Cimbrian

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Cimbrian

Spoken in

Italy
Language codes
ISO 639-3

cim

Zimbern.png

Zimbrisch (own name Zimbrisch gaprècht, Zimbrische zunga, Zimbrisch, Italian called Cimbro ) is the traditional Upper German language of the Cimbri in northeastern Italy , which was spoken in three linguistic islands and was the church and official language in the former republic of the seven parishes until the end of the 18th century was. Linguistically speaking , it is Bavarian dialects as linguistic forms, which, however, are much more ancient than the heel-taleric . Today, Cimbrian is only an everyday language in the municipality of Lusern in Trentino and has no more than 1,000 speakers.

Distribution area

Early 19th century Cimbrian of about 20,000 people in the was thirteen municipalities north of the city of Verona , in the seven municipalities (Italy) to the Italian community Asiago (dt. Schlege, beatings, beatings, Zimb. Sleghe, Sleeghe ) and in Spoken parts of Welschtirols (Trentino) northwest of the seven municipalities. In the 17th century there was still a coherent Cimbrian language area, which also comprised the area between the three later language islands, to which field names of German origin refer.

Dialects

Cimbrian consists of three linguistic islands, each with its own dialect: the seven parishes, the thirteen parishes and the cimbrian of Lusern, Lafraun and Vielgereut in Trentino. Of these dialects, that of the Seven Municipalities is the most ancient and that of Trentino the most modern.

history

The Cimbrian probably goes back to several waves of settlements in the 12th and 13th centuries from the Bavarian area of ​​the Ammer and Starnberg lakes . The most ancient form was spoken in the area of the Italian community Asiago, where use as a literary language favored the preservation of old language features.

With the abolition of the independence of the seven communities under Napoleon Bonaparte , the status of Cimbrian as an official language ended. Since then, Italianization has also spread to this area.

documentation

In 1602, Bishop Marco Corner of Padua had the Catechism Christlike unt korze Dottrina, a translation of the Italian Dottrina christiana breve by Cardinal Robert Bellarmin , printed as the oldest book in Cimbrian in Vicenza . Around 1685/86 the universal scholar Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz also dealt with the Cimbrian language. In the 6th edition of the 2nd part of his description of the earth , the German cosmographer Anton Friedrich Büsching made the Zimbri known in the German-speaking area in 1769. In 1813 and 1843, the then Italian catechism Piccolo Catechismo ad uso del Regno d'Italia was again translated into Cimbrian and printed under the title Dar Klóane Catechismo before dez Béloseland .

In the middle of the 19th century, the Bavarian philologist and linguist Johann Andreas Schmeller traveled several times to the Cimbrian language islands and recognized that Cimbrian is an ancient German dialect of Bavarian - Tyrolean expression that has been spoken in today's language islands since the High Middle Ages. In 1855 Schmeller published a Cimbrian dictionary .

In the 20th century, Bruno Schweizer (who founded the Longobard theory of Cimbrian ) and the Bavarian researcher Hugo Resch from Landshut dealt with the dialect of the Cimbri. Contributions to the research and documentation are also provided by Anthony Rowley . The Munich linguist Hans Tyroller studied primarily the Luserner dialect and in 1997 presented a comprehensive grammar.

In the dialect of the Seven Parishes, in which ecclesiastical texts have been published since 1602, popular stories and poems are produced up to the present day. In 1979 a missal for Cimbrian in Schlege was published in Vicenza, which is still used today, although the language is no longer learned as a mother tongue. There are also building and grave inscriptions in this language. In the Thirteen Municipalities and in Trentino, however, there is no Cimbrian literary tradition.

Sociolinguistic situation today

In 2008, the Cimbrian of the Seven Congregations , which is referred to as Toitsches Gaprècht 'German language' or Cimbrian Gaprècht 'Cimbrian language', was only spoken by less than fifty people in the community of Roana (Robàan, German Rain), of whom the most of them live in the Mezzaselva (Mittewald) fraction . The youngest speaker was around 50 that same year, most of them significantly older. In the other communities it has died out, in some cases since the end of the 19th century. However, there is a strong and increasing identification with Cimbrian history and the traditional Cimbrian written language of the Seven Churches, in which texts are still produced today. It is still used regularly in the Holy Mass, although the missal from 1979 is used.

