for the first time, and the Sorbs were given the right to use their language in public. For the first time, Sorbian was given the status of a second official language, was introduced as the language of instruction in large parts of Lusatia and made visible to the public through bilingual signage. These rights were expressly anchored in the constitution of the GDR in Article 40, in the Unification Treaty for German Unity (Einheitsvertrag) of 1990 in Article 35 and explicitly in the constitutions of the federal states of Brandenburg and Saxony and the corresponding Sorbian laws. The German Courts Constitution Act (GVG) guarantees in § 184 sentence 2 the right “to speak Sorbian in court in the home districts of the Sorbian population”; The law does not determine which exact area is covered by this. Numerous Sorbian institutions were founded during this time, some of which still exist today. B. the Sorbian Institute for Teacher Education , the State Ensemble for Sorbian Folk Culture (today: Sorbian National Ensemble ), the Domowina-Verlag , the German-Sorbian People's Theater and the Institute for Sorbian Folk Research (successor: Sorbian Institute ) as well as the Institute for Sorbian Studies at the University of Leipzig (until 1968: Sorbian Institute ).

Nevertheless, the number of Sorbian speakers continued to decline, in particular due to industrialization, collectivization of agriculture and strong influx from outside. Since the mid-1960s, Sorbian lessons, which had been mandatory until then, were only optional, which led to a massive drop in the number of students. Only in a few rural areas was Sorbian able to survive as an everyday language beyond the 20th century. This is particularly true of the Catholic part of the settlement area along the Klosterwassers in Upper Lusatia, where the assimilation of Sorbian and thus the loss of language, in contrast to the larger Protestant area and Lower Lusatia, only occurred to a limited extent .

presence

A total of around 60,000 Sorbs live in Germany today, around 40,000 of them in Saxony and 20,000 in Brandenburg . Since nationality is not officially recorded in Germany and the commitment to Sorbian nationality is free, there are only estimates of the exact number. The number of active speakers in Sorbian is likely to be lower. Unlike Upper Sorbian, Lower Sorbian is acutely threatened with extinction. According to projections, around 7,000 people actively speak Lower Sorbian, which could become extinct in 20 to 30 years, and around 13,000 people speak Upper Sorbian. According to language experts, Upper Sorbian will survive the 21st century.

Sorbian language area in Germany

Today Sorbian is taught in 25 primary schools and several secondary schools. It is compulsory at the Lower Sorbian Gymnasium Cottbus and the Sorbian Gymnasium Bautzen . In many elementary schools and Sorbian schools, lessons are held in the Sorbian language . The daily Serbske Nowiny appears in Upper Sorbian and the Lower Sorbian weekly Nowy Casnik , as well as the religious weeklies Katolski Posoł and Pomhaj Bóh . The cultural magazine Rozhlad appears monthly, a children's magazine each in Upper and Lower Sorbian ( Płomjo and Płomje ) and the educational magazine Serbska šula . The Mitteldeutsche Rundfunk and the Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg broadcast monthly half-hourly TV magazines in Sorbian as well as several hours of radio programs every day, the Sorbian Radio . Wikipedia language versions exist in both written languages.

Upper Sorbian-German sign in Nebelschütz
Bilingual street signs in Cottbus (Chóśebuz) in German and Lower Sorbian
Bilingual place-name sign in Bautzen (Budyšin) with German and Upper Sorbian
Bilingual street sign in Bautzen with German and Upper Sorbian
Bilingual information board on the A 13
Bilingual station sign at the station in Kamenz

grammar

Both standard Sorbian varieties (written languages) have nominally seven cases, whereby the vocative is not fully developed:

case	nan father		štom tree	bom tree	wokno window
	Upper Sorb.	Lower Sorb.	Upper Sorb.	Lower Sorb.	Upper Sorb.	Lower Sorb.
Nom.	nan	nan	štom	bom	wokno	wokno
Gene.	nana	nana	stoma	boma	wokna	wokna
Date	nan ej	nan oju	štom ej	bom oju	woknu	wokn oju , woknu
Acc.	nana	nana	štom	bom	wokno	wokno
Instr.	z nanom	z nanom	ze štomom	z bomom	z woknom	z woknom
Locomotive.	where nanje	wó nanje	na štomje	na bomje	well woknje	well woknje
Vok.	nano	-	štomo	-	-	-

