Misplaced Pages

#234765

32-556: Berżniki's name originates from the Sudovian language . In 1524, the Berżniki manor founded by Mykolas Pacas  [ lt ] , the deputy of the Perlamas  [ lt ] forest, is mentioned. Berżniki was built in 1547–57 by order of Queen Bona Sforza . Berżniki was granted town rights by Queen of Poland Bona Sforza in 1551. The town had 70 houses in 1560. At that time, Pac built

64-932: A (e.g. d ai lyti ‘distribute’), shortening of nominal singular endings (e.g. arkluks ‘little horse’, dieus , dies ‘god’, niks ‘nothing’, vaiks ‘child’), use of consonant z instead of ž (e.g. ząsis , ząsė ‘goose’, zvėris , zvėrys ‘beast’, zvaiždė ‘star’). The said subdialect is believed to have retained an archaic feature from the Sudovian language — the usage of compound consonants šč , št , žd and st without inserting consonants k , g (e.g. auštas ‘high, tall’, pauštė ‘bird’, spiūsna ‘feather’, žvirždo s ‘sand, pebble’) — which also corresponds to examples found in Old Prussian (e.g. aūss ‘gold’, rīsti ‘whip’). Personal pronoun forms have also been noted for possessing features found in West Baltic languages, such as

96-760: A 6–7 mile stretch of land of the Samland Corner that bears the name of Sudavia. They spoke a language similar to the Old Prussian language, but they used the term gentaras for amber, not the Sambian (Old Prussian) term. From him we learn that the Sudovians lived secluded from the Sambians, that they married within their own tribe, and did not allow intermarriage with the neighbouring Prussian population "even if begged". They stubbornly held to their own traditions, and wore finger and ear rings with bronze bells and silver belts. Nothing

128-622: A book of Catholic prayers from an old man from Novy Dvor village in the depths of Białowieża Forest , which held a small manuscript titled " Pagan Dialects from Narew  [ lt ; be-tarask ] " ( Pogańskie gwary z Narewu ). It was written partly in Polish , and partly in an unspecified, "pagan" language. However, Zinov's parents threw away the book. But, before the manuscript was destroyed, Zinov had made notes of it which he sent to Vilnius University in 1983. Even though Zinov's notes were riddled with errors, it has been proven beyond doubt that

160-441: A group of extinct Baltic languages that were spoken by West Baltic peoples. West Baltic is one of the two primary branches of Baltic languages, along with East Baltic . It includes Old Prussian , Sudovian , West Galindian , possibly Skalvian and Old Curonian . The only properly attested West Baltic language of which texts are known is Old Prussian , although there are a few short remnants of Old Curonian and Sudovian in

192-1135: Is " Kails naussen gnigethe. " form the Sudovian Book), accusative, genitive, dative and locative, and a complex morphology with a variety of moods . It was a frontier dialect of Old Baltic, which preserved many archaic features which had been lost in the Middle Baltic group. The Constit. Synod. Evangel. of 1530 contains the following list of deities who were still worshipped by the Sudavians in Samland: " Occopirmus, Sualxtix, Ausschauts, Autrympus, Potrympus , Bardoayts, Piluuytis, Parcunas , Pecols ,...". Toponyms from north-eastern Poland, north-western Belarus, and Lithuania also preserve words. The Yotvingian territories were later overrun and populated by Slavs around present-day Białystok and Suwałki in north-eastern Poland and nearby Hrodna (formerly Grodno) in Belarus . Some elements of Baltic speech are still retained in

224-448: Is a transitional language between West and East Baltic. Sudovian is either classified as an Old Prussian dialect, a West Baltic language or a transitional language between West and East Baltic. The former two options would leave Sudovian in the West Baltic phylum. Old Curonian is the least securely classified language. It is argued to be either West Baltic with significant East Baltic influence, or East Baltic. West Baltic

256-720: The New East Prussia of the Kingdom of Prussia . In 1797, there were 69 houses in the village. Berżniki was part of the Duchy of Warsaw from 1807 to 1815, and then part of the Russian-ruled Congress Poland . Berżniki lost its town rights after 1810. From 1837, Berżniki was in the Augustów , later Suwałki Governorates . Cyriak Accord  [ pl ] ( Cirijakas Akordas ) lived in Berżniki in 1856–64. On 25 June 1863,

288-491: The anthroponymy of the East Balts. West Baltic languages are traditionally characterised by having at least few of the following six key linguistic features: 1 – primordial diphthong *ei , 2 – equivalents to IE velars *k and *g , 3 – *AN type compounds, 4 – equivalents to palatals *k‘ and *g‘ , 5 – equivalents to Baltic consonant compounds *tj and *td , 6 – equivalents to Baltic vowels *ā and *ō . Based on

