151-678: The Glan Valley Railway ( German : Glantalbahn ) is a non-electrified line along the Glan river , in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate . It consists of the Glan-Münchweiler – Altenglan section, which was built as part of the Landstuhl–Kusel railway and sections that were built later for military reasons: Homburg –Glan-Münchweiler, Altenglan– Staudernheim and Odernheim – Bad Münster am Stein . The line had strategic importance, otherwise traffic
302-460: A de facto official language of Namibia after the end of German colonial rule alongside English and Afrikaans , and had de jure co-official status from 1984 until its independence from South Africa in 1990. However, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols of apartheid and colonialism, and decided English would be the sole official language upon independence, stating that it
453-402: A second language , and 75–100 million as a foreign language . This would imply the existence of approximately 175–220 million German speakers worldwide. German sociolinguist Ulrich Ammon estimated a number of 289 million German foreign language speakers without clarifying the criteria by which he classified a speaker. As of 2012 , about 90 million people, or 16% of
604-511: A treaty was signed between Austria and Bavaria in which the various territorial changes were agreed on. According to Article 2 of the treaty, Emperor Francis I of Austria ceded various regions to King Maximilian I of Bavaria . These included, in addition to various regions east of the Rhine, the following regions west of the Rhine: These changes took effect on 1 May 1816. In accordance with
755-587: A "commonly used" language and the Pan South African Language Board is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it. Cameroon was also a colony of the German Empire from the same period (1884 to 1916). However, German was replaced by French and English, the languages of the two successor colonial powers, after its loss in World War I . Nevertheless, since the 21st century, German has become
906-547: A cooperation project with Kutztown University ). In the same village one can find the headquarters of the German-Pennsylvanian Association. Many more Palatines emigrated in the course of the 19th century, and the great majority of them to North America, so that in the US temporarily "Palatine" was a common designation for German Americans . Johann Heinrich Heinz (1811–1891), the father of Henry John Heinz who founded
1057-556: A greater need for regularity in written conventions. While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, High German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG & MHG "house") → haus (regionally in later MHG)→ Haus (NHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa [ə]: taga (OHG "days")→ tage (MHG)). A great wealth of texts survives from
1208-625: A line from Lauterecken to Staudernheim as a direct continuation of the Lauterbrunnen Valley Railway of the Palatine Northern Railway Company from Kaiserslautern to Lauterecken; preparatory work for its construction had already begun in 1886. Moreover, the railway entrepreneur Karl Jakob von Lavale had agreed that the Board would be responsible for half the land acquisition costs. The section between Lauterecken and Meisenheim
1359-453: A native tongue today, mostly descendants of German colonial settlers . The period of German colonialism in Namibia also led to the evolution of a Standard German-based pidgin language called " Namibian Black German ", which became a second language for parts of the indigenous population. Although it is nearly extinct today, some older Namibians still have some knowledge of it. German remained
1510-493: A new creation. In 1818, the cantons were merged into 12 administrative districts called Landkommissariat . In 1862, these were designated individually as Bezirksamt . In 1939, each one became a Landkreis (rural district). As his first provincial governor, King Maximilian selected the Privy Councillor ( Hofrat ) Franz Xaver von Zwack , whose name gave rise to the popular Palatine nickname for Bavarians, Zwockel . In 1832
1661-669: A number of Franconian territories on both sides of the Rhine formerly held by the Counts palatine ( Pfalzgrafen ) of Lotharingia . By the late 12th century, the Count palatine had achieved the status of a Prince-elector ( Kurfürst ), becoming one of the seven higher nobles with the privilege of electing the Emperor , as confirmed by the Golden Bull of 1356 . In 1214, the Bavarian House of Wittelsbach
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#17328585420211812-573: A parallel road had to be moved at Niedereisenbach. Material obtained in digging a new bed for the Glan River was used for the construction of an embankment for the railway to prevent flooding. The work was carried out by day labourers from Italy. Due to weather conditions in December 1902, work had to be suspended until spring, 1903. The superstructure between Eschenau and Lauterecken was largely completed on 21 January 1904. As early as 1903, coal trains ran to
1963-679: A popular foreign language among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010 and over 230,000 in 2020. Today Cameroon is one of the African countries outside Namibia with the highest number of people learning German. In the United States, German is the fifth most spoken language in terms of native and second language speakers after English, Spanish , French , and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined), with over 1 million total speakers. In
2114-465: A railway connecting the north-western Palatinate, starting in 1856. During the construction of the Rhine-Nahe Railway ( Rhein-Nahe-Bahn ), a proposal was developed to build a railway via Lauterecken, Altenglan and Kusel to St. Wendel and Neunkirchen . However, these efforts were not initially successful, since Prussia demanded to be in charge of the line within its own territory. In addition,
2265-475: A result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary. At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing. While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it
2416-637: A royal palace in Edenkoben , and by restoring Speyer Cathedral under the direct supervision of King Ludwig I. The new town of Ludwigshafen was named after the king. Despite these attempts, the Palatinate's representatives to the Bavarian Parliament always prided themselves on the claim that they came from a more progressive region. Indeed, they tried to promote their liberalism, which the French had introduced to
2567-700: A squad under the command of Edgar Julius Jung . On 9 January 1924, Heinz was assassinated while dining at the Wittelsbacher Hof in Speyer. Other leading members of the separatist movement were killed on 12 February, in a shooting in Pirmasens . By then, a treaty between Bavaria and the Inter-Allied Rhineland High Commission (the supreme council of the Allied occupation forces) of January 1924 recognised
2718-608: A strategic railway line along the entire Glan as Germany's relations with France had deteriorated in the meantime. This culminated in an agreement, concluded in November 1900, to build a strategic railway along the Glan, which would be the shortest connection from the Saar region to the Rhine. The main purpose of the route was kept secret, so the Palatine district offices received a circular which prohibited