case	ramjo shoulder	ramje shoulder, armpit	žona woman	žeńska ¹ woman, woman	ruka hand
	Upper Sorb.	Lower Sorb.	Upper Sorb.	Lower Sorb.	Upper Sorb.	Lower Sorb.
Nom.	ramjo	ramje	žona	žeńska	ruka
Gene.	ramjenja	ramjenja	žony	žeńskeje	ruki
Date	ramjenju	ramjenj eju , ramjenju	žonje	žeńskej	ruce
Acc.	ramjo	ramje	žonu	žeńsku	ruku
Instr.	z ramjen jom	z ramjen im	ze žonu	ze žeńskeju	z ruku
Locomotive.	where ramjenju	wó ramjenju	where žonje	wó žeńskej	w ruce

¹ The form žona is literary in Lower Sorbian. The Lower Sorbian declination is adjectival because of the ending -ska.

In Lower Sorbian the vocative is only preserved in a few rigid forms.

It is noteworthy that in addition to the singular and plural , the number dual (the two number) has been preserved from Old Slavonic. Singular: ruka ("hand") Dual: ruce ("two hands") Plural: ruki ("more than two hands")

In contrast to other West Slavic languages ( Czech , Slovak , Polish , Kashubian ), the synthetic preterite ( aorist , imperfect ) has also been preserved in the Upper Sorbian written language and some of the dialects to this day . This form was also used in the written language of Lower Sorbian, but became increasingly rare in the course of the 20th century and is rarely used today.

In return, Lower Sorbian received the supinum (as a variant of the infinitive after verbs of movement ), e.g. B. “njok spaś” (I don't want to sleep) versus “źi spat” (go to sleep).

Not too demanding written texts of Sorbian can be understood by speakers of the West Slavic languages in general.

Language comparison

Some words of the two Sorbian languages with German translation and West Slavic relatives
German	Upper Sorbian	Lower Sorbian	Czech	Slovak	Polish	Polish
human	čłowjek	cłowjek	člověk	človek	człowiek	clawak
Brothers	roast	bratš	roast	fry	fry	loaf
sister	sotra	sotša	sestra	sestra	siostra	sestra
hand	ruka	ruka	ruka	ruka	ręka	ręka
Day	dźeń	Zen	the	the	dzień	Dan
Eve	wječor	wjacor	večer	večer	wieczór	wicer
summer	lěćo	reading	léto	leto	lato	ljutü
autumn	nazyma	nazyma	podzim	jeseň	jesień	prenja zaima
winter	zyma	zyma	zima	zima	zima	zaima
fish	ryba	ryba	ryba	ryba	ryba	raibo
Fire	woheń	wogeń	oheň	oheň	ogień	widin
water	voda	wóda	voda	voda	voda	wôda
snow	sněh	sněg	sníh	sneh	lean	sneg
wind	wětr	wětš	vítr	vietor	wiatr	wjôter

Differences between the two written languages

There are some differences between the two written languages Upper Sorbian and Lower Sorbian, especially with regard to the alphabet .

Phonic differences

With the consonants

The two written languages differ greatly in terms of consonants . The letter ć has been placed after č in Upper Sorbian since 2005.

