View source for Curonian language

{{Short description|Extinct Baltic language of Courland}}
{{About|Curonian language|the language spoken at the Curonian Spit|Kursenieki language}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Old Curonian
| nativename       = 
| states           = [[Latvia]], [[Lithuania]], [[Germany]] (historically)
| region           = 
| extinct          = 16th century
| ref              = <ref name=EEO/>
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Balto-Slavic languages|Balto-Slavic]]
| fam3             = [[Baltic languages|Baltic]]
| fam4             = [[East Baltic languages|East Baltic]] or [[West Baltic languages|West Baltic]] ?
| iso3             = xcu
| linglist         = xcu
| glotto           = curo1234
}}
[[Image:Baltic Tribes c 1200.svg|thumb|Distribution of the Baltic tribes, circa 1200 [[Common Era|CE]] (boundaries are approximate)]]

The '''Curonian language''' ({{langx|de|Kurisch}}; {{langx|lv|kuršu valoda}}; {{langx|lt|kuršių kalba}}), or '''Old Curonian''', was a [[Baltic language]] spoken by the [[Curonians]], a [[Baltic tribe]] who inhabited [[Courland]] (now western [[Latvia]]<ref name="Dini">{{cite book|first=Pietro U.|last=Dini|title=Foundations of Baltic languages|translator-first1=Milda B.|translator-last1=Richardson|translator-first2=Robert E.|translator-last2=Richardson|publisher=Vilniaus universitetas|place=Vilnius|date=2014|isbn=978-609-437-263-6}}</ref>{{rp|pages=291-293}}<ref name="EEO">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Kurisch |encyclopedia=Wieser-Enzyklopädie des Europäischen Ostens |publisher=Wieser |location=Klagenfurt/Vienna, Austria |url=http://eeo.uni-klu.ac.at/index.php?title=Kurisch |access-date=2012-05-12 |last=Haarmann |first=Harald |date=2002 |author-link=Harald Haarmann |editor-last=Miloš Okuka |volume=10 |pages=957 |language=de |trans-title=Curonian |isbn=3-85129-510-2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019173036/http://eeo.uni-klu.ac.at/index.php?title=Kurisch |archive-date=2013-10-19 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and northwestern [[Lithuania]]<ref>[https://www.vle.lt/straipsnis/kursiai/ "Kuršiai"] [Curonians] (in Lithuanian). [[Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija|''Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia'']]. Retrieved on 8 November 2023.</ref>).

==Classification==
Curonian was an Indo-European language of the Baltic branch, as proven by [[Jānis Endzelīns]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=kuršių kalba |encyclopedia=[[Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia]] |publisher=Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos centras |url=https://www.vle.lt/Straipsnis/kursiu-kalba-24309 |access-date=6 July 2019 |language=lt |trans-title=Curonian language}}</ref>

Curonian's relation to other Baltic languages is unclear:<ref name="EEO"/>
*Some scholars consider it to have been an [[East Baltic languages|East Baltic language]], intermediate between [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]] and [[Latvian language|Latvian]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=The Circum-Baltic Languages: Typology and Contact |date=2001 |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing |editor-last=Dahl |editor-first=Östen |volume=1: Past and Present |language=en |editor-last2=Koptjevskaja-Tamm |editor-first2=Maria|place=Amsterdam, Philadelphia|isbn=9789027230577}}</ref>
* Others, like [[Vytautas Mažiulis]], classify it as a [[West Baltic languages|West Baltic language]] that became closer to the Eastern branch due to extensive contact.<ref>{{cite book|first=Pietro U.|last=Dini|title=Foundations of the Baltic languages|translator-first1=Milda B.|translator-last1=Richardson|translator-first2=Robert E.|translator-last2=Richardson|publisher=Vilniaus universitetas|place=Vilnius|date=2014|isbn=978-609-437-263-6}}</ref>{{rp|page=295}}<ref>{{cite book|first=Vytautas|last=Mažiulis|title=Iš lietuvių etnogenezės|chapter=Apie senovės vakarų baltus bei jų santykius su slavais, ilirais ir germanais|publisher=Mokslas|language=lt|year=1981|place=Vilnius}}</ref>
* Linguist Eduard Vääri argues that it is possible that Curonians were [[Baltic Finns]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Vääri |first=Eduard |date=n.d. |title=Eestlaste tutvumine hõ imurahvastega ja nende keeltega kuni 1918 |url=http://www.suri.ee/hs/vaari.html |access-date=2021-11-04 |website=suri.ee |language=et}}</ref>