The Cimbrian of the Thirteen Parishes - self-designation Tautsch 'German' or Tautschas Garëida 'German talk' - was only spoken in two villages at the end of the 19th century, in Gliesen ( Giazza ) also by children, but only in Campo-Fontana from some old people. At the beginning of the 21st century, Gliesen, where around 300 people live, is the last village where some old people can still speak the language. However, you rarely have the opportunity to use them in everyday life. In primary school there are lessons to learn the dialect, which nobody learns as a mother tongue. Cimbrian is not used here in the Church.

In the Trentino, the Cimbrian language died out in Lafraun and Vielgereut at the beginning of the 20th century, so that Lusern is the last village where Cimbrian language is still alive and where children can learn it. In Trentino the mother tongue has only been recorded in censuses since 2001. Cimbrian has been recognized as a minority language in Trentino for a number of years, alongside Fersentaler and Ladin . In the 2001 census, 267 out of 297 inhabitants in Luserna (89.9%) said Cimbrian as their mother tongue. In the whole of Trentino it was 882 out of 477,017 (0.2%). In the 2011 census, only 238 of 284 inhabitants in Luserna (83.8%) belonged to the Cimbrian language group, in the whole of Trentino 1072 of 526,510 (0.2%). At least a considerable number of people in Folgaria (249 out of 3,151 or 7.9%) and Lavarone (85 out of 1088 or 7.8%) belonged to the Cimbrian language group. Very few school-aged children still live in Lusern. In 2006 the village school was closed, which last had only three students. The pupils attend the primary school in Lafraun, where nobody speaks Cimbrian every day. Classes are in Italian, but there are elective lessons in Cimbrian for one hour a week. There are no German lessons. Although the census results indicate a very high level of identification with the Cimbrian language, Italian is increasingly used as a colloquial language by the younger generation, including in Lusians. Cimbrian is not used in worship.

The UNESCO classified Cimbrian as definitely endangered language , clearly endangered language 'field. It should be noted, however, that the situation in the Seven and Thirteen Parishes corresponds more to the criteria of a critically endangered language , `` severely endangered language '', since Cimbrian there is only used by people of older age and only by some in Lusers Children is spoken to.

Phonology

Cimbrian is one of the Bavarian dialects.

Stressed vowels

The vowels of the Cimbrian show to a large extent the development of the Bavarian dialects. So Middle High German egg has become oa : goas [ɡɔɐːs] 'goat', hoatar [hɔɐːtɐr] 'cheerful'. From Old High German quëman is like in the other Bavarian dialects khemmen become while elsewhere already Middle High German time to come has become.

The Middle High German long vowels î, û and iu [yː] are diphthongized to ai, au and aü : maus 'mouse', sain ' to be', hat 'today'.

As in South Bavarian as well as in the Lechrain dialect , ê is broken into ea [ɛɐ] and ô to oa [ɔɐ]: groas [ɡrɔɐːs] 'tall', hoach [hɔɐːx] 'high', roat [rɔɐːt] 'red', khlea [kxlɛɐː ] 'Clover', snea [ʃnɛɐː] 'snow', bea [bɛɐː] 'hurt'.

Light a is retained just like Middle High German æ and is not darkened to å or a as is usual in Bavarian : bassar [basɐr] 'water', has (o) [haːʂ] 'rabbit', khes [kxɛːʂ] 'cheese', spet [ʃpɛːt] 'late'. This is where Cimbrian also differs from other language island dialects such as Pladen / Sappada, Zahre / Sauris, Tischlwang / Timau and Gottschee .

Middle High German ou is monophthongized to long open o and Middle High German öu to long open ö and not to long a: oge [ɔːge] 'eye' (mhd. Ouɡe ), lovan [lɔːvɐn] 'run' (mhd. Loufen ) as is usually the case in Bavarian , kröl [kxrœːl] 'Kräuel' (mhd. kröul ), pömle [pœːmle] 'tree' (mhd. böumelîn ).

