Transylvanian Saxon dialect



Transylvanian Saxon is the native German dialect of the Transylvanian Saxons, an ethnic German minority group from Transylvania in central Romania, and is also one of the three oldest ethnic German and German-speaking groups of the German diaspora in Central and Eastern Europe, along with the Baltic Germans and Zipser Germans. In addition, the Transylvanian Saxons are the eldest ethnic German group of all constituent others forming the broader community of the Germans of Romania.

The dialect is known by the endonym Siweberjesch Såksesch or just Såksesch; in German as Siebenbürgisch-Sächsisch, Siebenbürgisch-sächsischer Dialekt/Mundart, or Die siebenbürgisch-sächsische Sprache (obsolete German spelling: Siebenbürgisch Teutsch); in Transylvanian Landler dialect as Soksisch; in Hungarian as erdélyi szász nyelv; and in Romanian as Limba săsească, săsește, or dialectul săsesc.

Linguistically, the Transylvanian Saxon dialect is very close to Luxembourgish (especially regarding its vocabulary). This is because many ancestors of the present-day Transylvanian Saxons stemmed from contemporary Luxembourg as early as the 12th century, especially in the area of contemporary Sibiu County (Kreis Hermannstadt), as part of the Ostsiedlung process. In their case, the Ostsiedlung colonisation process took place in southern, southeastern, and northeastern Transylvania for economic development, guarding the easternmost borders of the former Kingdom of Hungary as well as mining, especially in the area of Bistrița (Bistritz or Nösen, archaic form).

Consequently, the Transylvanian Saxon dialect has been spoken in the south, southeast, and northeast of Transylvania since the High Middle Ages onwards. In addition, the Transylvanian Saxon dialect is also similar to the Zipser German dialect spoken by the Zipsers in Spiš (Zips), northeastern Slovakia as well as Maramureș (i.e. Maramureș County) and Bukovina (i.e. Suceava County), northeastern Romania.

There are two main types or varieties of the dialect, more specifically northern Transylvanian Saxon (Nordsiebenbürgisch), spoken in Nösnerland (Țara Năsăudului) including the dialect of Bistrița, and south Transylvanian Saxon (Südsiebenbürgisch), including, most notably, the dialect of Sibiu (Hermannstadt). In the process of its development, the Transylvanian Saxon dialect has been influenced by Romanian and Hungarian as well. Nowadays, given its relatively small number of native speakers worldwide, the dialect is severely endangered.

Background




In terms of comparative linguistics, it pertains to the Moselle Franconian group of West Central German dialects. In this particular regard, it must be mentioned that it shares a consistent amount of lexical similarities with Luxembourgish.

The dialect was mainly spoken in Transylvania (contemporary central Romania), by native speakers of German, Flemish, and Walloon origins who were settled in the Kingdom of Hungary starting in the mid and mid-late 12th century (more specifically from approximately the 1140s/1150s to the 19th century). Over the passing of time, it had been consistently influenced by both Romanian and Hungarian given the centuries-long cohabitation of the Saxons with Romanians and Hungarians (mostly Szeklers) in the south, southeast, and northeast of Transylvania. The main areas where Transylvanian Saxon was spoken in Transylvania were southern and northern Transylvania.

In the contemporary era, the vast majority of the native speakers have emigrated in several waves, initially to Germany and Austria, but then subsequently to the US, Canada as well as other Western European countries, managing in the process to preserve (at least temporarily) their specific language there.

Lastly, one can perceive the Transylvanian Saxon dialect, bearing in mind its conservative character when compared to other dialects of the German language (due primarily to its geographic isolation from other German idioms) as a type of German spoken in medieval times, or, more specifically as Old High German or Middle High German.

Geographic distribution of the dialect in Transylvania
Traditionally, the Transylvanian Saxon dialect was mainly spoken in the rural areas of Transylvania throughout the passing of time, since the arrival of the Transylvanian Saxons in the Carpathian Basin during the Middle Ages (more specifically beginning in the 12th century) onwards. In the urban settlements (i.e. several towns and cities such as Sibiu/Hermannstadt or Brașov/Kronstadt), standard German (i.e. Hochdeutsch) was more spoken and written more instead.

The traditional areas where the Transylvanian Saxon dialect has been spoken are southern Transylvania and north-eastern Transylvania which represent the main areas of settlement of the Transylvanian Saxons since the High Middle Ages onwards. These areas correspond mainly to Sibiu County, Brașov County, Mureș County, and Bistrița-Năsăud County and, to a lesser extent, Alba County and Hunedoara County respectively.

Furthermore, the Transylvanian Saxon dialect also varied from village to village where it was spoken (that is, a village could have had a slightly different local form of Transylvanian Saxon than the other but there was still a certain degree of mutual intelligibility between them; for instance, more or less analogous and similar to how English accents vary on a radius of 5 mi in the England/United Kingdom).

Recent history of the dialect (1989–present)
Before the Romanian Revolution of 1989, most of the Transylvanian Saxons were still living in Transylvania. During the communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu, many thousands of these Saxons were sold for a total sum of money of around $6 million paid to communist Romania by West Germany.

By 1990, the number of Saxons living in Transylvania had decreased dramatically. Shortly after the fall of communism, from 1991 to 1994, many Transylvanian Saxons who still remained in Transylvania decided to ultimately emigrate to re-unified Germany, leaving just a minority of approximately 20,000 Transylvanian Saxons in Romania at the round of the 21st century (or less than 1 percent of the entire population of Transylvania).

The number of native Transylvanian Saxon speakers today is estimated at approximately 200,000 persons. Transylvanian Saxon is also the native dialect of the current President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, by virtue of the fact that he is a Transylvanian Saxon. It is also the native dialect of well known German rock superstar Peter Maffay. Additionally, according to the 2011 Romanian census, only 11,400 Transylvanian Saxon were still living in Transylvania at that time. The 2021 Romanian census (postponed one year to 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Romania) reported a smaller overall figure for the German minority in Romania and, most probably, an even fewer number of native Transylvanian Saxon speakers still living in Transylvania.

Sample text
Below is a sample text written in the Transylvanian Saxon dialect, entitled 'De Råch' (meaning 'The Revenge'), which is, more specifically, an old traditional ballad/poem (also translated and in comparison with standard German/Hochdeutsch and English):

Below is another sample text of religious nature, more specifically the Our Father prayer:

Alphabet

 * A – a
 * B – be
 * C – ce
 * D – de
 * E – e
 * F – ef
 * G – ge
 * H – ha
 * I – i
 * J – jot
 * K – ka
 * L – el
 * M – em
 * N – en
 * O – o
 * P – pe
 * Q – ku
 * R – er
 * S – es
 * T – te
 * U – u
 * V – vau
 * W – we
 * X – ix
 * Y – ipsilon
 * Z – zet

Vowels

 * a –
 * au –
 * å –
 * ä –
 * äi –
 * e –
 * ei –
 * ë –
 * i –
 * ië –
 * o –
 * u –
 * uë –
 * ü/y –

Consonants

 * b –
 * c –
 * ch –
 * ck –
 * d –
 * dsch –
 * f –
 * g –
 * h –
 * j –
 * k –
 * l –
 * m –
 * n –
 * ng –
 * nj –
 * p –
 * pf –
 * qv –
 * r –
 * s –
 * sch –
 * ss –
 * t –
 * tsch –
 * v –
 * w –
 * x –
 * z –