Upper Sorb.
b	c	č	ć	d	dź	f	G	H	ch	j	k	ł	l	m	n	ń	p	(q)	r	ř	s	š	t	(v)	w	(x)	z	ž

Lower Sorb.
b	c	č	ć	d	f	G	H	ch	j	k	ł	l	m	n	ń	p	(q)	r	ŕ	s	š	ś	t	(v)	w	(x)	z	ž	ź

Upper Sorb.	Lower Sorb.	Examples	importance	Remarks
H	G	hora - góra	mountain	g> h also in Czech , Slovak , Ukrainian , Belarusian and western Slovene dialects.
		hołb ^{? / i} - gołub	Dove
		hordy - gjardy	proud
		hród ^{? / i} - grod	Castle
		kniha - knigły	book
		hody - gódy	Christmas
č	c	čas - cas	time	č> c as in Polish and Lithuanian dialects and in Polabischen
		čorny - carny	black
		čert - cart	devil
		česć - cesć	honor
		ličba - licba	number
		pčołka - pcołka	bee
š	s	štyri - styri	four	š> s in Lower Sorbian
		štwórć - stwjerś	quarter
		štwórtka - stwórtka	Four
		štwórtk - stwórtk	Thursday
ć	ś	ćeńki - śańki	thin, tender	ć> ś in Lower Sorbian except behind sibilants
		bić - biś	beat
		hić - hyś	walk
		puć - puś	path
		ćah - śěg	train
		ćahnyć - śěgnuś	pull
		ćahać - śěgaś	pull
		ćim - śim	the more
		ćichi - śichy	quiet calm
		but: hósć - gósć	guest
dź	ź	dźeń - źeń	Day	dź> ź in Lower Sorbian except behind sibilants
		dźesać - źaseś	ten
		hdźe - źo	Where
		hdźež ^{? / i} - źož	where (rel.)
		dźowka - źowka	daughter
		dźiwy - źiwy	wild
		dźěło - źěło	job
		dźak - źěk	thanks
		hózdź - gózdź	nail
kr, pr, tr	kš, pš, tš	krasny - kšasny	splendid	r> š after voiceless consonants before a, o, u in Lower Sorbian
		prawy - pšawy	right, right
		próstwa - pšosba	You're welcome
		preč - pšec	path
		bratr - bratš	Brothers
		sotra - sotša	sister
		wutroba - wutšoba	heart
		trawa - tšawa	grass
		jutry - jatšy	Easter
		wótry - wótšy	sharp
ń	j, '	dóńć - dojś	go there	ń in Upper Sorbian similar to Kashubian instead of j in Lower Sorbian
		nadeńć - nadejś	to meet, to find
		přeńć - pśejś	go over
		přińć - pśiś	come
		rozeńć - rozejś	diverge
		woteńć - wótejś	walk away
		wuńć - wujś	(go out
		njeńdu - njejdu	they are not leaving

With the vowels

Both Lower and Upper Sorbian have eight vowels .

Monophthongs of Upper Sorbian
	front	central	back
	orally	central	orally
closed	i [⁠ i ⁠]	y [⁠ ɨ ⁠]	u [⁠ u ⁠]
closed	i [⁠ i ⁠]	y [⁠ ɨ ⁠]	ó [⁠ ʊ ⁠]
medium	e [⁠ ɛ ⁠]		o [⁠ ɔ ⁠]
open		a [⁠ a ⁠]

Monophthongs of Lower Sorbian
	front	central	back
	orally	central	orally
closed	i [⁠ i ⁠]	y [⁠ ɨ ⁠]	u [⁠ u ⁠]
medium	e [⁠ ɛ ⁠]	ó [ ɨ , ɛ , ʊ ] ¹	o [⁠ ɔ ⁠]
open		a [⁠ a ⁠]

¹ The first two variants are written. In dialect also comes [⁠ ɔ ⁠] and the third variant before.

Diphthong of both languages
ě [ iə ]