Unstressed vowels

In the Cimbric of the Seven Congregations , the end vowels from the Old High German period (a, o, e) have been preserved , which elsewhere have been weakened to e or Schwa [ə] since Middle High German : sunna 'sun', erda 'earth', mano 'moon' , haso 'rabbit', faffe 'priest, priest'. In the thirteen municipalities there is a weakening to e (sunne, erde, mane, hase, faffe), while in the Cimbrian of Trentino the ending is omitted (sunn, erd, man, has, faff) .

Consonants

The second sound shift is carried out in its entirety, so that not only b and d (from Germanic * d ) but also g have become voiceless (p, t, k): prennen 'burn', prunn 'fountain', kagl (but gagel 'Goat / sheep droppings '), zakkl 'tail' (<mhd. Zagel ). Furthermore, in some words, even d from Germanic * th becomes t: tach 'roof', tempfan 'dampen', tengln ' dengeln ', tondarn 'thunder', tunkhl 'dark'. The k from Germanic * k is hinted at like in Lechrainian and many other Upper German dialects.

The v [* f] of Middle High German - in New High German starting with f or v - is always voiced like Standard German w [v]: vassan ' fassen ', vatar 'father'. For Middle High German w [* β] - and New High German w [v] - stands b: burza 'root', boaze 'wheat'. These changes in f / v and w also occur in other Bavarian language island verbs , including Pladen (Sappada), Tischelwang (Timau) and Zahre (Sauris) in Friuli and Zarz (Sorica) and Gottschee in Krain (Slovenia).

grammar

declination

Like Standard German, Cimbrian knows strong and weak nouns. In case it knows the nominative , the dative and the accusative ; As in most German dialects, the genitive has been replaced by a prepositional construction with von .

  • Strong nouns can end in -e or -ar in the plural or they can have a zero ending; umlaut can also be used . In the dative singular, the ending -e occurs in monosyllables , and umlaut is also possible in feminine.
  • The weak masculine end in -en in the dative and accusative as well as in the entire plural ; The weak feminine and neuter words end in -en in the dative as well as in the entire plural , but in the accusative as in the nominative. The diminutives on -le have been converted from the strong to the weak declination by analogy.

Examples of the declension of masculine nouns

  • strong masculine without umlaut:
dar tag 'the day', me taaghe 'the day (s)', plural: de taaghe 'the days', in taaghen 'the days'
  • strong masculine with umlaut:
dar zu 'the son', me zuune 'the son (s)', plural: de züune 'the sons', in züunen 'the sons'
  • Strong masculine with zero ending in the nominative plural:
dar èrbatar 'the worker', me èrbatar 'the worker', plural: de èrbatar 'the workers', in èrbatarn 'the workers'
  • weak masculine:
dar stèkho 'the stick', me stèkhen 'the stick', plural: de stèkhen 'the stick', in stèkhen 'the stick'

Examples of the declension of feminine nouns

  • strong feminine with umlaut:
de hant 'die hand', dar hénte 'the hand', plural: de hénte 'the hands', in hénten 'the hands'
  • weak feminine:
de platta 'the stone slab', me platten 'the stone slab', plural: de platten 'the stone slabs', in plates 'the stone slabs'

Examples of the declension of neuter nouns

  • strong neuter without umlaut, but with the ending -ar:
s baip 'the woman', me baibe 'the woman (e)', plural: de baibar 'the women', in baibarn 'the women'
  • strong neuter with umlaut and ending -ar:
s house 'the house', me hauze 'the house (s)', plural: de hòizar 'the houses', in hòizarn the houses
  • weak neuter:
s hòizle 'the little house', me hòizlen 'the little house', plural: de hòizlen 'the little house', in hòizlen 'the little house'

conjugation

The conjugation of the verbs largely corresponds to that in the other Bavarian dialects. The forms of the 3rd person plural in the Cimbric of the Seven Churches end in -nt . In Lusern however, as in standard German, they coincide with the 1st person plural, i.e. on -en . In the present tense of the strong verbs of the 6th and 7th grade, as in all Upper German dialects, the umlaut is missing : vallen - ear vallet 'fallen' - 'he falls'; in the 3rd, 4th and 5th grades umlaut / e /> / i / - also as everywhere in Upper German in all three persons of the singular: ezan 'eat': I izze, you izzest, ear izzet, biar ezzen, iar ezzet, seü ezzent (standard German, however, with umlaut only in the 2nd and 3rd person singular). In addition to the simple infinitive, there is its own dependent infinitive (a kind of gerund ) with zu: vallen - zo valla ' to fall' - 'to fall'.