2869-688: Is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe . It is the most spoken native language within the European Union . It is the most widely spoken and official (or co-official) language in Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , and the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and
3020-580: Is a recognized minority language in the following countries: In France, the High German varieties of Alsatian and Moselle Franconian are identified as " regional languages ", but the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1998 has not yet been ratified by the government. Namibia also was a colony of the German Empire, from 1884 to 1915. About 30,000 people still speak German as
3171-596: Is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects , with many varieties existing in Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments. Since 2004, heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met every year, and the Council for German Orthography has been the main international body regulating German orthography . German
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#17328585420213322-546: Is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic , East Germanic , and West Germanic . The first of these branches survives in modern Danish , Swedish , Norwegian , Faroese , and Icelandic , all of which are descended from Old Norse . The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and Gothic
3473-472: Is called the "German Sprachraum ". German is the official language of the following countries: German is a co-official language of the following countries: Although expulsions and (forced) assimilation after the two World wars greatly diminished them, minority communities of mostly bilingual German native speakers exist in areas both adjacent to and detached from the Sprachraum. Within Europe, German
3624-430: Is complicated by the existence of several varieties whose status as separate "languages" or "dialects" is disputed for political and linguistic reasons, including quantitatively strong varieties like certain forms of Alemannic and Low German . With the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties, it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a first language , 10–25 million speak it as
3775-469: Is divided into four non-administrative sub-regions, comprising the following rural districts and independent towns and cities: Like most of Southwestern Germany, the Palatinate’s climate is either humid subtropical in areas below 300 meters or oceanic on higher ground. The average annual temperatures vary from around 11-14 degrees Celsius in the valleys and 8-10 degrees in the highlands. Wet air from
3926-520: Is generally seen as ending when the 1346–53 Black Death decimated Europe's population. Modern High German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which Wilhelm Scherer dates 1350–1650, terminating with the end of the Thirty Years' War . This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in
4077-595: Is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (known as
4228-559: Is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark ), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are
4379-476: Is located in the district of Bad Kreuznach . The Glan Valley Railway almost continuously loses height as it runs to the north, only between Homburg and Jägersburg and between Odernheim and Staudernheim are there slight climbs to the north. Between Schönenberg-Kübelberg and Glan-Munchweiler the ruling gradient was 1:100, the remaining gradient ranged from 1:144 (between Jägersburg and Schönenberg-Kübelberg) and 1:1143 (between Bedesbach-Patersbach and Ulmet). Despite
4530-807: Is now dismantled, passed through the Kinnsfels tunnel to the Nahe valley near the Gangelsberg (mountain) and passes on the right bank of the Nahe parallel to the Nahe Valley Railway, which ran on the other side, and reaches Bad Münster by a bridge over the river. In terms of landscape, most of the line from Schönenberg-Kübelberg to Odernheim runs through the North Palatine Uplands , where it has been dismantled between Waldmohr and Glan-Münchweiler. The northern part of
4681-435: Is one of the major languages of the world . German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language , after English, both as a first and as a second language . German is also widely taught as a foreign language , especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French), and in the United States. Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language, and
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4832-587: Is one of the three biggest newspapers in Namibia and the only German-language daily in Africa. An estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in South Africa, mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the largest communities consists of the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of Low German concentrated in and around Wartburg . The South African constitution identifies German as
4983-401: Is partly derived from Latin and Greek , along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English . English, however, is the main source of more recent loanwords . German is a pluricentric language ; the three standardized variants are German , Austrian , and Swiss Standard German . Standard German is sometimes called High German , which refers to its regional origin. German
5134-639: Is shortened by the Elschbach tunnel. After Lauterecken, the river valley widens considerably, so there are fewer bridges. Shortly before Meisenheim, the Glan Valley Railway runs through Meisenheim tunnel. The line forks at Odernheim. A branch opened in 1897, which still exists, runs in a wide arc and ends near the Disibodenberg in Staudernheim . The southern branch, which was built for strategic reasons and
5285-510: Is the Sachsenspiegel , the first book of laws written in Middle Low German ( c. 1220 ). The abundance and especially the secular character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms. The Middle High German period
5436-668: Is the Glan-Münchweiler–Altenglan section of the original Landstuhl–Kusel line. This is operated by Regionalbahn services. Students of the Kaiserslautern University of Technology proposed the establishment of a draisine operation on the Altenglan–Staudernhein section of the line to prevent its final closure and the dismantling of its track. The supporters of this project included a councillor of Kusel district , Winfried Hirschberg. After an examination of
5587-566: Is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch , Yiddish , Afrikaans , and others. Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf - Benrath and Krefeld - Uerdingen , respectively) serve to distinguish
5738-481: Is understood in all areas where German is spoken. Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide: As a result of the German diaspora , as well as the popularity of German taught as a foreign language , the geographical distribution of German speakers (or "Germanophones") spans all inhabited continents. However, an exact, global number of native German speakers
5889-673: The Ostsiedlung ). With the increasing wealth and geographic spread of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes, leading to
6040-627: The Alamanni , Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group ( Irminones ), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration. In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through monasteries and scriptoria as local translations of Latin originals; as
