Saterland Frisian language
Encyclopedia
Saterland Frisian, also known as Sater Frisian or Saterlandic (Seeltersk), is the last living dialect of the East Frisian language. It is closely related to the other Frisian languages—North Frisian
, which, like Saterland Frisian, is spoken in Germany
and West Frisian
, which is spoken in the Netherlands
.
(Ostfriesland), the region between the Dutch river Lauwers
and the river Weser, in the German state of Lower Saxony
. The area also included two small districts on the east bank of the Weser, the lands of Wursten and Würden. The Old East Frisian language could be divided into two dialect groups: Weser Frisian to the east, and Ems Frisian to the west. From 1500 onwards Old East Frisian slowly had to give way to the severe pressure put on it by the surrounding Low German
dialects, and nowadays it is all but extinct.
By the middle of the seventeenth century Ems Frisian had almost completely died out. Weser Frisian for the most part did not last much longer and held on only until 1700, although there are records of it still being spoken in the land of Wursten, to the east of the river Weser, in 1723. It held out the longest on the island of Wangerooge
, where the very last Weser Frisian speaker was recorded as having died in 1953. Today, the Old East Frisian language is no longer spoken
within the historical borders of East Frisia, yet a large number of the inhabitants of that region still consider themselves Frisians and refer to their dialect of Low German
as Freesk. In this dialect, referred to as Ostfriesisch in German
, the Frisian substratum is still evident.
area in the former State of Oldenburg
, to the south of East Frisia proper. Saterland
(Seelterlound in the local language), which is believed to have been colonised by Frisians from East Frisia in the eleventh century, was for a long time surrounded by impassable moors. This, together with the fact that Sater Frisian always had a status superior to Low German among the inhabitants of the area, accounts for the preservation of the language throughout the centuries.
Another important factor might be that after the Thirty Years' War
, Saterland became part of the bishopric of Münster. As a consequence, it was brought back to the Catholic Church, resulting in isolation from the principal Protestant part of East-Frisia since about 1630, so marriages were no longer contracted with people from the north.
Today, estimates of the number of speakers vary slightly. Sater Frisian is spoken by approximately 2,250 people, out of a total population of the Saterland area of some 10,000. An estimated 2,000 people might speak the language well, of which slightly less than a half are native speakers. The vast majority of all native speakers are found among the elder generation; Saterlandic thus is a seriously endangered language
. It might, however, no longer be moribund, since several reports suggest the number of acquired speakers is rising among the younger generation and some of them raise their children in Saterlandic.
by Germany in 1998. Since about 1800, Sater Frisian has attracted the interest of a growing number of linguists. During the last century, a small literature developed in it. Also the New Testament of the Bible
has been translated into Sater Frisian.
North Frisian (Mooring dialect): Di dreng aide dåt foomen am dåt kan än mäket har aw da siike.
West Frisian
: De jonge streake it famke om it kin en tute har op 'e wangen.
East Frisian Low Saxon
: De Jung straktde dat Wicht üm't Kinn to un tuutjede hör up de Wangen.
Dutch
: De jongen aaide/streelde het meisje over haar kin en kuste haar op haar wangen.
German
: Der Junge streichelte das Mädchen ums Kinn und küsste sie auf die Wangen.
English
: The boy stroked the girl on the chin and kissed her on the cheeks.
North Frisian language
North Frisian is a minority language of Germany, spoken by about 10,000 people in North Frisia. The language is part of the larger group of the West Germanic Frisian languages.-Classification:...
, which, like Saterland Frisian, is spoken in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and West Frisian
West Frisian language
West Frisian is a language spoken mostly in the province of Friesland in the north of the Netherlands. West Frisian is the name by which this language is usually known outside the Netherlands, to distinguish it from the closely related Frisian languages of Saterland Frisian and North Frisian,...
, which is spoken in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
.
Old East Frisian and its decline
Old East Frisian used to be spoken in East FrisiaEast Frisia
East Frisia or Eastern Friesland is a coastal region in the northwest of the German federal state of Lower Saxony....
(Ostfriesland), the region between the Dutch river Lauwers
Lauwers
The Lauwers is a river in the Netherlands. It forms part of the border between the provinces of Friesland and Groningen. From the 730's to Widukind's defeat in 785 it was part of the border of the Frankish Empire....
and the river Weser, in the German state of Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
. The area also included two small districts on the east bank of the Weser, the lands of Wursten and Würden. The Old East Frisian language could be divided into two dialect groups: Weser Frisian to the east, and Ems Frisian to the west. From 1500 onwards Old East Frisian slowly had to give way to the severe pressure put on it by the surrounding Low German
Low German
Low German or Low Saxon is an Ingvaeonic West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands...
dialects, and nowadays it is all but extinct.
By the middle of the seventeenth century Ems Frisian had almost completely died out. Weser Frisian for the most part did not last much longer and held on only until 1700, although there are records of it still being spoken in the land of Wursten, to the east of the river Weser, in 1723. It held out the longest on the island of Wangerooge
Wangerooge
Wangerooge is one of the 32 Frisian Islands in the North Sea located close to the coasts of the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. It is also a municipality in the district of Friesland in Lower Saxony in Germany.Wangerooge is one of the East Frisian Islands...
, where the very last Weser Frisian speaker was recorded as having died in 1953. Today, the Old East Frisian language is no longer spoken
Language shift
Language shift, sometimes referred to as language transfer or language replacement or assimilation, is the progressive process whereby a speech community of a language shifts to speaking another language. The rate of assimilation is the percentage of individuals with a given mother tongue who speak...
within the historical borders of East Frisia, yet a large number of the inhabitants of that region still consider themselves Frisians and refer to their dialect of Low German
Low German
Low German or Low Saxon is an Ingvaeonic West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands...
as Freesk. In this dialect, referred to as Ostfriesisch in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, the Frisian substratum is still evident.