As in the other Upper German dialects, the past tense has been lost and is replaced by the perfect . The prefix ga- of the past participle is not reduced. Strong verbs are given the ending -et in the past participle, following the example of weak verbs and the Italian verbal ending, instead of the inherited -en: trinkhan - gatrunkhet 'drink' - 'drink'.

In the 3rd person singular and plural, the subjunctive I differs from the present indicative by the lack of the final t . The subjunctive II is expressed by the ending -ete , even with most strong verbs.

Pronouns

Unlike in Bavaria, no original dual forms are used in Cimbrian in the 2nd person plural. So for the pronouns you and you does not stand es / ös, enk, but iar / ear (t) / ar, eüch / aüch / as . This is why the corresponding verb forms do not contain -s: iar machet 'you do' (cf. in Bavaria: es måchts ).

numbers

Ordinal numbers are absent and are expressed by cardinal numbers.

syntax

The syntax is subject to strong Italian influences. So there is no longer, for example, for the German mandatory position of the verb in second place in the declarative sentence as law.

Lexicons

vocabulary

The vocabulary is predominantly Bavarian and contains the typical Bavarian passwords such as B. erta , Tuesday ' finzta , Thursday' Foat , shirt 'and khrånebitt (bair. Cranes Witt, juniper). There are some ancient words that have long since died out in other areas, such as B. lüsnen ' to listen' (from Middle High German lüsenen; cf. Alemannisch lose, from Old High German hlosēn, as well as English lists, from Old English hlysnan ) and khödan “say” (Old High German quëdan, cf. Middle English quethe [n] ). Italian loanwords are very numerous . Since there was hardly any contact with the German-speaking area, these Romance expressions are also found where written German expressions are used in other German dialects; Examples are vinzern 'win' (it. Vincere ), spusa 'bride' (it. Sposa ) and giust 'right' (it. Giusto ).

Word formation

In the derivation of adjectives to describe properties of nouns Cimbrian uses the Bavarian ending -at: narrat , silly ', Deppat , silly, corny', squarate , square '.

Text examples

Our Father

Z Gapeet by Gotte me Hèeren (The Lord's Prayer in Cimbrian), Seven Churches, from the Cimbrian Catechism of 1602 and the Cimbrian Catechism of 1813

Cimbrian Catechism from 1602
(p. 11, German cf. Our Father ) 		Cimbrian Catechism of 1813
(p. 23) 		Literal translation of
the 1813 version
Father unzer derdo hit heaven, Ünzar Vaatar from me Hümmele, Our Heavenly Father
gheaileghet about dain namo, sai gahéart aür halgar naamo; be honored to your holy name;
zukem dain raik. khèmme dar aür Hümmel; come your heaven,
Dain bil the ghesceghe sai gatànt allez baz ar bèlt iart, be done all you want,
So bia ime himele so in the earth. bia in Hümmel, asò af dèerda; as in heaven, so on earth;
Ghibuz today unzer teghelek proat. Ghèt üz hats ünzar pròat of altaaghe; Give us today our daily bread;
Vnt vorghibe uz our sunte un lazzet üz to ünzare school, and leave us to our guilt
So bia beer prefer unzer soleghern. bia bar lazzan se after biar dén da saint schullikh üz; as well as leave after we those who owe us;
Vnt vuer uz net in vursúkonghe. keep üz guarded from tentaziuun; keep us from temptation (tentazione);
Special erluosuz from vbel. un Höövet üz de üübel. and lift us from evil.
Amen. Asò sai z. So be it.