6191-513: The Amish , Mennonites , and Fancy Dutch in the United States, is derived primarily from the Palatine German language which many Mennonite refugees brought to Pennsylvania in the years 1717 to 1732. The only existing Pennsylvania German newspaper, Hiwwe wie Driwwe , was founded 1996 in the village of Ober-Olm , which is located close to Mainz, the state capital (and is published bi-annually as
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6342-542: The Bezirksämter : Speyer, Ludwigshafen, Frankenthal, Neustadt an der Weinstraße, Kaiserslautern, Pirmasens, and Zweibrücken. They remain separate to this day. Between 1919 and 1923, during the occupation, there were French-backed attempts at separating the Palatinate from Bavaria and the Empire. On 1 June 1919, Eberhard Haaß, founder of the "Free Palatine Association" (1918), proclaimed the "Palatine Republic", but failed to occupy
6493-522: The Early Middle Ages . German is an inflected language , with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs . The majority of its vocabulary derives from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share
6644-417: The European Union 's population, spoke German as their mother tongue, making it the second most widely spoken language on the continent after Russian and the second biggest language in terms of overall speakers (after English), as well as the most spoken native language. The area in central Europe where the majority of the population speaks German as a first language and has German as a (co-)official language
6795-620: The Franco-Prussian War , the fear that France would start another war in order to regain Alsace-Lorraine developed in Germany. To prevent this, the primary interest in new railways in south-western Germany towards the end of the 19th century was in railways intended mainly for military purposes. In the Palatinate and Prussia planning started on the strategic railway , which would branch from
6946-514: The German states . While these states were still part of the Holy Roman Empire , and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking principalities and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible regional dialects being spoken throughout
7097-431: The H. J. Heinz Company in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , emigrated from Kallstadt , Palatinate, to the United States in 1840. Arguably the most famous dish in Palatinate is the saumagen , literally "sow's stomach", a dish that consists of a thick, crispy-fried casing (sow stomach) stuffed with a mixture of pork, potatoes, and seasonings. Other traditional meat dishes of the region include bratwurst, Palatinate liverwurst,
7248-554: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I , and the other being Meißner Deutsch , used in the Electorate of Saxony in the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg . Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages ( Druckersprachen ) aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardisation in
7399-403: The Nordfeld Consolidated Coal Mine on the Homburg–Jägersburg section, which had not yet been officially opened. The mine was connected by a branch line, the so-called Nordfeldbahn (northern light railway). However, the mine, along with the branch line was closed two years later due to its unprofitability. Finally, the Glan Valley Railway was opened over its entire length on 1 May 1904, including
7550-402: The North Palatine Uplands near Kirchheimbolanden . Most of the major Palatinate towns ( Ludwigshafen , Speyer , Landau , Frankenthal , Neustadt ) lie in the lower eastern part of the Upper Rhine Plain down to the River Rhine. Here the German Wine Route ( Deutsche Weinstraße ) passes through the Palatinate wine region . It is one of the greatest wine-producing regions in Germany, and in
7701-439: The Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle ), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c. 765–775 ), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their Latin equivalents. After the Abrogans , the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in
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#17328585420217852-426: The Palatinate Forest Nature Park popular with hikers. With about 1,771 km (684 sq mi), it is Germany's largest contiguous forested area, and is part of the Franco-German Palatinate Forest-North Vosges Biosphere Reserve . The western and northern part of the Palatinate is densely forested and mountainous. Its highest mountain is the Donnersberg with a height of 687 m (2,254 ft), situated in
8003-399: The Pfalz (Palatinate). The historic Electorate of the Palatinate had spanned both sides of the Rhine with Heidelberg and Mannheim as its capitals on the eastern side, whereas the new "Palatinate" established in 1815–16 lay solely on the left bank of the Rhine. It included territories that had never been part of the historical Palatinate (e.g., territories of the former Bishopric of Speyer,
8154-431: The Rheinkreis became the focal point of liberal movements. The Hambach Festival , a large gathering near Neustadt an der Weinstraße , proved fertile ground for what came to be considered a milestone in German history. In 1835, King Ludwig I of Bavaria 's romantic outlook gave rise to the adoption of new, historically evocative names for the administrative districts of Bavaria. As such, the Rheinkreis officially became
8305-438: The Rhine and the Saarland , so it was used by many American military trains in 1945. Homburg and Jägersburg were included in the modern Saarland , which was separated again after the Second World War from the rest of Germany, so the stations of Jägersburg and Schönenberg-Kübelberg became customs stations again. The Homburg–Jägersburg section became part of the Saarland Railways ( Saarländischen Eisenbahnen , SEB), and from 1951
8456-414: The Rhineland region. The eastern border with Hesse and the Baden region runs along the Upper Rhine river, while the left bank, with Mainz and Worms as well as the Selz basin around Alzey , belong to the Rhenish Hesse region. In the south, the German- French border separates the Palatinate from Alsace . One-third of the region is covered by the Palatinate Forest ( Pfälzerwald ), including
8607-400: The Royal Bavarian State Railways , along with the other railway lines in the Palatinate. During the First World War, the line served largely strategic purposes as planned. Already from 9 to 16 August 1914, the Glan Valley Railway was used by several military trains daily from the Poznań (then German Posen) region to the west. The timetable was changed eight times that year. At the same time,
8758-404: The Siegfried Line ( Westwall ) and the transport of troops gave the railway line an important role during the whole course of the war. Between 24 and 27 September 1938, a military exercise was held in the Palatinate. Troop trains from Frankfurt were despatched to the stations of Altenglan, Bedesbach-Patersbach, Glan-Münchweiler, Lauterecken-Grumbach and Schönenberg-Kübelberg. With the outbreak of
8909-427: The Sprachraum in Europe. German is used in a wide variety of spheres throughout the country, especially in business, tourism, and public signage, as well as in education, churches (most notably the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK) ), other cultural spheres such as music, and media (such as German language radio programs by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation ). The Allgemeine Zeitung
