Meuse-Rhenish is a modern, superordinating term in the geography of the southeastern Low Franconian dialects spoken in the greater
MeuseMeuse is a department in northeast France, named after the Meuse River.-History:Meuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
-
RhineThe Rhine is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, at , with an average discharge of more than ....
area. This area stretches in the northern triangle roughly between the rivers
MeuseMeuse is a department in northeast France, named after the Meuse River.-History:Meuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
(in Belgium and the Netherlands) and
RhineThe Rhine is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, at , with an average discharge of more than ....
(in Germany). It includes varieties of
South GuelderishSouth Guelderish refers to a group of dialects of the Dutch language which are spoken roughly along the Nederrijn-area in the Netherlands, and around the city of Cleves in Germany...
(Zuid-Gelders) and Limburgish in the Belgian and Dutch provinces of
Limburg-Low countries:Limburg is a region of Europe that straddles the border between Belgium and The Netherlands. It has a history dating back to Roman times...
, and their counterparts
Low RhenishLow Rhenish is the collective name for the regional Low Franconian language varieties spoken along the Lower Rhine in the west of Germany and the adjacent regions in the Netherlands. Low Franconian is a language or dialect group that has developed in the lower parts of the Frankish Empire,...
(including
Eastern Bergish) in German Northern
RhinelandThe Rhineland is the general name for the land on both sides of the river Rhine in the west of Germany. After the collapse of the French Empire in the early 19th century, the German and Dutch speaking regions at the middle and lower course of the Rhine were annexed to the kingdom of Prussia...
.
Meuse-Rhenish is a modern, superordinating term in the geography of the southeastern Low Franconian dialects spoken in the greater
MeuseMeuse is a department in northeast France, named after the Meuse River.-History:Meuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
-
RhineThe Rhine is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, at , with an average discharge of more than ....
area. This area stretches in the northern triangle roughly between the rivers
MeuseMeuse is a department in northeast France, named after the Meuse River.-History:Meuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
(in Belgium and the Netherlands) and
RhineThe Rhine is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, at , with an average discharge of more than ....
(in Germany). It includes varieties of
South GuelderishSouth Guelderish refers to a group of dialects of the Dutch language which are spoken roughly along the Nederrijn-area in the Netherlands, and around the city of Cleves in Germany...
(Zuid-Gelders) and Limburgish in the Belgian and Dutch provinces of
Limburg-Low countries:Limburg is a region of Europe that straddles the border between Belgium and The Netherlands. It has a history dating back to Roman times...
, and their counterparts
Low RhenishLow Rhenish is the collective name for the regional Low Franconian language varieties spoken along the Lower Rhine in the west of Germany and the adjacent regions in the Netherlands. Low Franconian is a language or dialect group that has developed in the lower parts of the Frankish Empire,...
(including
Eastern Bergish) in German Northern
RhinelandThe Rhineland is the general name for the land on both sides of the river Rhine in the west of Germany. After the collapse of the French Empire in the early 19th century, the German and Dutch speaking regions at the middle and lower course of the Rhine were annexed to the kingdom of Prussia...
. This group is called Meuse-Rhenish (Dutch:
Maas-Rijnlands, German:
Rheinmaasländisch, and French:
francique rhéno-mosan) (Welschen 2000-2005). Although some dialects of this group are spoken within the language area where German is the standard, they actually are Low Franconian in character, do stand on a shorter distance to Dutch than to High German, and could therefore also be called Dutch (see also
Dutch dialectsDutch dialects are primarily the dialects that are both cognate with the Dutch language and are spoken in the same language area as the Dutch standard language...
).
Low Rhenish and Limburgish
Low Rhenish is the German name for the regional Low Franconian language varieties of the Dutch / German language spoken alongside the so-called
Lower RhineThe Lower Rhine flows from Bonn, Germany, to the North Sea. Almost immediately after entering the Netherlands, the Rhine splits into many branches....
in the west of Germany and the adjacent regions in the Netherlands. Low Rhenish differs strongly from High German. The more to the north it approaches the Netherlands, the more it sounds like Dutch. In Germany, important cities at the Lower Rhine and in the
RhineThe Rhine is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, at , with an average discharge of more than ....
-Ruhr area, including the entire Düsseldorf Region, are part of it, among them Cleves,
XantenXanten is a historic town in the North Rhine-Westphalia state of Germany, located in the district of Wesel. Xanten is known for the Archaeological Park , its medieval picturesque city centre with Xanten Cathedral and many museums, its large man-made lake for various watersport activities as well...
,
WeselWesel is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the Wesel district.-Division of the town:Suburbs of Wesel include Lackhausen, Obrighoven, Ginderich, Büderich, Flüren and Blumenkamp.-History:...
,
MoersMoers is a city on the left bank of the Rhine.-History:A target of the Oil Campaign of World War II, the Steinkohlenbergwerke Rheinpreussen synthetic oil plant in Moers was partially dismantled post-war...
,
EssenEssen is a city in the central part of the Ruhr Area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Located on the Ruhr River, its population of approximately 579,000 makes it either the 7th- or 8th-largest-city in Germany...
,
DuisburgDuisburg is a German city in the western part of the Ruhr Area in North Rhine-Westphalia. It is an independent metropolitan borough within Regierungsbezirk Düsseldorf...
,
DüsseldorfDüsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the second most international and economically important centre of Germany, after Frankfurt, and is located in the center of the Rhein-Ruhr area, Europe's most populated metropolitan area...
,
OberhausenOberhausen is a Ruhr Area city on the river Emscher between Duisburg and Essen . The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage.-History:Oberhausen was named for its 1847 train station...
and
Wuppertal||-||}Wuppertal is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the Wupper river south of the Ruhr area. Population 361,333 ....