A more recent translation of the Lord's Prayer is in the 1979 missal:

Cimbrian Literal translation
Ügnar Bàatar, ba pist in hümmel, Our father, where are you in heaven
zai gahòlighet dar dain naamo, hallowed be your name,
as khèmme dar dain Regno, your kingdom come to us (regno),
zai gamàcht bia du bill, be made as you want,
bia in hümmel, azò in d'éerda. like in heaven, so in earth.
Ghitzich hòite 'z ügnar pròat bon allen taghen, Give us today our bread of all days,
borghit ozàndarn d'ügnarn feigned forgive us [others] of our sins
bia bràndare borghéban bèar hatzich offéndart, how we [others] forgive who has done us harm (offendere),
mach as bar net bàllan in tentatziùum, let's not fall into temptation (tentazione),
ma liberàrzich bon allen béetighen. but (ma) free (liberare) us from all evil.

Ave Maria

Cimbrian Catechism of 1602
(p. 17) 		Cimbrian Catechism of 1813
(p. 24)
De Aue Mergia. De Ave Maria.
Gott gruz dik Maria volla ghenade. I grüzach, Maria volla grázien,
The gentleman is with you: God of Lord is met eüch:
you pist gobenedairt beneath the baibarn. séelik iart übar de baibar:
Vnt gobenedairt is the fruct dainz laibez, Giesus. un séelik 'z kint from eürme loaves, Jesus.
Hailiga Maria, moth Gottez, Halga Maria, mother of Gotte 'me lords,
pit before vnz sünter pittet before üz süntar,
hemest vnt in the horn unzerz die. hommest, un af an stunt by ünzarme tóade.
Amen. Asò sai'z.

literature

Works in Cimbrian

Dictionaries

  • Norman Denison; H. Grassegger: Zahr dictionary. Vocabolario Sauranor (= Graz linguistic monographs. Vol. 22). Published by the Institute for Linguistics at the University of Graz, Graz 2007.
  • U. Martello-Martalar: Dizionario della Lingua cimbra. Vicenza 1974. Vol. 2. Dal Pozzo, Roana-Vicenza 1985.
  • Johann Andreas Schmeller : Cimbrian Dictionary. KK Hof- u. Staatsdr., Vienna 1855 ( PDF, 10.93 Mb ).

grammar

  • Eberhard Kranzmayer : Phonology and inflection theory of the German Cimbrian dialect. VWGÖ, Vienna 1981, and Glossary, Vienna 1985, ISBN 3-85369-465-9 .
  • Bruno Schweizer , James R. Dow (Hrsgg.): Zimbrische Gesamtgrammatik. Comparative representation of the Cimbrian dialects. Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2008. ISBN 978-3-515-09053-7 .
  • RA Trentino - Alto Adige, Istituto Cimbro (ed.): Bar lirnen z 'schraiba un zo reda az be biar. Grammar of the Cimbrian language by Lusérn (Italian / German-Cimbrian). Lusern 2006. ISBN 978-88-95386-00-3 .
  • Hans Tyroller: Grammatical Description of the Cimbrian by Lusern . Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2003. ISBN 3-515-08038-4 .