9060-422: The Standard German language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition. Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardized in the process. The Deutsche Bühnensprache ( lit. ' German stage language ' ) by Theodor Siebs had established conventions for German pronunciation in theatres , three years earlier; however, this
9211-400: The Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries , such as Swiss German ( Alemannic dialects ) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est , such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian). After these High German dialects, standard German
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#17328585420219362-410: The Versailles Treaty , the 1922 Conference of Ambassadors of the Allies demanded the dismantling of the Odernheim–Staudernheim line and the dismantling of one track on the remaining Glan Valley Railway. This provoked local resistance. Seven years later the German government agreed that only the Odernheim–Bad Münster section would be reduced to a single track and the Glan Valley Railway would still retain
9513-408: The pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied , a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from
9664-614: The Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Prague (German: Prag ) and Budapest ( Buda , German: Ofen ), to name two examples, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain; others, like Pressburg ( Pozsony , now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and cities like Zagreb (German: Agram ) or Ljubljana (German: Laibach ), contained significant German minorities. In
9815-414: The Frisian languages— North Frisian (spoken in Nordfriesland ), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Saterland ), and West Frisian (spoken in Friesland )—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both Old Norse and the Norman language . The history of
9966-404: The German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate ( Rheinland-Pfalz ), covering an area of 2,105 square miles (5,450 km ) with about 1.4 million inhabitants. Its residents are known as Palatines ( Pfälzer ). The Palatinate borders Saarland in the west, historically also comprising the state's Saarpfalz District. In the northwest, the Hunsrück mountain range forms the border with
10117-417: The German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period , which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon . This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants ( b , d , g , and p , t , k , respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below. While there is written evidence of
10268-399: The German states; the invention of the printing press c. 1440 and the publication of Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language. The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of chancery German, one being gemeine tiutsch , used in the court of
10419-623: The Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German and Low Franconian dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as Irminonic , Ingvaeonic , and Istvaeonic , respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by
10570-408: The Glan Valley Railway had belonged, was dissolved. From Homburg to Altenglan, the line was controlled by the Reichsbahndirektion Saarbrücken and further north it was controlled by the Reichsbahndirektion Mainz . At the same time, the track master's office ( Bahnmeisterei ) in Altenglan was dissolved. In 1938, the second track was restored in preparation for the Second World War. The construction of
10721-406: The Glan Valley Railway ran from Odernheim on the right bank of the Nahe river almost parallel with the Nahe Valley Railway on the other side of the river. The Nahe Valley Railway had a significantly higher volume of traffic and the section of the Glan Valley Railway between Odernheim and Bad Münster was only important as a military railway. On 1 January 1909, the Glan Valley Railway was absorbed into
10872-463: The Glan Valley Railway. As a result, the chainage of Bad Münster am Stein station was set at 109.7 km. The Odernheim–Staudernheim section originally had a separate chainage, but was it later given a chainage that continued on from the chainage between Scheidt and Odernheim. The chainage of the endpoint of the line at Staudernheim was set at km 96.9. Since the Scheidt–Homburg section was part of
11023-591: The Homburg–Jägersburg section was officially listed as only a secondary line from 2 May 1955. The economic reintegration of the Saarland in Germany meant that customs controls in Schönenberg-Kübelberg were abolished in 1959, but starting in the 1950s, there continued to be further reductions in the capacity of the route. So Jägersburg station was closed for passenger by the Saarland administration in 1956 and
11174-646: The Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser–Rhine group). Standard German is based on a combination of Thuringian - Upper Saxon and Upper Franconian dialects, which are Central German and Upper German dialects belonging to the High German dialect group. German is therefore closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects ) and Yiddish . Also closely related to Standard German are
11325-845: The Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia , as well as a recognized national language in Namibia . There are also notable German-speaking communities in France ( Alsace ), the Czech Republic ( North Bohemia ), Poland ( Upper Silesia ), Slovakia ( Košice Region , Spiš , and Hauerland ), Denmark ( North Schleswig ), Romania and Hungary ( Sopron ). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in Brazil ( Blumenau and Pomerode ), South Africa ( Kroondal ), Namibia , among others, some communities have decidedly Austrian German or Swiss German characters (e.g. Pozuzo , Peru). German
11476-577: The Lauter and the lower Glan valley and met the Rhine-Nahe Railway in Staudernheim; this line was completed in the same year. Prussia opposed the proposal because it feared that the Nahe line would lose its importance. However, the project received support from Hesse-Homburg , as it would connect its exclave of Meisenheim to the rail network. The Hessian Privy Councillor Christian Bansa also supported
11627-549: The Left Bank of the Rhine the former French départements of the Sarre and Mont-Tonnerre, except where set forth in the same treaty, were to fall "with full sovereignty" and ownership rights within the overlordship of His Majesty the Emperor of Austria ( Herrschaft Sr. Maj. des Kaisers von Oesterreich ). Initially, however, joint Austro-Bavarian administration was retained. On 14 April 1816,
11778-507: The MHG period. Significantly, these texts include a number of impressive secular works, such as the Nibelungenlied , an epic poem telling the story of the dragon -slayer Siegfried ( c. thirteenth century ), and the Iwein , an Arthurian verse poem by Hartmann von Aue ( c. 1203 ), lyric poems , and courtly romances such as Parzival and Tristan . Also noteworthy
11929-566: The Palatinate, to the whole Bavarian kingdom. German historian Heiner Haan described the special status accorded the Palatinate within Bavaria as being one of a Hauptstaat (main state, i.e. Bavaria) with a Nebenstaat (adjacent state, i.e. the Palatinate). In May/June 1849, after the failed revolution of 1848 , and as part of the Imperial Constitution campaign , separatist elements wanted
