Windisch (Slovenian)

Windisch is the historical German name for the Slovenian language . It was the exclusive term in German until the 19th century and has since been replaced by the expression Slovene . To this day it is used regionally as a popular name for Slovene, especially as it is spoken in Austria . For political reasons, some take the view that Windisch should be viewed as an independent language in today's Republic of Austria or as a mixed Slovene-German language . However, this is unanimously rejected by linguistics . The current state border is also not congruent with the traditional Slovenian dialect borders .

The Windisch language must not be confused with the Wendish / Sorbian language in East Germany or in Germania Slavica . The popular names "Wenden" (East German area) and "Windische" (Slovenes) also differ. However, both popular and language names go back to the same word root.

Word origin

The word windisch is (next to wendisch ) a variant of the adjective for the noun Wenden (by i-umlaut like ' r i chtig ' to ' r e cht '), which is derived from the name Venetae , a name in Latin for a Celtic one People of the time of Julius Caesar , the Venetians in the south of today's Brittany , as well as for the Venetians on the northern Adriatic, which can be classified as either Italian or Illyrian .

With the appearance of the Slavs, the word was transferred by early medieval authors to the tribes unknown to them - similar to Welsche , which initially referred to the Celtic tribe of the Volcae , was transferred to other Celts ( Welsh ) in Britain and to the Romans on the mainland .

Wenden / windisch can also be found several times in this sense:

The Venetians on the middle Vistula , a people subjugated by the Ostrogoths around 350 , which ancient writers referred to as Venedae and can be found near Jordanes .

Specifically, the name Wenden or Winden then refers to those Western Slavs who from the 7th century onwards colonized large parts of northern and eastern Germany ( Germania Slavica ) (and bred special dogs - "greyhounds"). Today these turns are mostly referred to as Elbe Slavs .

Wenden was then an alternative name that was common until the 20th century for the entire Sorbian-speaking population in Lusatia . The name is still occasionally used today by the Lower Sorbs as a German-speaking name.

In addition, there is also a strain Contemporary from about 550 Veneti or Vineti is called, in the South Slavs in as Alpine Slavs designated group that probably stood out linguistically only after the end of the Great Migration from the other Slavic languages - was on these people The name Windische probably transferred from the Bavarians ; they called themselves carantans . These are the ancestors of today's Slovenes , a name that has existed since the 16th century, but found its way into German much later.

The Alpine Slavs

The theory that the Alpine region was a depopulated, empty wasteland during the migration period has been abandoned today. Contemporary evidence and socio-cultural findings, for example through research on place names , as well as archaeological findings show that not only a continuity of settlement but also a largely peaceful coexistence of the various tribes after the end of antiquity and the collapse of the Western Roman Empire can be assumed in the Eastern Alps . These include the consistently Romanized Alpine Celts , in particular the Norics (the tribes of the Noric Empire) and the Raetians , the leftover clans of the Longobards , Rugians , Ostrogoths and other wandering Teutons, remnants of pre-Celtic Illyrian groups and finally the descendants of the Roman border troops. The latter were themselves a mixed bag of mercenaries from all over the Roman Empire.

Slavic peoples immigrated from the 6th century. It is assumed that both southern Slavs, who moved north-west from the Balkans and from Lower Pannonia from around 560 onwards, as well as west Slavic groups from Upper Pannonia and the Moravian area , who moved westwards from around 550, came to the Danube region. "Land grab" cannot be understood here in the sense of a new settlement and probably also not as a displacement of the precultures: The newly immigrating groups are each likely to have formed an upper class over the local population, with mutual cultural and probably also genealogical influence and increasing intermingling.

The Central Asian cavalry people of the Avars oppressed the Slavic peoples in the later 6th century and penetrated into the eastern Alpine foothills. In 582 the Avars conquered Sirmium (today Sremska Mitrovica ) on the Save, and the Slavs, who did not submit, withdrew into the Alpine inland Noricum. After a severe defeat of the Avars against the East , the kingdom of Samo emerged from 623 to 658 , a common formation of the Moravian and Pannonian Slavic tribes, which did not survive its founder.

When the Bavarians advanced into the Alpine region from the north in the course of the 6th and 7th centuries, the northwestern border of the Slavic settlement area ran from the Hochpustertal along the Hohe Tauern with an advance into the Gasteinertal , the Mandling and the Ennstal into the Salzkammergut and further on Traun down to Haselgraben in the Mühlviertel north of the Danube. It cannot be proven whether this settlement area also formed a political unit; south of the main Alpine ridge, however, was the Slavic principality of Karantanien , with the center in Karnburg (Krnski grad) on the Zollfeld (Klagenfurt area), whose population was called Karantanen and is named in contemporary Latin sources Veneti , Vinedi , Venedae and similar.

While contact with the Celtic tribes such as the Rätern , Breonen and Tauriskern and the Romans in the Salzburg area, in South Tyrol and Vorarlberg (the remaining settlements of which can be found in the 'Walchen' locations , among other places ) was largely peaceful, the encounter between the Teutons is likely to have gone less friendly with the Slavs. In addition to the expression Windische, there is also the term Sclavi, Sclavorum , from which not only 'Slavs' , but also slaves are derived.

