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Traces of Low German Influence on Finnish in the Middle Ages

Traces of Low German Influence on Finnish in the Middle Ages. Mikko Bentlin University of Greifswald, Germany mikko.bentlin@uni-greifswald.de. Moi!. Finland in the 12 th Century. Politics: Incorporation into the Swedish realm Religion: Christianization from both East and West

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Traces of Low German Influence on Finnish in the Middle Ages

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  1. Tracesof Low German Influence on Finnish in theMiddle Ages MikkoBentlin University of Greifswald, Germany mikko.bentlin@uni-greifswald.de

  2. Moi!

  3. Finland in the 12th Century • Politics: IncorporationintotheSwedishrealm • Religion: Christianizationfromboth East and West • Economy: BeginningdominationoftheHanseatic League aroundthewhole Baltic Sea, combinedwith German eastwardexpansion on the Southern and Eastern shores • Finnscameintocontactwith Low-German speakers on all theseareasoflife

  4. Swedish Norwegian Finnish Russian Estonian Livonian •Visby Denish Latvian • Lübeck

  5. Chronologyof Low German • Separate languagewithinthe West GermanicbranchofGermanic, Fi. alasaksa, Germ. Niederdeutsch • Old Saxon = Old Low German about 800–1150/1200 AD, hadgreatsimilaritieswith Old Dutch, beingatthe same time rather different from Old High German. • Gap in documentationbetweenappr. 1150 and 1250 • Middle Low German about 1250–1600, alwaysunderpressurefromthemoreprestigious High German

  6. Chronologyof Low German (2) • Reformation andLuther‘sBibletranslationspeededupthedeclineof Low German as a literarylanguage • In theBaltics, theuseof Low German endedquiterapidlybecausetherewerealmostno native speakers in thenumerally larger lowerclassesandthusno relevant dialectalbasisforfurtherdevelopment • Even in areaswith Low German-speakingmajorities, thelanguage lost itspositionaswrittenstandard.

  7. Swedishor Low German? • A greatpartoftheSwedishlexiconisof Low German origin • Swedish was thelanguageofadministrationanddominateduptothe 20th century • Influencefromboth Standard SwedishandSwedishdialectsspoken in Finland • Low German was thedominanatlanguage in economicaffairs • The institutionofthecity was introducedaccordingto German modelsanduntil 1471 Germans weresupposedto hold half oftheposts in citycouncilsandmayors‘ offices

  8. Possibledistinctioncriteria • 1. Phoneticalcriteria: • Difficult, becausemostpossibleSwedishand Low German originalsaremoreorlessidentical • Remarkableexception: Sequence /ouv/ (e.g. in rouva 'lady', touvi 'rope') pointsto Low German origin • Germanic feminine nounsending in a vowelthathasbeenreplacedbyFi. -u/-y e.g. Fi. lykky 'luck' asSwedishretained -o/-u in obliquecasesmuchlongerthan Low German

  9. Possibledistinctioncriteria • 2.) Semanticcriteria • Non-existenceof a word in either Low German orSwedish: • E.g. Fi. dial. laatta 'sandbank' shouldbeof Low German origin, whilelaatta 'plate' canbeborrowedfromeitherSwedishor Low German

  10. Possibledistinctioncriteria • Most Low German borrowings in thefieldsof • a) Church and Christian religion (kirkko 'church', rauha'peace', ?sielu'soul') • b) Fishery (monni'welscatfish, silurusglanis', rysä 'fishtrap') • c) Craft, tradeand urban life (ammatti'profession', rouva'lady', räätäli'tailor')

  11. Possibledistinctioncriteria • 3.) Distributional criteria • Most obvious Low German loansarefound in South Eastern dialectsthathistoricallybelongedtotheeconomicalhinterlandofthecityVyborg (Viipuri). • AnothergateintoFinlandmayhavebeenthevalleyofthe River Kokemäenjokiwheresomewordsof Low German origin must havelivedforcenturieswithoutspreadingintootherFinnishdialects. (e.g. asikko 'smallsalmonortrout', katve 'shadow')

  12. Conclusion • Low German loanwords in Finnish open quite a newperspective on cross-culturalcontacts in the Baltic Seaareaas well asthehistoryofbothlanguages. • Low German loanwords in Finnish cover a widerangeofmedievaleverydaylife. Borrowedconjunctionsandparticles such asentäandvaanseemtohavehadsomestructuralinfluence on Finnish. • Low German loanwordsareobviouslymorenumerousthanthan e.g. themorewidelyknownIndo-Iranianloanwordlayer in Finnish.

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