12080-606: The Palatinate, was occupied by French revolutionary troops . As a result of the Treaty of Campo Formio (1797), the First French Republic annexed the region. In 1798, the French introduced a new administrative system with the establishment of departments. The area of the Palatinate largely became the Département of Mont Tonnerre , laying the cornerstone of its regional identity today. Minor parts of today's region were attached to
12231-517: The Palatinate. The local population boycotted the railway during the occupation. Therefore, reinforced German Post Office bus routes and private trucks were used as an alternative to the French-controlled railways. In addition, the German Ministry of Transport refused to cooperate with the occupiers in the operation of the railway, so the French took rail operations into their own hands. Since
12382-632: The Palatine Ludwig Railway in Homburg and follow the Glan river, sharing the Kusel-Landstuhl railway between Glan-Münchweiler and Altenglan. On 7 September 1871, a committee met in Meisenheim to consider the plans developed by engineers for such a line. The committee issued a memorandum on 27 January 1871 that highlighted the economic and the military importance of a railway along the Glan. However,
12533-584: The Railways of the Saarland ( Eisenbahnen des Saarlandes , EdS), while the remaining part of the line was taken over by the Operations Association of the Southwest German Railways ( Betriebsvereinigung der Südwestdeutschen Eisenbahnen , SWDE) until 1949, when Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) was founded. Already in 1945, the second track between Homburg and Jägersburg had been disconnected because it
12684-541: The Rhine, and the southern part of the Prussian Rhine Province , to form the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate . The Palatinate formed the administrative district ( Regierungsbezirk ) of the Pfalz. This reorganisation came with smaller losses of former district territory to the Saarland, especially in the area of Sankt Wendel . As part of the 1969 administrative reform, some minor border changes were made in
12835-515: The Second World War, rail services were restricted again. Due to its strategic importance, the line was often the target of Allied air raids that destroyed, among other things, the engine shed in Lauterecken and Offenbach station. In the last months of the war, a connecting curve was constructed between Rammelsbach and Bedesbach in the current location of Altenglan to the north of the station. This
12986-476: The Waldmohr–Glan-Münchweiler section has been dismantled. Although the possibility of a railway along the Glan to connect the Saar region and the region around Bingen would have been obvious from a geographical perspective, the fact that in the 19th century it would have run across the territory of several countries prevented the realisation of the project for some time. The first efforts were aimed at
13137-527: The area belonged to the eastern part of Frankish Austrasia , which—as Rhenish Franconia —became part of East Francia according to the 843 Treaty of Verdun . From the Middle Ages until 1792, the Palatinate was divided into 45 secular and ecclesiastical territories , some of which were very small. The largest and most important of these was the Electorate of the Palatinate ( Kurfürstentum Pfalz ), encompassing
13288-548: The border between Bavaria and Prussia in the middle and lower Glan valley, especially from Altenglan to Staudernheim, was very irregular, making construction difficult. In 1860, a committee was formed called Notabeln des Glan- und Lautertales (notables of the Glan and Lauter valleys). It campaigned for a line that branched in Kaiserslautern from the Palatine Ludwig Railway ( Pfälzischen Ludwigsbahn ), then ran via
13439-446: The chainages of those lines, so that their zero chainage points were at Landstuhl or Kaiserslautern respectively. After the opening of the strategic line in 1904, a continuous chainage was introduced starting in the west from Scheidt and running over the line to Rohrbach , which was completed in 1879 and 1895, and continuing to Homburg over the line via Kirkel and Limbach, which was opened on 1 January 1904 and then transferred to
13590-409: The course of the Glan from Glan Munchweiler to Altenglan, gave new life to the proposal to build a line through the rest of the Glan valley. A company was founded in 1865 in Meisenheim to carry out the planning of this line. However, several wars in the following years at first prevented the completion of the project. As Alsace and Lorraine were incorporated in the German Empire in 1871 as a result of
13741-478: The development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area. With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy. Nevertheless, even with
13892-452: The dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Luther said the following concerning his translation method: One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in
14043-515: The district to secede from Bavaria and establish its own " Palatine Republic ". A separatist uprising was suppressed by Prussian military intervention. The Palatinate's union with Bavaria persisted after it became part of the German Empire in 1871, and, indeed, after the Wittelsbach dynasty was deposed, and Bavaria became a free state of the Weimar Republic in 1918. In 1910, the town of Landau
14194-640: The draisine lines in Templin in Brandenburg —at that time the only one in Germany—and near Magnières in Lorraine , detailed planning began, which was implemented in 2000. In its first year of operation, the project had 7,300 users. This was significantly higher than expected. The Waldmohr–Glan-Münchweiler and Odernheim am Glan–Bad Münster sections are now dismantled. On the Waldmohr–Glan-Münchweiler section and on much of
14345-507: The eastern provinces of Banat , Bukovina , and Transylvania (German: Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen ), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like Temeschburg ( Timișoara ), Hermannstadt ( Sibiu ), and Kronstadt ( Brașov )—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas. In 1901, the Second Orthographic Conference ended with a (nearly) complete standardization of
14496-470: The existing Landstuhl–Kusel line between Glan-Munchweiler and Altenglan and the line opened in 1896 between Lauterecken and Odernheim. Both existing lines would be duplicated. The strategic railway was planned to run on the right bank of the Nahe from Odernheim to Bad Münster. It would be necessary to make fundamental changes to the Bad Münster am Stein station. Construction of the strategic line started in
14647-607: The former French administrative structure, the subdivision of the district into arrondissements, cantons, mayoralties, and municipalities was, in large measure, retained. The Bavarian government also preserved the French legal system (Code Napoléon), giving the Palatinate a distinct legal status within the Bavarian kingdom. At the next lower level, the three former French arrondissements were continued as Kreisdirektion ("Circle", i.e. district, "direction") of Frankenthal, Kaiserslautern, and Zweibrücken. Kreisdirektion Landau was, however,
14798-622: The government building in Speyer. On 23 November 1923, Franz Josef Heinz proclaimed the "Government of the Autonomous Palatinate in the Association of the Rhenish Republic " at Speyer, after gaining control of the towns of Kaiserslautern, Neustadt, and Landau, and after the capitulation of the Palatine government. In the following days, several more towns fell into his group's hands. The Bavarian government reacted sharply. It organised