Upper Sorb.	Lower Sorb.	Examples	importance	Remarks
'a	ě, e	mjaso - měso	flesh	from ursl. ę
		dźak - źěk	thanks
		časty - cesty	often
		hladać - glědaś	see, look, look
		dźes a ć - źas e ś	ten
		rjad - rěd	line
		rjany - rědny	beautiful
		swjatki - swětki	Pentecost
'e	'a	mjeza - mjaza	Rain	'e>' a also in Polish , Belarusian and Bulgarian with different rules
		čert - cart	devil
		jedyn - jaden	a
		dź e sać - ź a seś	ten
		njesć - njasć	wear
		pjec - pjac	to bake; roast meat
		wjeselo - wjasele	joy
		wjes - wjas	Village
		wječor - wjacor	Eve
e	O	hdźe - źo	Where	e> o in Lower Sorbian
		-će - -śo, -ćo	(Ending of the 3rd person plural)
		ćeta - śota	aunt
		wčera - cora	yesterday
i	y	hić - hyś	walk	Lower Sorbian evaporation of i to y after ž, š, h and c (from č), analogous in Polish ; this phonetic tendency is also evident in the East Slavic languages .
		wužiwar - wužywaŕ	User, user
		wužiwać - wužywaś	use, apply
		žiwy - žywy	lively)
		činić - cyniś	do, do
		šija - šyja	neck
		šiška - šyška	Cones
O	'a	pos - pjas	dog	from the original ь (cf. Polish ie in pies)
O	e	susod ^{? / i} - sused	Neighbor	e> o in Upper Sorbian
		so - se	yourself
		won - whom	out
y	e, ě	cyły - ceły	completely, completely, completely	e / ě> y in Upper Sorbian after c, s, d
		cyłosć - cełosć	Wholeness, wholeness
		dyrbjeć - derbiś, derbjeś	must, should
		cypy - cepy	Flail
		cyn - cen	tin
		cyrkej - cerkwja	church
		dyrić - deriś	Displacement of blows / blows
		syć - seś	network
		symjo - semje	Seeds
oil	łu	tołsty - tłusty	thick, strong	from oil or oil after hard dental
		dołhi - dłujki	long
		dołh - dług	fault
		stołp - słup	pillar
or	ar (jar to g / k)	hordy - gjardy	proud	from original ъr
		horbaty - gjarbaty	hunched
		horb - gjarba	humpback
		hordło - gjardło	Goiter; throat
		hornc - gjarnc	pot
or	ar	čorny - carny	black	from the original ьr before hard consonants, otherwise uniformly he (in: smjerć - smjerś "death")

¹ The variant žona as in Upper Sorbian is literary.

Different number of syllables

For some words, the number of syllables is different because Upper Sorbian has shortened here, similar to Czech .

Upper Sorb.	Lower Sorb.	importance
stać	stojaś	stand
přećel	pśijaśel	friend
horcy	górucy	hot
kobła	kobyła	mare
kelko	keliko, kelko (arch.) ¹	how much
korto	kóryto	trough
kotry	kótary	which one

¹ The common form is (kak) wjele .

Differences in declination

Upper Sorb. 7 cases - Lower Sorb. 6 cases
Differences in case rectification

Upper Sorb.	Lower Sorb.	importance
mam dweju bratrow, dwaj konjej	mam dweju bratšowu, kónjowu	"I have two brothers / horses"
mam třoch bratrow, tři konje	mam tśoch bratšow, tśich kónjow / kóni	"I have three brothers / horses"
mam bratrow, konje	mam bratšy / bratšow, kónje	"I have brothers / horses"

Different gender

Upper Sorb.	Lower Sorb.	importance	Comments
huso (n)	gus (f)	goose	f = feminine / female, m = masculine / male, n = neuter / neuter
swinjo (n)	swinja (f)	pig
jězor (m)	jazoro (n), jazor (m)	lake
karp (m)	karpa (f)	carp

Differences in conjugation

Upper Sorb.	Lower Sorb.	Comments
Preservation of aorist, imperfect tense	In the written language
a, i, e conjugation	o-, a-, i-, j-conjugation ¹
Verbs like pisać after the a-conjugation (1st and 2nd person singular present indicative active: pisam, pisaš)	Verbs like pisaś after the o-conjugation (1st and 2nd person singular present indicative active: pišom, pišoš)	The Lower Sorbian o conjugation corresponds to the e conjugation of Upper Sorbian, with the exception of the displacement of some verbs such as pisać .

¹ Today, the perfective verbs of the a- and i-conjugations usually form their present tenses after the o-conjugation.

