The Curonian language (; ; ), or Old Curonian, was a

Baltic language The Baltic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively or as a second language by a population of about 6.5–7.0 million people

spoken by the

Curonians :''The Kursenieki are also sometimes known as Curonians.'' The Curonians or Kurs (; ) were a medieval Balts, Baltic tribe living on the shores of the Baltic Sea in the 5th–16th centuries, in what are now western parts of Latvia and Lithuania. ...

, a Baltic tribe who inhabited Courland (now western

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

and northwestern

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

Classification

Curonian was an Indo-European language of the Baltic branch, as proven by Jānis Endzelīns. Curonian's relation to other Baltic languages is unclear: *Some scholars consider it to have been an East Baltic language, intermediate between Lithuanian and Latvian. * Others, like Vytautas Mažiulis, classify it as a West Baltic language that became closer to the Eastern branch due to extensive contact. * Linguist Eduard Vääri argues that it is possible that Curonians were Baltic Finns.

History

Old Curonian disappeared in the course of the 16th century. After the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

, the Baltic states saw a revival of scientific and cultural interest in extinct Baltic languages and tribes, including Yotvingian, Curonian, and

Old Prussian Old Prussian is an extinct West Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European languages, which was once spoken by the Old Prussians, the Baltic peoples of the Prussian region. The language is called Old Prussian to av ...

Lexicon

Samogitian words such as (mosquito), (duck), (swallow), (skylark), (hare), (stone), (marsh), and (winter wheat) are considered to be of Curonian origin. Further words show similarities with Old Prussian: and

: compared to , , all meaning wheel.

Corpus

Evidence from other languages

Curonian left substrata in western dialects of the Latvian and Lithuanian, namely the Samogitian dialect. No written documents in this language are known, but some ancient Lithuanian texts from western regions show some Curonian influence. According to Lithuanian linguist Zigmas Zinkevičius, long and intense Curonian–Lithuanian bilingualism existed.

Onomastics

There are only few onomastics in the region considered to have been inhabited by the Curonians. There are attested names of Curonian noblemen such as: , , , , .

Potential text in Curonian

Additionally, the Pater Noster reported by Simon Grunau is speculated to be in Curonian. Lord's Prayer after Simon Grunau

References

Literature

*Ambrassat, August "Die Provinz Ostpreußen", Frankfurt/ Main 1912 *Endzelin, J.: Über die Nationalität und Sprache der Kuren, in Finnisch-Ungarische Forschungen, XII, 1912 *Gaerte, Wilhelm "Urgeschichte Ostpreussens", Königsberg 1929 *Gimbutas, Marija "Die Balten", München-Berlin 1983 *Kurschat, Heinrich A.: Das Buch vom Memelland, Siebert Oldenburg 1968 *Kwauka, Paul, Pietsch, Richard: Kurisches Wörterbuch, Verlag Ulrich Camen Berlin, 1977, *Kwauka, Paul: Namen des Memellandes/ Unsere „fremdartigen“ Familiennamen, Archiv AdM, Oldenburg *Lepa, Gerhard (Hrsg) "Die Schalauer", Tolkemita-Texte Dieburg 1997 *Mortensen, Hans und Gertrud "Die Besiedlung des nordöstlichen Ostpreußens bis zum Beginn des 17. Jahrhunderts", Leipzig 1938 *Mortensen, Hans und Gertrud: Kants väterliche Ahnen und ihre Umwelt, Rede von 1952 in Jahrbuch der Albertus-Universität zu Königsberg / Pr., Holzner- Verlag Kitzingen/ Main 1953 Bd. 3 *Peteraitis, Vilius: Mažoji Lietuva ir Tvanksta (Lithuania Minor and Tvanksta) Vilnius 1992 *Pietsch, Richard (künstlerischer Entwurf und Text): Bildkarte rund um das Kurische Haff, Heimat-Buchdienst Georg Banszerus, Höxter, Herstellung: Neue Stalling, Oldenburg *Pietsch, Richard: Deutsch-Kurisches Wörterbuch, Verlag Nordostdeutsches Kulturwerk Lüneburg 1991, *Pietsch, Richard: Fischerleben auf der Kurischen Nehrung dargestellt in kurischer und deutscher Sprache, Verlag Ulrich Camen Berlin 1982 *Schmid, Wolfgang P. (Hrg): Nehrungskurisch, Sprachhistorische und instrumentalphonetische Studien zu einem aussterbenden Dialekt, Stuttgart 1989 *Schmid, Wolfgang P.: Das Nehrungskurische, ein sprachhistorischer Überblick *Tolksdorf, Ulrich "Fischerei und Fischerkultur in Ostpreußen", Heide/ Holstein 1991 *Žadeikiene, Daiva, Krajinskas, Albertas: Kurenkahnwimpel,

External links

Pietsch-Bildkarte „Kurisches Haff“

Curonians in Memelland

Curonian placenames in Memelland

Studentu zinātniskās konferences "Aktuāli baltistikas jautājumi" tēzes Loreta Stonkutė. Kuršininkų tarmės lituanizmai. p.43, 44
{{DEFAULTSORT:Curonian Language Baltic languages West Baltic languages Extinct Baltic languages Extinct languages of Europe Medieval languages Languages extinct in the 16th century 16th-century disestablishments in Europe