14949-435: The home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says ' ex abundantia cordis os loquitur ,' I would translate, if I followed the papists, aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund . But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No,
15100-694: The imperial city of Speyer or Kirchheimbolanden , which had formerly belonged to the Weilburg branch of Nassau ). To avoid confusion of the new Palatinate and the former one (and with the Upper Palatinate ), the name Rhenish Palatinate ( Rheinpfalz ) became common and is still used today, but was never made its official name. Another term, that of Rhenish Bavaria ( Rheinbayern ), though used occasionally, never gained great currency, but can, nonetheless, be found sometimes on older maps. The Bavarian Royal Family tried to encourage Palatine unity with Bavaria by erecting
15251-474: The influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century. German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire , which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe . Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of
15402-475: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . Palatinate (region) The Palatinate ( German : Pfalz ; Palatine German : Palz ), or the Rhenish Palatinate ( Rheinpfalz ), is a historical region of Germany . The Palatinate occupies most of the southern quarter of
15553-566: The last two decades has become well known for its prize-winning white and reds of highest quality produced by a number of talented young winemakers. Major rivers include the Upper Rhine tributaries Lauter , Queich and Speyerbach , as well as Schwarzbach and Glan in the west. Historically the Electoral Palatinate and several other territories were part of the Palatinate, but today belong to other German territories. The Palatinate
15704-513: The line between Odernheim and Bad Münster then runs through the Naheland . From Homburg to Jägersburg the railway runs through the, Saar-Palatinate district of the Saarland. With the exception of Elschbach which is part of the district of Kaiserslautern , the line to Odenbach then runs through the Kusel district . The northern part between Meisenheim and Staudernheim or Bad Münster am Stein respectively
15855-490: The military officers involved did not fully understand the German operating instructions and the safe-working systems, railway operation during this time were hazardous. After the reunification of the Saar with Germany in 1935 following a referendum, the customs controls between Jägersburg and Schönenberg-Kübelberg were removed. Two years later, the Reichsbahndirektion ( railway administration ) of Ludwigshafen, to which
16006-402: The mother in the home and the plain man would say, Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über . Luther's translation of the Bible into High German was also decisive for the German language and its evolution from Early New High German to modern Standard German. The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in early modern Germany , and promoted
16157-626: The neighbouring departments of the Sarre and Bas-Rhin . The French further subdivided the department into cantons, mayoralties and municipalities, and introduced their legal system ( Napoleonic Code ) and the metric system . Following the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813 and the capture of the Left Bank of the Rhine by the Allies in January 1814, the region was, from 2 February 1814, initially under
16308-431: The newly built Homburg–Glan-Münchweiler, Altenglan–Lauterecken and Odernheim–Bad Münster am Stein sections. There were 26 intermediate stations along the new line. The new line provided a continuous connection from Homburg via Glan-Münchweiler, Altenglan, Lauterecken-Grumbach and Odernheim to Bad Münster am Stein. The line was originally double track to meet its military requirements as a strategic railway. Altenglan station
16459-545: The newly created Saar , which was controlled by the United Kingdom and France for a period of 15 years as a League of Nations mandate. This meant that Waldmohr station had customs and border controls. With the founding of Deutsche Reichsbahn in the same year, it took over the Glan Valley Railway to Schönenberg-Kübelberg and the Saar Railway ( Saareisenbahn ) was responsible for the remaining section to Homburg. Under
16610-630: The ninth century, chief among them being the Muspilli , Merseburg charms , and Hildebrandslied , and other religious texts (the Georgslied , Ludwigslied , Evangelienbuch , and translated hymns and prayers). The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment , and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from
16761-675: The north of a halt that had opened in 1896 on the Lauter Valley Railway and was closed at the same time as the opening of the new junction station. The connection of the line to Bad Munster am Stein happened against the background that the Palatinate Railway ( Pfalzbahn ), which had absorbed the Palatine Northern Railway Company in 1870, wanted to compete with the Prussian Nahe Valley Railway. So
16912-707: The north. The Diocese of Speyer and the Evangelical Church of the Palatinate still exist today largely based on the historic boundaries of the old Bavarian district. The Pfalz was initially one of five districts in Rhineland-Palatinate; however, in 1968, the district was merged with the neighbouring district of Rheinhessen to form the district of Rheinhessen-Pfalz . On 1 January 2000, all administrative districts of Rheinland-Pfalz were dissolved. Many Pennsylvania Dutchmen are descendants of Palatine immigrants. The Pennsylvania Dutch language , spoken by
17063-476: The northern section to Staudernheim in 1986. The transport of freight between Waldmohr and Schönenberg-Kübelberg ended on 1 July 1989. In the same year, the section between Glan-Münchweiler and Altenglan was reduced to one track. The section from Bad Münster to the Niedernhausen power station was used for both freight operations and occasional special passenger trips until late 1990 when it was closed. Since 1993,
17214-425: The opposition of Bavaria prevented the project for the time being; this attitude was due to the high construction costs expected. Because of the border, which would also hinder the construction, there were at the time plans for a branch line from Altenglan to St Julian , which would run exclusively through Bavarian Palatinate. In 1891, Bavaria and Prussia signed a treaty that included the construction and operation of
17365-456: The prevailing Bavarian administrative structure, the region became one of eight Bavarian districts ( Kreise ). From 1808, Bavaria embarked on the administrative reorganisation of its territory, creating districts which, as in France, were named after the main local rivers. Thus, the new district along the Rhine was given the name Rheinkreis (i.e. the Rhine district), with Speyer as its capital. Of
17516-528: The prevailing westerly and southwesterly winds leads to precipitation in the Mittelgebirge ranges, while it warms up on its way further down to the Rhine Valley; giving the valleys a considerably drier climate than the surrounding Palatine Forest . During the Holy Roman Empire prior to World War II , it was also referred to as Rhenish Bavaria and Lower Palatinate ( Unterpfalz ), which designated only