320-460: The Belarus and Ukraine territory, owing to the sparse indigenous populations and resettlements of refugees from Lithuania. The dialect of Zietela ( Belarusian : Дзятлава , Russian : Дятлово , Yiddish : Zietil , Polish : Zdzięcioł ) was of particular interest. Kazlauskas suggested that the word mėnas ("month") (dative singular mënui ) encountered in dialects (Zietela, Lazdijai ) and in

352-500: The Polish nation ). Works of art and vital records were looted by the Germans from the local church and taken to Königsberg . In 1988 and 1989, Lithuanian linguists organized expeditions to Berżniki. Sudovian language Sudovian (also known as Yotvingian , or Jatvingian ) was a West Baltic language of Northeastern Europe . Sudovian was closely related to Old Prussian . It

SECTION 10

#1733084489235

384-603: The Polish-Yotvingian Vocabulary (it is unsure, whether or not it represents Sudovian). Therefore, few can be said with certainty. The language seems to have preserved many archaic features, which have been lost in other Baltic languages. The language from the vocabulary retained the Proto-Baltic singular neuter case endings (as did Prussian), leaving the language with three genders. The language has six grammatical cases : nominative, vocative (The vocative example

416-549: The Prussian tribes. He attests, that between 1,500 and 1,600 Sudavians were forcefully relocated to Sambia in the late 13th century. After the district was conquered by the Teutonic Knights , the language died out and its speakers were gradually absorbed by German, Lithuanian and Slavic populations. John Poliander wrote in 1535 about the Sudovians living near Königsberg, Prussia, that 32 villages used Sudini speech in

448-512: The Sudovians, although their speech is somewhat lower, understand this Prussian language, as it is printed in the Catechism, and they express themselves well and understand every word". In addition to similarities in the scarce material in the Western Baltic languages, this leads most linguists to the conclusion, that Sudovian belongs to the Western Baltic branch. Sudovian along with Old Prussian

480-582: The church in Lithuanian and Polish, but the Lithuanians were forcefully expelled from the church by Poles and Polonized Lithuanians, leading to 18 injured people. After these events, the church was closed for 3 years. On September 22, 1920, a major battle between the Lithuanian and Polish armies took place here. The Lithuanians were forced to retreat by the much larger Polish forces, but the further Polish attack

512-634: The classification of the Sudovian language within the Baltic phylum. Historical sources state that Sudovian was very similar to and mutually intelligible with the archaic Old Prussian language , e.g. in the introduction to the first Old Prussian Catechism (printed in Königsberg – 1545 – the first Baltic language book): Die Sudawen aber wiewol ihre rede etwas nyderiger wissen sich doch inn diese preüßnische sprach : wie sie alhie im Catechismo gedruckt ist auch wol zuschicken und vernemen alle wort. – "But

544-427: The degree of consensus existing in the academic community, the first two points are sometimes regarded as strong features whereas the remaining four are identified as weak features . There are differences in vocalic variations in the root ( aR / eR and a / e ) between East and West Baltic languages that possibly emerged due to development of Baltic phonology, categories of word-formation, categorical semantics of

576-613: The first church. A distillery, a mill, and a brickyard operated near the manor. After the Deluge in the mid-17th century, Jews , Masovians , and Old Believer Russians began living in Berżniki alongside the native Lithuanians. Until 1795, Berżniki belonged to the Trakai Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . In 1795, as a result of the Partitions , the village became part of

608-691: The following features: the diphthong *ei (e.g. deiws 'god', ( ACC ) deinan 'day'), palatalized consonants /kʲ/ , /gʲ/ (they are preserved also in the Lithuanian language), and the consonant clusters /tl/ and /dl/ . They also preserved three genders: masculine , feminine and neuter . Sudovian and Old Curonian shared the suffix -ng- , which can be observed in various hydronyms and oeconyms (e.g. Apsingė , Nedzingė , Pilvingis , Suvingis , Palanga , Alsunga ) found in southern Lithuania, western Lithuania and Latvia. West Balts possessed double-stemmed personal names with distinct compounds (e.g. Net(i)- , Sebei- ), which are unusual to

640-433: The form of isolated words and short phrases. Many West Baltic languages went extinct in the 16th century while Old Prussian ceased to be spoken in the early 18th century . The only languages securely classified as West Baltic are Old Prussian and West Galindian , which could also be a dialect of Old Prussian. Most scholars consider Skalvian to be a West Baltic language or dialect. Another possible classification

672-747: The inhabitants to minimize Lithuanian presence and increase the Polish one due to interwar Polish–Lithuanian tensions. During the German occupation ( World War II ), the Germans arrested the local Polish parish priest Józef Śledziński in April 1940 and then imprisoned him in Suwałki and the Soldau and Sachsenhausen concentration camps. He died after being beaten by the Germans in Sachsenhausen in August 1940 (see Nazi crimes against