== History ==
Old Curonian disappeared in the course of the 16th century.<ref name=EEO/>

After the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]], the Baltic states saw a revival of scientific and cultural interest in extinct Baltic languages and tribes, including [[Yotvingians|Yotvingian]], Curonian, and [[Old Prussian language|Old Prussian]].{{citation needed|date=June 2019}}

==Lexicon==
Samogitian words such as {{lang|sgs|kuisis}} (mosquito), {{lang|sgs|pylė}} (duck), {{lang|sgs|blezdinga}} (swallow), {{lang|sgs|cyrulis}} (skylark), {{lang|sgs|zuikis}} (hare), {{lang|sgs|kūlis}} (stone), {{lang|sgs|purvs}} (marsh), and {{lang|sgs|pūrai}} (winter wheat) are considered to be of Curonian origin.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nikitenka |first=Denisas |title=Pilsoto žemės pilys |trans-title=The earth castles of Pilsāts|date=2018 |publisher=Mažosios Lietuvos istorijos muziejus |isbn=9789986315056 |language=lt}}</ref>

Further words show similarities with Old Prussian: {{lang|xcu|*kela}} and [[Old Prussian language|Old Prussian]]: {{lang|prg|kelan}} compared to {{langx|lt|rãtas}}, {{langx|lv|rats}}, all meaning wheel.{{r|Dini|pages=296-297}}

==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.<ref name="Dini">{{cite book|first=Pietro U.|last=Dini|title=Foundations of Baltic languages|translator-first1=Milda B.|translator-last1=Richardson|translator-first2=Robert E.|translator-last2=Richardson|publisher=Vilniaus universitetas|place=Vilnius|date=2014|isbn=978-609-437-263-6}}</ref>{{rp|pages=297}}

There are attested names of Curonian noblemen such as: {{ill|Lammekinus|lv|Lamekins|lt|Lamekinas}}, {{lang|xcu|Veltūnas}}, {{lang|xcu|Reiginas}}, {{lang|xcu|Tvertikis}}, {{lang|xcu|Saveidis}}.

===Potential text in Curonian===
Additionally, the Pater Noster reported by [[Simon Grunau]] is speculated to be in Curonian.{{r|Dini|pages=297}}<ref>{{cite journal|last=Schmid|first=Wolfgang P.|year=1962|title=Zu Simon Grunaus Vaterunser|trans-title=On Simon Grunau's Lord's Prayer|language=de|place=Berlin|journal=Indogermanische Forschung|pages=261–273|issue=67}}</ref>

'''Lord's Prayer after Simon Grunau'''
{{lang|bat|<poem>
Nossen thewes, cur tu es delbes
sweytz gischer tho wes wardes
penag munis tholbe mystlastilbi
tolpes prahes girkade delbeszisne tade symmes semmes worsunii
dodi mommys an nosse igdemas mayse
unde gaytkas pames mumys nusze noszeginu cademes pametam musen prettane kans
newede munis lawnā padomā swalbadi munis nowusse loyne Jhesus amen.</poem>}}

==See also==
*[[Kursenieki language]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==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, {{ISBN|3-921515-03-3}}
*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, {{ISBN|3-922296-60-2}}
*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, {{ISBN|9986-830-63-X}}

==External links==
* [http://www.mitteleuropa.de/kurhaf01.htm Pietsch-Bildkarte „Kurisches Haff“] {{in lang|de}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090508152040/http://www.memelland-adm.de/kurenwimpel.html Der Kurenwimpel] {{in lang|de}}
* [http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/Die_Kuren Curonians in Memelland] {{in lang|de}}
* [http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/Kurische_Ortsnamen Curonian placenames in Memelland] {{in lang|de}}
* [http://www.ailab.lv/balt/2002/tez_kopa8.pdf Studentu zinātniskās konferences "Aktuāli baltistikas jautājumi" tēzes Loreta Stonkutė. Kuršininkų tarmės lituanizmai. p.43, 44]

{{Baltic languages}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curonian Language}}
[[Category:Baltic languages]]
[[Category:West Baltic languages]]
[[Category:Extinct Baltic languages]]
[[Category:Extinct languages of Europe]]
[[Category:Medieval languages]]
[[Category:Languages extinct in the 16th century]]
[[Category:16th-century disestablishments in Europe]]