Differences in vocabulary

Upper Sorb.	Lower Sorb.	importance	comment
swoboda	lichota	freedom
swobodny	lichy	free
chěža	wjaža	House
prajić	groniś	say speak	groniś is similar to Polabian gornt
patoržica	gwězdka	Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve
zo	až	that
sewjer	pódpołnoc	north	Upper Sorb. = Czech sever, Lower Sorb. see Polish północ
yeah	pódpołdnjo	south	Upper Sorb. = Czech. jih, Lower Sorb. see Polish południe
grewod	pódzajtšo	east
zapad	pódwjacor	west	Lower Sorb. see polish wieczór (evening)
wopica	nałpa	monkey	Upper Sorb. = Czech. opice, Lower Sorb. = Polish małpa
běrna	kulka ¹	potato
dyrbjeć	musaś ³ , dejaś	must, should	Lower Sorb. = Czech muset, Polish musieć
hač ⁴	ako ⁵	as (when increasing)
jara	wjelgin	very
całta	guska	bun	Upper Sorb. = old Czech. Lower Sorb. = Czech houska
haj ⁶	jo	Yes	Upper Sorb. = slovak. hey lower sorb . = czech. jo (there next to ano)
holca	źowćo	girl	Lower Sorb. = Polish dziewczę, dziewczyna, Czech děvče, holka
štom	bom ⁷	tree	Lower Sorb. from German "tree" / Obersorb. from German "Stamm"
porst	palc	finger	Upper Sorb. = Czech prst Lower Sorb. = Polish palec

^{1 also} means: sphere; Dumpling.
³ only means: must.
⁴ Also means: to (especially before do ); if
⁵ Also means: as (for attributes); der, die, das (relative pronoun), how
⁶ The nickname Hajak, once widespread in Lower Sorbian, for bourgeois urban Sorbs of Upper Lusatia is derived from this difference .
⁷ According to Starosta, štom only means tree in the dialect, otherwise it means tree trunk.
= here stands for corresponds .

Similarities

Sound similarities

Consonant parallels

Ursl.	Sorb.	Examples	importance	comparability	Comments
st	tr / tř - tš / tś	sotra - sotša	sister	Polish: siostra, Czech: sestra	Loss of s; very many exceptions
		tradać - tšadaś	starve, languish	Czech: strádat
		truhać - tšugaś	planing, rasping	Polish: strugać Czech: struhadlo "planer, rasp"
		truk - tšuk	pod	Polish: strąk
		třěcha - tśěcha (stśěcha)	top, roof	Czech: střecha Polish: strzecha "straw roof"
		truna - tšuna	string	Czech, Polish: struna
		trup - tšup	Grind, scab	Czech, Polish: strup

Vocal parallels

change	Upper Sorb.	Lower Sorb.	importance	Comments
e> o	wječor	wjacor	Eve	see: russ. вечер, czech. večer, serb. veče, polish wieczór
	čłon	cłonk	Member, member	see: russ./ukr. член, Serb / Croat. clan
	daloko		far, far	see: Polish daleko, russ./ukr. далеко, Czech / Serb / Croat. daleko
	wjesoły	wjasoły	happy, happy, cheerful	see: russ. весёлый, ukr. веселий, serb./croat. veseo, vesela
	pjećory	pěśory	fivefold	see: russ. пятеро, ukr. п'ятеро, serb./croat. petero
	pčoła	pcoła	bee	see: russ. пчела, ukr. бджола, serb./croat. pčela
	sotra	sotša	sister	see: russ./ukr. сестра, Croatian / Serbian / Czech. sestra, Polish siostra
i> y ¹	zyma	zyma	winter	see: Polish / Czech. zima, ukr. зима
	nazyma	nazyma	autumn	see: czech podzim
	kazyć	kazyś	spoil	see: polish kazić, czech kazit, slovak. kazit ', croat./serb. unacceptable
ǫ> u ²	ruka		Arm, hand	see: Polish ręka, kashub. rãka, ukr. рука, croat / serb / czech. ruka
	wutroba	wutšoba	heart	see: Polish wątroba "liver"
	mudry		Smart	see: Polish mądry, ukr. мудрий, kroat./serb. mudri
	huso	gus	goose	see: czech. husa, polish. gęś, russ. гусь, ukr. гусак, serb. guska
	pucher	puchoŕ	Bladder; bladder	see: Polish pęcherz
	pupk		navel	see: polish pępek, ukr. пупок, czech. pupek, serb. pupak
	huba	guba	mouth	see: czech huba, polish gęba, ukr. губа
el> ło ³	žłob		Gutter; trough	see: slovak. žleb (žl'ab), Serb / Slovenian. žleb, Croat. žlijeb, Russian желоб
el> ło ³	mloko		milk	see: Polish / Serbian / Czech. mleko, croat. mlijeko, russ./ukr. молоко
er> re / rě / rje ⁴	drjewo		Wood	see: croat./serb. drvo, polish drzewo, czech dřevo, slovak. drevo, ukr. дерево, russ .: дрова
ol> ło ⁵	złoto		gold	see: Polish złoto, czech / slovak / serb. zlato, bulg. злато, russ./ukr. золото
	słód	słod	Taste; Sweet; malt	see: Polish słód, kroat./cschech./serb./sloak. slad, russ./ukr. солод "malt"
	hłowa	głowa	head	see: Polish głowa, czech / slovak. hlava, croat./serb. glava, russ./ukr. голова
	słoma		straw	see: polish sloma, czech sláma, kroat./serb. slama, russ./ukr. солома
	młody		young	see: Polish młody; czech. mladý, croat./serb. mlad, ukr. молодий
or> ro ⁶	hród	grod	Castle; lock	see: polish gród, czech. hrad, croat./sloven./serb. grad, Russian город "city"
or> ro ⁶	mróz	mroz	frost	see: Polish mróz, czech / slovak. mráz, croat./serb. mraz, russ./ukr. мороз