SECTION 20

#1733084489235

704-416: The mid-16th century by Hieronymus Maletius. Most scholars view these texts as representing Old Prussian, while Norbertas Vėlius regards them as genuine Sudovian. Until the 1970s, Yotvingian was chiefly known from toponyms and medieval Russian sources. But in 1978, a monument with Yotvingian writing was discovered by accident. In Belarus , a young man named Viačasłaŭ Zinaŭ, an amateur collector, bought

736-412: The name of the northernmost tribe only, while Poles in the south met a tribe calling itself Yatvingian. Both Germans and Poles generalized the terms for all the Baltic inhabitants of the area. The territory they lived in is referred to as Sudovia [Sunderland], Jotva [Jettwen], Dainavia, or Pollexia. Sudovian was an Indo-European language belonging to the Baltic branch. There are several proposals for

768-503: The notes are indeed a copy of an authentic Yotvingian text. According to the first person who analyzed the manuscript, Zigmas Zinkevičius , this short Yotvingian–Polish dictionary (of just 215 words ), "Pagan Dialects from Narew", appears to have been written by a Catholic priest in order to preach to locals in their mother tongue. Concerning the language, Zinkevičius put forth three possible versions: West Baltic languages West Baltic languages The West Baltic languages are

800-469: The rebel squads of Feliks Kołyszko, V. Hlaska and L. Čempinskis clashed with the Imperial Russian Army near Berżniki. Until the early 20th century, most of the parishioners (about 6,000 people) were Lithuanian, but due to the influence of the manors, the church and the Polish schools, the population began to be rapidly Polonized . In 1904, at the request of the Lithuanians, services were held in

832-582: The verb or traces of IE perfect. Findings on the Lithuanian Zatiela subdialect in present-day Dyatlovo suggest that it had preserved certain linguistic traits associated with West Baltic languages, primarily Sudovian, such as the incomplete transition of diphthong ei to ie (e.g. sv ie kas ‘hello’, sv ie kata ‘health’, pasv ie k ‘get well’), turn of vowel u into i before consonant v (e.g. br i vai ‘eyebrows’, liž i vis ‘tongue’, ž i vis , ž i vė ‘fish’), use of diphthong ai instead of

864-534: The writings of Bretkūnas is a remnant of nouns with the stem suffix -s. The dialect of Druskininkai in Lithuania, too, was influenced by the Sudovian language. There are also some Sudovian language phrases in " Warhafftige Beschreibung der Sudawen auff Samland sambt ihren Bock heyligen und Ceremonien " – True Description of the Sudovians in Samland together with their goat sanctifications and ceremonies – written in

896-554: Was formerly spoken southwest of the Neman river in what is now Lithuania , east of Galindia and in the north of Yotvingia , and by exiles in East Prussia . The language is referred to as Yotvingian, Jatvingian or Sudovian. Those names are derived from the southern- and northernmost tribes living in the area. When the Germans learnt the name "Sudovian" from the Prussians, they got to know

928-470: Was imported from abroad, but everything was produced by local craftsmen. Christoph Hartknoch reported in 1684 that there were still Sudovians in Sambia. Based on onomastics, Sudovian is thought to have had the following consonants: Two diphthongs are attested: The few grammatical features proposed for the Sudovian languages are either based on supposed Sudovian substrate in other languages or based on

960-574: Was later influenced by Gothic , while most of the East Baltic languages had more contact with Finnic languages. Sudovia and neighboring Galindia were two Baltic tribes or nations mentioned by the Greek geographer Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD as Galíndai and Soudinoí ( Γαλίνδαι , Σουδινοί ). Peter of Dusburg , in his 14th-century Chronicon terrae Prussiae , refers to Sudovia and to its inhabitants as Sudovites , listing them as one of

992-484: Was presumably native to the north of Central Europe , especially modern Poland , and the western Baltic region , which includes parts of modern Latvia and Lithuania . The West Baltic branch probably fully separated from East Baltic around the 4th–3rd century BCE, although their differences go as far as the middle of the last millennium BC. Unlike the East Baltic languages , West Baltic languages generally conserved

Berżniki - Misplaced Pages Continue

1024-406: Was stopped. In Berżniki and its surroundings, there are quite a few cemeteries and graves of Polish and Lithuanian soldiers, the latter being looked after by local Lithuanians. According to the 1921 Polish census , there were 373 inhabitants in Berżniki. According to the official data, there was not a single Lithuanian in the whole Berżniki village. The census purposefully distorted the ethnicity of

#234765