17667-462: The pronunciation of the ending -ig as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]. In Northern Germany, High German was a foreign language to most inhabitants, whose native dialects were subsets of Low German. It was usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in fact, most of High German was a written language, not identical to any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until well into the 19th century. However, wider standardization of pronunciation
17818-589: The proposed rail link in 1861 in discussions with the Prussian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, arguing that there was a greater need for it than for the planned line along the Alsenz . However, Prussia was only willing to support the Palatine Northern Railway Company ( Gesellschaft der Pfälzischen Nordbahnen ), which was established in 1866 and completed the Alsenz Valley Railway in 1871. Its northern end point
17969-561: The provision for civilian traffic during the four years of war was limited. On 1 November 1917, the stations in Eschenau, Wiesweiler and Raumbach had to be temporarily abandoned due to lack of staff, but they had already been reactivated in October 1918. In the postwar period, the line was affected by damage as a result of the war, especially in the form of long travel times. In 1920, the Glan Valley Railway between Homburg and Jägersburg became part of
18120-709: The provisional authority of the General Government of the Middle Rhine . However, from 16 June of the same year, it was placed under the administration of the Imperial-Royal ("k.k.") Austrian and Royal Bavarian Joint Land Administration Commission ( k. k. östreichischen und k. bairischen gemeinschaftliche Landes-Administrations-Kommission ). In the main treaty agreed at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, and dated 9 June 1815, Article 51 stated ( inter alia ) that on
18271-509: The reorganisation of German states during the Allied occupation of Germany after World War II . While Bavaria itself was part of the U.S. occupation zone, the Palatinate was occupied by French forces. The French reorganised their occupation zone by founding new states, so that in 1947 the Palatinate was combined with Rhenish Hesse ( Rheinhessen ), the former parts of the People's State of Hesse west of
18422-410: The route from Bad Münster to the former Duchroth station has been used as a cycle path. Freight traffic finally ended between Lauterecken and Meisenheim on 1 March 1993. Two years later freight traffic ended between Homburg and Waldmohr. The Lauterecken-Grumbach–Staudernheim section was officially closed in 1996. The only part of the former Homburg–Bad Münster strategic railway that is still in operation
18573-596: The route of the dismantled second track between Odernheim and Glan-Münchweiler, the Glan-Blies Way cycling and hiking trail was built from 2001 to 2006. A new tunnel was built between Schönenberg-Kübelberg and Elschbach to take the trail under state road 356. The southern section from Homburg to Glan-Münchweiler branches off the Mannheim–Saarbrücken line and initially runs through the Bruch country. The line crosses
18724-589: The safe-working systems still predominantly dated from the early days of the line. In 1977, weekend services ended on the Homburg–Glan-Münchweiler and the Altenglan–Staudernheim sections. On 30 May 1981, the last passenger train ran on the Homburg–Glan-Münchweiler section. Freight traffic had previously ended between Schönenberg-Kübelberg and Glan-Münchweiler. Traffic was discontinued between Altenglan and Lauterecken-Grumbach four years later and on
18875-431: The second track between Jägersburg and Schönenberg-Kübelberg was dismantled in 1960 because it was no longer used. The decline of the line in the 1960s resulted in the gradual closure of the Glan Valley Railway. It began in October 1961 with the closure of the Odernheim–Bad Münster am Stein section, with operations continuing only between Bad Münster and the connection to the Niedernhausen power station. Operations ended on
19026-484: The section between Odernheim and the turnoff to the power station, but the tracks were maintained in their original condition until the 1980s. In addition, the second track was also gradually removed from the remaining parts of the line from the 1960s. In the following period the failure of DB to carry out additional rationalisation called into question the economics of the Glan Valley Railway because signalling and level crossing barriers still had to be operated manually and
19177-481: The shortest connection between Saarbrücken and Homburg, it became part of the Mannheim–Saarbrücken line and later a new chainage was established for the Glan Valley Railway as far as Altenglan with the zero point at Homburg. North of Altenglan station the old chainage from Scheidt was maintained, so that there is a jump from 33.1 km to 56.9 km at Altenglan. German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] )
19328-425: The sparse population of the region, the line had a high density of stations. This was the main reason for the low passenger volumes at each station, which ultimately led to the closure of sections. Since the Glan-Münchweiler–Altenglan section originated as part of the Landstuhl–Kusel line and the Lauterecken–Staudernheim section was originally a continuation of the Lauter Valley Railway, the two sections originally had
19479-492: The states of North Dakota and South Dakota , German is the most common language spoken at home after English. As a legacy of significant German immigration to the country , German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region , such as New Ulm and Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), plus many other regions. A number of German varieties have developed in the country and are still spoken today, such as Pennsylvania Dutch and Texas German . In Brazil,
19630-415: The status of a main line. It was also determined that the work would be completed within nine months from 1 September 1929 and accordingly work started on 12 November 1929, but this had no impact on the railway. In 1923 and 1924, so-called Regiebetrieb ("directed operation" of the railways by the Allied military during the Occupation of the Ruhr ) was imposed under the control of France, which had occupied
19781-406: The status quo and guaranteed that the Palatinate would remain a part of Bavaria, thereby putting an end to separatist attempts. Under Nazi rule, from 1933 to 1945, the Palatinate officially remained part of Bavaria, but was otherwise totally reorganised—it was merged with the Saarland into the Gau Westmark , with headquarters in Saarbrücken . The union with Bavaria was finally dissolved following
19932-435: The summer in 1902. From 14 August 1902 materials for the construction of the railway were brought to Ulmet on a narrow gauge railway and by horse-drawn carts from Altenglan. Italian and Croatian construction workers prepared the subgrade from Altenglan to St. Julian. On 27 October of the same year, the Mannheim-based company Grün & Bilfinger started the construction of the section from St. Julian to Lauterecken. The Glan and
20083-449: The third most commonly learned second language in the United States in K-12 education. The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used language in science and the third most widely used language on websites . The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in