With the settlement of Croatian refugees, especially in Burgenland during the Turkish wars , the meaning of the attribute "windy" narrowed. It was no longer referred to "southern Slavs" in general, but only to Slovenes. In this way, place name pairs such as German Gerisdorf / Croatian Geresdorf and Windisch-Minihof / Croatian Minihof were created .

"Windisch" as a historical term of the modern age

When Primož Trubar 's first Slovenian printed work appeared in Tübingen in the 16th century , it was given the German title Catechism in the Windisch language . The adjective Slovene was not adopted into German until the 19th century.

In the 16th century, the Carinthian estates boasted that Carinthia was a "windy archduchy ", endowed with special freedoms and privileges over all other principalities of the empire, and with its appointment as a duke, which retained "a strong windy accent", a "windy land" with age-autonomous princely choice , whereupon Rudolf IV. the privilege maius to the well his claim elector dignity evenly matched dignity of Erzjägermeisters founded.

One of the founders of scientific Slavic studies, Jernej Kopitar (1780–1844), wrote in 1816:

“Even at the time of the Reformation, before Ferdinand I baptized a part of Slavonia Croatia, these Slavs were called by their German neighbors with a common name the Windischen, the upper and the lower Windischen; a name that is now only retained by the Carinthian and Styrian, and at most, in the form of vandals, the western Hungarian Slavs. […] [T] he German name Windisch is also general, and the German synonym for slave… "

Kopitar thus states that in 1816 “windisch” was still used as a synonym for “Slavic” (“also in general”), but that a clear trend towards narrowing of meaning was discernible, especially by Slavs in Carinthia and Styria from their German-speaking ones Neighbors were called "Windische". However, Kopitar also mentions the Croats (actually called "windy", but also called "Vandals" according to him) in "West Hungary", today's Burgenland.

"Windisch" as a political term

The question of the relationship between Windisch and Slovenian is sometimes the subject of polemics.

After the end of the First World War , a referendum was held in the mixed-language area of Carinthia on whether the area belonged to Austria or to the state of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs ( called " Yugoslavia " from 1929 ). According to the 1910 census, the majority of the population in the voting area used Slovene as a colloquial language, but the vote was in favor of Austria. 1972 declared the mirror this behavior as an expression of anti- pan-Slav attitude

The result, disappointing for Slovenia and positive for Austria, led nationalists on both sides to the “ Windisch theory ”, which claimed that in Carinthia there was a third group besides “Germans” and “Slovenes”: the “Nemčurji” or “Windisch” , of whom it was claimed that they did not differ from the Slovenes in ethnic terms, but in their north-oriented (“German-friendly”) sentiments.

The majority of Slovene-speaking Carinthians today call themselves “ Carinthian Slovenes ”. They understand the term "Windische" pejoratively and as an attempt to divide and weaken the Slovenian population group. A smaller group calls themselves "Windisch" and bears this name with self-confidence, although the idea that they are examples of a "floating folk" , for example when ancestors belonged to different ethnic groups or when the process of assimilation into German-speaking culture is well advanced plays a role. In the 2001 census, 14,010 Carinthians named Slovene as a colloquial language and 556 Windisch.

Linguistic aspects

According to the unanimous view of linguists there is no so-called “Windisch language”, especially since the Carinthian Slovene dialect group comprises three dialects (Gail, Rosen and Jauntaler including the dialectal areas of the Ossiacher Tauern ( Osojske Ture ), the Klagenfurt field ( Celovško polje ) and the Völkermarkt hill country ( Velikovško hribovje ) as more historically the Feldkirchner-Moosburger hill country ( Trško-blatograško gričevje )). From a structural linguistic point of view, these dialects represent varieties in the Slovenian dialect continuum, whereby at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries (German) Austrian nationalists exaggerated the differences between the written Slovene language and the Slovene dialects in Carinthia.

The distinction between “Windisch” and “Slovenian” is to be seen more sociolinguistic or as a political will of the speakers.

In the colloquial language of today's Styria, the adjective “windy” is used disparagingly for “twisted”, “strange”, “messy”, especially in relation to the structure of the sentence, which is related to the lack of German language skills of the Lower Styrians who immigrated to Graz around 1900 . Gero Fischer explains the deterioration in the meaning of the attribute “windisch” as follows: “At the turn of the 18th to the 19th century, there was a noticeable tendency to displace the term“ Windisch ”(but also“ Wende ”) from German usage it had gradually assumed a pejorative meaning. However, this has its social and historical roots: since feudalism, "windisch" has always been connoted as "subordinate", "smallholder", "rural", "backward". The value judgment that German is »noble« (cf. Kranzmayer 1960: 22 ff.) [,] The Slovene / Windisch »peasant language«, »schiach« was derived from the real social power relations. "

Use of the term "Windisch" in topographical terms

The word windisch suggests a former or permanent settlement by Slavs / Slovenes and occurs in some place names. While the “i” is used throughout Austrian place names, in Germany both the “i” and the “e” (“Wendish”) occur without this spelling being based on a difference in meaning. The attribute was mainly used in areas where there was also a German-speaking population in the near or further vicinity. Sometimes there are also places with the same name, one with the additional name "windisch" and the other with a prefixed "German", such as Windisch-Feistritz and Deutschfeistritz or Windisch-Landsberg and Deutschlandsberg or the historic Windisch-Griffen (today only Griffen ) and German handles . Occasionally places with (formerly) predominantly “windy” population are linguistically differentiated from places with many people of Croatian origin.