Sater Frisian
The last remaining living remnant of Old East Frisian is an Ems Frisian dialect called Sater Frisian or Saterlandic (its native name being Seeltersk), which is spoken in the SaterlandSaterland
Saterland is a municipality in the district of Cloppenburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated between the cities of Leer, Cloppenburg, and Oldenburg...
area in the former State of Oldenburg
Free State of Oldenburg
The Free State of Oldenburg was a state of the Weimar Republic. It was established in 1918 following the abdication of the Grand Duke Frederick Augustus II following the German Revolution....
, to the south of East Frisia proper. Saterland
Saterland
Saterland is a municipality in the district of Cloppenburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated between the cities of Leer, Cloppenburg, and Oldenburg...
(Seelterlound in the local language), which is believed to have been colonised by Frisians from East Frisia in the eleventh century, was for a long time surrounded by impassable moors. This, together with the fact that Sater Frisian always had a status superior to Low German among the inhabitants of the area, accounts for the preservation of the language throughout the centuries.
Another important factor might be that after the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
, Saterland became part of the bishopric of Münster. As a consequence, it was brought back to the Catholic Church, resulting in isolation from the principal Protestant part of East-Frisia since about 1630, so marriages were no longer contracted with people from the north.
Speakers
Endangered language
An endangered language is a language that is at risk of falling out of use. If it loses all its native speakers, it becomes a dead language. If eventually no one speaks the language at all it becomes an "extinct language"....
. It might, however, no longer be moribund, since several reports suggest the number of acquired speakers is rising among the younger generation and some of them raise their children in Saterlandic.
Dialects
There are three fully mutually intelligible dialects, corresponding to the three main villages of the municipality of Saterland: Ramsloh (Saterlandic: Roomelse), Scharrel (Schäddel), and Strücklingen (Strukelje). The Ramsloh dialect now somewhat enjoys a status as standard language, since a grammar and a word list were based on it.Status
The German government has not committed significant resources to the preservation of Sater Frisian. Most of the work to secure the endurance of this language is therefore done by the Seelter Buund ("Saterlandic Alliance"). Along with North Frisian and five other languages, Sater Frisian was included in Part III of the European Charter for Regional or Minority LanguagesEuropean Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is a European treaty adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe...
by Germany in 1998. Since about 1800, Sater Frisian has attracted the interest of a growing number of linguists. During the last century, a small literature developed in it. Also the New Testament of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
has been translated into Sater Frisian.
Sample text
Saterland Frisian: Die Wänt strookede dät Wucht uum ju Keeuwe un oapede hier ap do Sooken.North Frisian (Mooring dialect): Di dreng aide dåt foomen am dåt kan än mäket har aw da siike.
West Frisian
West Frisian language
West Frisian is a language spoken mostly in the province of Friesland in the north of the Netherlands. West Frisian is the name by which this language is usually known outside the Netherlands, to distinguish it from the closely related Frisian languages of Saterland Frisian and North Frisian,...
: De jonge streake it famke om it kin en tute har op 'e wangen.
East Frisian Low Saxon
East Frisian Low Saxon
East Frisian Low Saxon is a West Low German dialect spoken in the East Frisian peninsula of northwestern Lower Saxony. It is used quite frequently in everyday speech there. About half of the East Frisian population in the coastal region uses Platdüütsk. A number of individuals, despite not being...
: De Jung straktde dat Wicht üm't Kinn to un tuutjede hör up de Wangen.
Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
: De jongen aaide/streelde het meisje over haar kin en kuste haar op haar wangen.
German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
: Der Junge streichelte das Mädchen ums Kinn und küsste sie auf die Wangen.
English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
: The boy stroked the girl on the chin and kissed her on the cheeks.
Further reading
- Fort, Marron C. (1980): Saterfriesisches Wörterbuch. Hamburg: Helmut Buske.
- Kramer, Pyt (1982): Kute Seelter Sproakleere - Kurze Grammatik des Saterfriesischen. Rhauderfehn: Ostendorp.
- Stellmacher, Dieter (1998): Das Saterland und das Saterländische. Oldenburg.
See also
- FrisiaFrisiaFrisia is a coastal region along the southeastern corner of the North Sea, i.e. the German Bight. Frisia is the traditional homeland of the Frisians, a Germanic people who speak Frisian, a language group closely related to the English language...
- Frisian IslandsFrisian IslandsThe Frisian Islands, also known as the Wadden Islands or Wadden Sea Islands, form an archipelago at the eastern edge of the North Sea in northwestern Europe, stretching from the north-west of the Netherlands through Germany to the west of Denmark...
- Frisian languages
- FrisiansFrisiansThe Frisians are a Germanic ethnic group native to the coastal parts of the Netherlands and Germany. They are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen and, in Germany, East Frisia and North Frisia, that was a part of Denmark until 1864. They inhabit an area known as Frisia...
- Saterland FrisiansSaterland FrisiansThe Saterland Frisians are one of the smallest language groups in Europe. They belong to the eastern branch of the Frisian people and are thus a recognised minority within Germany...
External links
- On-line course in English
- Saterland Frisian Wikipedia (Saterland Frisian)
- Dictionary Saterfrisian-German (according to P. Kramer, Seelter Woudebouk, Ljouwert 1961; spelling modernised).
- Vocabulary German-Saterfrisian