Descriptions of the language

  • Aristide Baragiola : Le fiabe cimbre del vecchio Jeckel. The fables of the gavattar Jekkelle. Raccolte da Aristide Baragiola ad Asiago nel 1893. Again ed. from the Istituto di cultura cimbra, Roana 1987.
  • Aristide Baragiola: Folklore inedito di alcune colonie tedesche nella regione italica. In: Bollettino di filologia moderna 4 (1902), nos. 3-4; 6 (1904), nos. 3-4 and 8-9.
  • Aristide Baragiola: Il tumulto delle donne di Roana per il Ponte, nel dialetto cimbro di Camporovere, Sette Comuni. Tip. Fratelli Salmin, Padova 1906 or 1907.
  • Josef Bacher: The German language island Lusern. Wagner University Bookstore, Innsbruck 1905.
  • Wilhelm Baum : History of the Zimbern. Storia dei Cimbri. Curatorium Cimbricum Bavarense, Landshut 1983.
  • Ermenegildo Bidese (Ed.): The Cimbrian between Germanic and Romanic. Brockmeyer, Bochum 2005. ISBN 3-8196-0670-X .
  • Herbert Hopfgartner: The Cimbrian language island. Insights into the oldest peripheral German culture in Central Europe. In: Lech Kolago (Ed.): Studies on German Studies (XXXVIII. Volume). University of Warsaw 2008. ISSN  0208-4597
  • Anthony Rowley: The language islands of the Fersentaler and Zimbern. In: Robert Hinderling, Ludwig M. Eichinger (Hrsgg.): Handbook of Central European Language Minorities. Tübingen 1996, pp. 263-285.
  • Anthony Rowley: "Mòcheno e Cimbro". From dialects to language (s)? In: Dieter Stellmacher (Ed.): Dialectology between tradition and new approaches. Contributions from the International Conference of Dialectologists, Göttingen, 19.-21. October 1998. Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 2000, pp. 213-221.
  • Anthony Rowley: A Journey to the Time of the Minstrels. From the linguistic islands of the Zimbri and the Fersentaler. Lecture text 2008.
  • Anthony Rowley: "... ascended into the land and into the time of the minstrels." The Cimbrian of the seven and thirteen parishes as a prime example of an Alpine language. 2008, Akademie aktuell 03/2010, pp. 58–61.
  • Johann Andreas Schmeller: About the so-called Cimbri of the VII and XIII Communes in the Venedian Alps and their language. Read at the meeting of the first class of the K. Academy of Sciences on March 3, 1834. In: Treatises of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences. Philosophical-Philological Class, Historical Class. Second volume. Munich 1837. pp. 557-708.
  • Bruno Schweizer : Remnants of the Cimbrian language (= German ancestral heritage. B. 5.1). Niemeyer, Halle 1939.
  • Bruno Schweizer: Cimbrian and heel-based language atlas. Atlante linguistico cimbro e mòcheno . Edited and commented by / edizione curata e commentata da Stefan Rabanus. Istituto Cimbro / Istituto Culturale Mòcheno, Luserna / Palù del Fersina (TN) 2012. ISBN 978-88-95386-02-7 .
  • Hans Tyroller: The language island vernacular of Lusern. In: Maria Hornung (Hrsg.): The German language islands in the southern Alps. Olms, Hildesheim / Zurich / New York 1994, pp. 109-144.

Others

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ H. Tyroller 1994, pp. 114-116.
  2. ^ German dialect in Italy: Every Zimber counts on Spiegel Online from September 17, 2011.
  3. ↑ a b H. Tyroller 2003, p. 2.
  4. ↑ a b c Remigius Geiser (2011)
  5. ↑ a b Messa in Cimbro. Vicenza 1979
  6. ↑ a b Anthony Rowley (2008)
  7. ↑ Appartenenza alla popolazione di lingua ladina, mochena e cimbra, per comune di area di residenza (Censimento 2001). (PDF; 27 kB) Annuario Statistico 2006. Provincia Autonoma di Trento. 2007. Read on August 21, 2011.
  8. ↑ Preliminary final result of the 2011 census (PDF; 202 kB), Statistics Office of the Autonomous Province of Trento
  9. ↑ Widmar Puhl: In the land of the Zimbern. German language islands in Italy. (PDF; 56 kB) SWR2 Knowledge, February 8, 2011.
  10. ↑ MultiTree: A Digital Library of Language Relationships - The Cimbrian Language
  11. ↑ In Lusern people speak Cimbrian. The last Bavarians in Italy. n-tv.de. 17th September 2011.
  12. ^ Johann Andreas Schmeller (1837)
  13. ^ The following according to Umberto Martello Martalar: Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Comuni vicentini un idioma antico, non trascurabile componente del quadro linguistico italiano. Vicenza 1974.
  14. ↑ Ermenegildo Bidese & Alessandra Tomaselli: Forms of 'exposure' and loss of V2 restriction in the history of the Cimbrian language. (PDF; 169 kB) In: E. Bidese, J. R. Dow and T. Stolz (eds.): The Cimbrian between Germanic and Romanic. Brockmeyer, Bochum 2005, pp. 67-88.
  15. ↑ Galòset vomme Zimbrischen liarn-gapeete 1813. From the Cimbrian Catechism of 1813 (Catechismo cimbro di 1813)