Windische Mark is the historical name at the time of the Danube Monarchy for an area in the Lower Carniola (today Slovenia ). Emperor Franz Joseph I was officially "Lord of Triest , of Cattaro and of the Windischen Mark".

Some examples of place names (or names of waters) with the word "windisch" in Austria:

Windisch Baumgarten , in the municipality of Zistersdorf in the Weinviertel in Lower Austria,
Windisch Bleiberg ( Slov. Slovenji Plajberk), Carinthia,
Windischbach, a valley near Zmöllach in the municipality of Sankt Stefan ob Leoben in the Leoben district in Upper Styria ,
Windischberg, place and mountain name ( Slovene Slovenja Gora (place), Slovenja gora (mountain), 693 m above sea level) in Pörtschach am Wörther See in Carinthia,
Windischberg, Rotte in the cadastral community Göss in Leoben ,
Windischberg, a village in the judicial district of Neufelden in the municipality of St. Martin im Mühlkreis in the Mühlviertel in Upper Austria ,
Windischbühel in the old community of Gai, today Trofaiach in Upper Styria ,
Windische Höhe ( Slov. Ovršje), pass summit and place west of Villach in the Gailtal Alps ,
Windischgarsten in the Traunviertel in Upper Austria,
Windisch-Matrei , today Matrei in East Tyrol ,
Windisch-Minihof in southern Burgenland ,

in Germany:

Windischbergerdorf is a district of the district town of Cham in the administrative district of Upper Palatinate in Eastern Bavaria ,
Windischbuch, village in the municipality of Boxberg (Baden) in the Main-Tauber district, Baden-Wuerttemberg
Windischenbach , district, village and brook in the municipality of Pfedelbach in Hohenlohekreis, Baden-Wuerttemberg,
Windischenbernsdorf , district of Gera in Thuringia
Windischenhaig , district of Kulmbach in the administrative region of Upper Franconia
Windischeschenbach , town in the Upper Palatinate district of Neustadt an der Waldnaab
Windischleuba , municipality in the Altenburger Land district in Thuringia

in Italy:

Windisch-Pontafel, later Deutsch-Pontafel, Pontafel, today ( Pontebba Nuova ), former municipality in the Canal Valley

as well as historical exonyms of the type "Windisch-" in Slovenia:

Windische Bühel is the German name for a paper today for the most part in Slovenia hillside location in the former Lower Styria ( slow. : Slovenske Gorice) ,.
Windisch-Feistritz ( Slovenska Bistrica in the Podravska regija , Slovenian Styria, Štajerska),
Windischgrätz or Windischgraz, ( Slovenj Gradec in the Koroška statistična regija , historically in the Štajerska / Lower Styria),
Windisch-Landsberg ( Podčetrtek in the Savinjska regija , Štajerska).

Individual evidence

^ Institute for Austrian Studies (Ed.): Austria in History and Literature , Volume 6 (1962), p. 267 .

↑ Hans-Dietrich Kahl: The state of the carantans. Facts, theses and questions about an early Slavic power formation in the Eastern Alps (7th – 9th centuries) - Država Karantancev: dejstva, teze in vprašanja o zgodnji slovanski državni tvorbi v vzhodnoalpskem prostoru (7th – 9th stol.) (= Situla ; 39, Suppl. = Razprave / Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti, Razred za zgodovinske in družbene vede; 20). Ljubljana 2002 p. 407 ( ISBN 961-6242-49-0 , ISBN 961-6169-23-8 ).

↑ Matthias Werner: Late medieval state consciousness in Germany (= lectures and research / Constance working group for medieval history 61). Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2005, p. 194 ( ISBN 3-7995-6861-1 ) and Claudia Fräss-Ehrfeld: History of Carinthia. Volume 2: The class epoch. Heyn, Klagenfurt 1994, p. 295 ff.

↑ Jernej Koptar, The Slaves in the Resia valley. In: Renewed patriotic sheets for the Austrian imperial state 9/31 (1816) p. 176–180, p. 177 f. Resianka , University of Padua (HTML)

↑ See in detail Heinz Pohl: The ethnic-linguistic requirements of the referendum . Lecture at the conference The Carinthian People's Vote 1920 and historical research: Achievements, deficits, perspectives on October 6th and 7th, 2000.