Masurian language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Masurian (also known as Mazurian, Masovian, and Mazovian) is a dialect of Polish, once spoken in Masuria. In the 14th century, settlers from Masovia resettled the south of East Prussia which had been devastated by the war of the Teutonic Knights against the Old Prussians. A new dialect arose, isolated from the remaining Polish language area.
After the Reformation took ground in Masuria, the Masurians lost the last ties to their Polish ancestry. As they identified with the state the lived, after Prussia was kind of substituted by a greater "Germany" and they still wanted to be patriots in the newly erected national state, they started to give up their language in favor of German.
This process was accelerated by the irritations in the course of the 1920 plebiscite, where the Masurians could decide whether they wanted to be part of Poland or of East Prussia. About 99% voted for Germany. The dropping of Masurian in favor of German was not completed when the Red Army took possession of Masuria in 1945.
About half of the population still used it at least at home. During the fighting and in subsequent decades, most Masurians have left Masuria for (mostly Western) Germany -- where they quickly assimilated. As a result, the Masurian dialect has virtually died out.
Mazur is or rather was one of the five major dialects of the Polish language.
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