¹ In Lower Sorbian, this change also took place after h, ž, š, c (from č).
² The same change occurred in East Slavic , Czech , Slovak , Croatian , Bosnian, and Serbian . The Slovenian has changed the nasal vowel to o.
³ Between consonants. In Polish there was also ło here, but partly also łó; Czech, Slovak and Slovenian have le here; Croatian and Serbian have le and lije; Bulgarian here has ле [le] or ля [lja]; the East Slavic languages have оло [olo] here.
⁴ In Lower Sorbian this sound has partly changed to r (j) a; z. B. brjaza "birch".
⁵Polish has also developed in the same way . In Russian, the original sound group ol was not subject to metathesis and is represented by оло [olo] according to the law of polo glass.
⁶ The development in Polish is similar, while in Russian оро [oro] arose here due to the lack of a tendency towards West Slavic metathesis and polo glaze.

Grammatical similarities

Preservation of the dual

Coincidence of the locative dual with the dative / instrumental dual

Stress on the first syllable

Extensive generalization of the genitive plural of the nouns on -ow

literature

Filip Rězak : German-Sorbian encyclopaedic dictionary of the Upper Lusatian Sorbian language . Photomechanical reprint of the Bautzen 1920 edition, 1st edition. With a foreword by Konstantin K. Trofimowič . Domowina-Verlag, Bautzen 1987, 1150 pages, ISBN 3-7420-0183-3 .
Bjarnat Rachel: Sorbian-German and German-Sorbian place names index of the bilingual districts. Part I: Dresden district . VEB Domowina, Bautzen 1959, 135 pages.
Sorbian curriculum at high school with Sorbian lessons . Council of Ministers of the German Democratic Republic, Ministry for National Education. Part 4/6: Years 4–6, Berlin 1972, 93 pp.
Encounter language Sorbian . Domowina-Verlag, Bautzen 1999.
Till Vogt, Tobias Geis: Sorbian. Word for word (= gibberish . Volume 211 ). 1st edition. Reise Know-How Verlag Rump, Bielefeld 2007, ISBN 978-3-89416-381-5 .
Madlena Norberg: Can the Sorbian / Wendish language and identity still be saved? (PDF; 114 kB) In: anthology on Sorbian / Wendish culture and identity (Potsdam contributions to Sorabistics; 8) - Potsdam: Univ.-Verl., 2008, ISBN 978-3-940793-35-5 .
Andrew Hippisley, Ian Davies, Greville G. Corbett: The basic color terms of lower sorbian and upper sorbian and their typological relevance. In: Studies in Language (2008), 32 (1): 56-92.