20234-476: The use of terms such as "strategic line" or "military railway" in public. Nevertheless, an article entitled "Die Strategische Bahn in der Pfalz” (The Strategic Railway in the Palatinate) still appeared two years later in the Pfälzische Presse newspaper. The plan was for a route with high embankments, which were deemed necessary because of the frequent flooding along the Glan. The strategic line had its starting point in Scheidt , and would continue via Homburg and use
20385-416: The vast Jägersburger Wald (Jägersburg forest) and touches Waldmohr and Schönenberg-Kübelberg , which is located on the northern edge of the Peterswald (forest). A few kilometres later the line reaches the Glan valley, which the line now follows to Odernheim . Between Homburg and Glan-Munchweiler the line crosses the Glan river four times because of the large meanders in its upper reaches and one of its loops
20536-475: The western part of the Electorate of the Palatinate ( Kurfürstentum Pfalz ), as opposed to the Upper Palatinate ( Oberpfalz ). Formerly a Celtic region, this area was conquered by the Roman Empire under Emperor Augustus in about 12 BCE; thereafter, it was part of the province of Germania Superior . During the decline of the Empire, Alamannic tribes settled here; their territory was conquered by Francia under King Clovis I about 496. From 511 onwards,
20687-438: The world being published in German. German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely Afrikaans , Dutch , English , the Frisian languages , and Scots . It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group , such as Danish , Norwegian , and Swedish . Modern German gradually developed from Old High German , which in turn developed from Proto-Germanic during
20838-415: The written form of German. One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of Luther's translation of the Bible into High German (the New Testament was published in 1522; the Old Testament was published in parts and completed in 1534). Luther based his translation primarily on the Meißner Deutsch of Saxony , spending much time among the population of Saxony researching
20989-458: Was enfeoffed with these estates, which they ruled until 1918, together with the collateral branch of Palatine Zweibrücken from 1410. Needing stronger protection, they lost control with the reunification with Bavaria under Elector Charles Theodore in 1777. The major ecclesiastical territory in the region was the Bishopric of Speyer . The Imperial city of Landau joined the Alsatian Décapole in 1521 to preserve its status. Nevertheless, it
21140-429: Was a "neutral" language as there were virtually no English native speakers in Namibia at that time. German, Afrikaans, and several indigenous languages thus became "national languages" by law, identifying them as elements of the cultural heritage of the nation and ensuring that the state acknowledged and supported their presence in the country. Today, Namibia is considered to be the only German-speaking country outside of
21291-407: Was an artificial standard that did not correspond to any traditional spoken dialect. Rather, it was based on the pronunciation of German in Northern Germany, although it was subsequently regarded often as a general prescriptive norm, despite differing pronunciation traditions especially in the Upper-German-speaking regions that still characterise the dialect of the area today – especially
21442-477: Was declared independent of the Bezirksamt . After World War I , French troops occupied the Palatinate under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles . In 1920, the western Bezirksämter of Sankt Ingbert and Homburg ( Saarpfalz ) were separated from the Bavarian Palatinate, and became part of the newly established Saarland , which, according to the peace treaty, was governed by the League of Nations . That same year, seven more towns were declared independent of
21593-437: Was established as a possible detour in conjunction with the Türkismühle–Kusel railway opened in 1936 as an extension of the Landstuhl–Kusel railway in case the Nahe Valley Railway between Ottweiler and Bad Münster became blocked. In fact, however, it was only used once and dismantled immediately after the end of the war. Despite these attacks, the Glan Valley Railway in 1945 had suffered less damage than any other line between
21744-427: Was established on the basis of public speaking in theatres and the media during the 20th century and documented in pronouncing dictionaries. Official revisions of some of the rules from 1901 were not issued until the controversial German orthography reform of 1996 was made the official standard by governments of all German-speaking countries. Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German which
21895-417: Was in the then Prussian town of Bad Münster. In contrast, neither Bavaria (which then owned some of the territory involved) nor Prussia were interested in guaranteeing the interest on loans for the proposed railway, which in 1873 was estimated to cost a total of about 3.6 million guilders . The granting of the concession in the 1860s to build the Kusel-Landstuhl railway, which was opened in 1868 and follows
22046-403: Was no longer required for operational reasons and the rails could be used to repair other lines. The timetable for those sections that had been built as a strategic railway were continually thinned after the Second World War. Most notably, the Homburg–Glan-Münchweiler section was operated by a few pairs of trains that only served workers employed in the Saarland. The Glan Valley Railway at this time
22197-417: Was open on 16 June 1896 and the Lauterecken-Odernheim section was opened in October 1896. Construction work on closing the gap to Staudernheim began on 2 November, but on the same day a flood scoured the embankment at Odenbach and interrupted traffic. The remaining line to Staudernheim on the Nahe Valley Railway was finally taken into operation on 1 July 1897. At the same time Bavaria reversed its opposition to
22348-441: Was rather low, except on the Glan Munchweiler–Altenglan section. The line runs right next to the river for 60 km of its 85 km length from Homburg to Bad Münster. The line is closed, except for the ten km section from Glan-Münchweiler to Altenglan that forms part of the Landstuhl–Kusel line. It is used for tourism and draisine rides have been offered on the section between Altenglan and Staudernheim since 2000. In contrast,
22499-403: Was rebuilt during the building of the line at the rail junction with diverging platforms and a new entrance building was built. The old Lauterecken station was unsuitable for the junction with the Lauter Valley Railway due to its location on the southern outskirts and it was demoted to a halt and a new Lauterecken-Grumbach station was opened in 1904 as a junction station. It was built immediately to
22650-418: Was seized by France after the Thirty Years' War . Other larger regional entities included the Duchy of Zweibrücken and the Prince-Bishopric of Speyer . The Prince-Bishopric held possessions on both sides of the Rhine. For centuries, the Electoral Palatinate and Bavaria maintained dynastic links because both were ruled by members of the Wittelsbach family. In 1794, the Left Bank of the Rhine , including
22801-423: Was the least used two-track line in southwestern Germany. The renewed separation of the Saar also led to traffic continuously declining on the Homburg–Glan-Münchweiler section of the line. The reason for this was that most of this line was in the newly created Rhineland-Palatinate and most traffic to the new state was concentrated towards Kaiserslautern. These structural changes had the effect, among other things, that
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