Old Prussian Language - Revived Old Prussian

Revived Old Prussian

A few experimental communities involved in reviving a reconstructed form of the language now exist in Lithuania, Russia, Poland, and other countries. About 200 people have learned the language and are attempting to use it in as many everyday activities as possible.

Important in this revival was Vytautas Mažiulis, who died on 11 April 2009, and his pupil Letas Palmaitis, leader of the experiment and author of the web site Prussian Reconstructions. Two late contributors should be mentioned specially: Prāncis Arellis (Pranciškus Erelis), Lithuania, and Dailūns Russinis (Dailonis Rusiņš), Latvia. After them Twankstas Glabbis from Kaliningrad oblast and Nērtiks Pamedīns from Polish Warmia-Mazuria actively joined.

The current versions being used in these revival attempts are:

• A dialect based on the Samland dialect as recorded in the Catechisms. It is admitted that the language of the Catechisms may contain material from the language of some Sudovians whom the Teutonic Order resettled in northwest Samland. This revival necessitated much reconstruction of lost or missing vocabulary. This dialect is used:
  1. In Lithuania, actively by Mikkels Klussis and Dāiwa Starnīti, inactively by Dangilė Palmaitytė, Bonifacas Stundžia, Vytautas Rinkevičius and others
  2. In the Kaliningrad oblast, actively by Twankstas Glabbis and his daughter Alnā Glabbini, inactively by their friends
  3. In Polish Warmia-Mazuria, actively by Nērtiks Pamedīns, Katti and Pīteris from Pomesania, inactively by their friends
  4. In Latvia, actively by Mertīns Kukkurs and Kareusnā Kukkura, inactively by Valdis Muktupāvels and Raitis Wannags
  5. In Belarus, by Alis Mikus
  • For more information see the Vytautas Magnus University VMU
• Other dialects:
  1. A version based on Pomesanian of the Elbing Vocabulary, by Mikkels Klussis and Valdis Muktupāvels, has been revived for sacred and poetic texts only.
  2. In Germany, by Günter Kraft-Skalwynas. G.Kraft, has written many New Prussian texts. This version is a mixture of Old Prussian dialects (Samlandian and Pomesanian) and Lithuanian and Latvian words.
  3. In Poland, by Mattis (Maciej) Piegat. This version is said to be rather a polonized "Esperanto" without Baltic inflection and phonetics than an authentic revived Old Prussian.
  4. By Joseph Pashka in Arizona, U.S.A. He named his language Sudovian, but some say that it is a kind of reconstructed Samlandian on the stage before the appearance of the Catechisms.