swell

Słownik hornjoserbsko-němski . Bautzen 1990, ISBN 3-7420-0419-0 .
Słownik němsko-hornjoserbski . Bautzen 1986.
Jana Šołćina, Edward Wornar : Upper Sorbian in self-study. Hornjoserbšćina za samostudij . Bautzen 2000, ISBN 3-7420-1779-9 .
Иржи Мудра , Ян Петр : Учебник верхнелужицкого языка . Bautzen 1983, page 159.
Manfred Starosta: Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik . Bautzen 1999, ISBN 3-7420-1096-4 .
Erwin Hannusch: Lower Sorbian practical and understandable . Bautzen 1998, ISBN 3-7420-1667-9 .
Herbert Bräuer: Slavic Linguistics . Volume I, Berlin 1961, pages 59, 80, 136.
Макс Фасмер : Этимологический словарь русского языка . Volume III, examples about str> tr / tš, pages 770–784.
Elisabeth Pribić-Nonnenmacher: The literature of the Sorbs . In: Kindlers Literatur Lexikon im dtv in 24 volumes . Volume 2. Munich 1974, ISBN 3-423-03142-5 , page 402.

Individual evidence

↑ GVG § 184 sentence 2; VwVfGBbg Section 23 Paragraph 5; Section 9 SächsSorbG
^ Frido Mětšk : Serbsko-pólska rěčna hranica w 16. a 17. lětstotku [The Sorbian-Polish language border in the 16th and 17th centuries]. In: Lětopis , Series B, Volume III (1958), Ludowe nakładnistwo Domowina, Budyšin 1958, pp. 4–25.
↑ Hans K. Schulze : Slavica lingua penitus intermissa. On the prohibition of Wendish as a court language. in: Settlement, Economy and Constitution in the Middle Ages. Selected essays on the history of Central and Eastern Germany (= sources and research on the history of Saxony-Anhalt. Vol. 5). Cologne Weimar 2006, p. 39ff. , see p. 52
↑ Helmut Glück : German as a Foreign Language in Europe from the Middle Ages to the Baroque Period. Berlin New York 2002, p. 61
^ Raphael Schmidt: Oldest Lower Sorbian note. Sensational find: a manuscript from 1510 discovered in the parish attic of Jauernick. In: Day of the Lord , No. 20/2011
↑ Harriet Stürmer: Sorbian sensations in Märkische Oderzeitung , 14./15. May 2011, p. 10
↑ Mother tongue of the population according to the census of December 1st, 1900 according to: Statistics of the German Empire Volume 150: The census on December 1, 1900 in the German Empire. Berlin, 1903.
^ Ludwig Elle: Language policy in the Lausitz . Domowina-Verlag, Bautzen 1995.
^ Peter Schurmann: Sorbian interests and state minority policy in the GDR . Domowina-Verlag, Bautzen 2016, ISBN 978-3-7420-2269-1 , p. 51-57 .
↑ Edmund Pech: One State - One Language? Domowina-Verlag, Bautzen 2012, ISBN 978-3-7420-2231-8 , pp. 181-212 .
↑ The language of the Slavic inhabitants of the Baltic Sea region. In: wizlaw.de. Retrieved November 21, 2017 .
↑ František Vydra: Lužičtí Srbové. In: luzicke-hory.cz. Retrieved November 21, 2017 .

Web links

Wikipedia in Upper Sorbian

Wikipedia in Lower Sorbian

Wikiquote: Sorbian Proverbs - Quotes

Wiktionary: Sorbian - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Link catalog on the subject of Sorbian at curlie.org (formerly DMOZ )

Institutes

Sorbian Institute: Textbook of Upper Sorbian ( Memento from April 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
Institute for Sorabic Studies at the University of Leipzig

Sorbian dictionaries and glossaries

Entries for the Sorbian language in the World Atlas of Language Structures Online

Entries for the Sorbian language in the World Loanword Database

miscellaneous

Keyboard layouts for Linux and Microsoft Windows 2000 / XP as well as Windows 95, 98, ME ( Memento from June 28, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
The little language story: Sorbian on Deutschlandradio Kultur , July 26, 2012
Course serskeje rěce / Bluń , Sorbian conversations from the textbook Curs practic de limba sorabă , Universitatea din București 1986 (in a dialect of Central Lusatia)