. This language area stretches towards the west along cities such as
KrefeldKrefeld , also known as Crefeld until 1929, is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located southwest of the Ruhr area, its center just a few kilometres to the west of the River Rhine; the borough of Uerdingen is situated directly on the Rhine...
and
MönchengladbachMönchengladbach is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The largest city at the left Lower Rhine belonged as upper center to the governmental district Düsseldorf and is a component of the Metropolregion Rhine-Ruhr....
, where it is called Bergish in German or Limburgish in Dutch, crosses the German-Dutch border into the Dutch province of
Limburg-Low countries:Limburg is a region of Europe that straddles the border between Belgium and The Netherlands. It has a history dating back to Roman times...
, passing cities east of the
MeuseMeuse is a department in northeast France, named after the Meuse River.-History:Meuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
river (in both Dutch and German called
Maas) such as
VenloVenlo is a municipality and a city in the southeastern Netherlands. It is situated in the province of Limburg.On 1 January 2001, the municipalities of Tegelen and Belfeld were added to that of Venlo. Tegelen was originally part of the Duchy of Jülich centuries ago, whereas Venlo has a past in the...
,
RoermondRoermond is a city, a municipality, and a diocese in the southeastern part of the Netherlands.The city of Roermond is a historically important town, on the lower Roer at the east bank of the Meuse river. It received city rights in 1231...
and
SittardSittard is a city in the Dutch province of Limburg, which is the southernmost province of the Netherlands.On the east Sittard borders on Germany . It has some 48,400 inhabitants . Sittard is part of the municipality of Sittard-Geleen...
, and then again crosses the
MeuseMeuse is a department in northeast France, named after the Meuse River.-History:Meuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
between the Dutch and Belgian provinces of Limburg, encompassing the cities of
MaastrichtMaastricht is a city and a municipality in the southern part of the Dutch province of Limburg, of which it is the capital. The city is situated on both sides of the Meuse river in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border and near the German border...
(NL) and
Hasselt||-||-||}Hasselt is a Belgian city and municipality, and capital of the Flemish province of Limburg. The Hasselt municipality includes the city of Hasselt and the old communes of Sint-Lambrechts-Herk, Wimmertingen, Kermt, Spalbeek, Kuringen, Stokrooie, Stevoort and Runkst.On 31 December, 2007...
(B). As it crosses the Dutch-German as well as the Dutch-Belgian borders, it becomes a part of the language landscape in three neighbouring countries. In two of them Dutch is the standard language. Thus a mainly political-geographic division can be made into western (Dutch)
South GuelderishSouth Guelderish refers to a group of dialects of the Dutch language which are spoken roughly along the Nederrijn-area in the Netherlands, and around the city of Cleves in Germany...
and Limburgish at the west side, and eastern (German) Low Bergish and Low Rhenish at the east side of the border.
The Meuse-Rhine triangle
This whole region between the Meuse and the Rhine was linguistically and culturally quite coherent during the period of the so-called Early
Modern HistoryModern history, or the modern era, describes the historical timeframe after the Middle Ages. Modern history can be further broken down into the early modern period and the late modern period...
(1543-1789), though politically more fragmented. The former predominantly Dutch speaking duchies of
GueldersGuelders or Gueldres is the name of a historical county, later duchy, in the Low Countries.The duchy was named after the town of Geldern , which is now in Germany...
and
Limburg-Low countries:Limburg is a region of Europe that straddles the border between Belgium and The Netherlands. It has a history dating back to Roman times...
lay in the heart of this linguistic landscape, but eastward the former duchies of Cleves (entirely),
JülichJülich is a town in the district of Düren, in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Jülich is well known as location of a world-famous research centre, the Forschungszentrum Jülich and as shortwave transmission site of Deutsche Welle...
, and
BergThe territory of Berg in today's North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany became a distinct domain in mediaeval times. It comprised roughly the area between the rivers Rhine, Ruhr and Sieg...
partially, also fit in.
The northwestern part of this triangular area came under the influence of the Dutch standard language, especially since the founding of the
United Kingdom of the NetherlandsUnited Kingdom of the Netherlands was the unofficial name used to refer to a new unified European state created from part of the First French Empire during the Congress of Vienna in 1815...
in 1815. The southeastern part became a part of the
Kingdom of PrussiaThe Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918, until the defeat of Germany in World War I, was the leading state of the German Empire, comprising almost two-thirds of the area of the empire...
at the same time, and from then it was subject to High German language domination. At the dialectal level however, mutual understanding is still possible far beyond both sides of the national borders.
Southeast Limburgish around Aachen
Southeast Limburgish is spoken around
KerkradeKerkrade is a town and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands.It is the western half of the divided region and de facto city, taken together with the eastern half, the German town of Herzogenrath, which was the original name of the municipality under the Holy Roman Empire...
,
BocholtzBocholtz is a town in the Dutch province of Limburg. It is a part of the municipality of Simpelveld, and lies about 7 km southwest of Kerkrade. Until 1982, it was a separate municipality....
and
VaalsVaals is a town in the extreme southeastern part of the Dutch province of Limburg, which in its turn finds itself in the southeastern part of the Netherlands....
in the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
,
AachenAachen is a historic spa city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the medieval Kings of Germany...
in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
and
RaerenRaeren is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Liège. It was part of Germany until the First World War, after which it became part of Belgium. It is one of several towns in Eastern Belgium which still predominantly speak German....
and
EynattenEynatten is a village in the Belgian municipality of Raeren into the German-speaking Community of Belgium. Eynatten is on the border to Germany, 6 km from Aachen. Around half of the population are foreigners, most of them Germans....
in
BelgiumThe Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO...
. In
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
it is mostly considered as
RipuarianRipuarian is a West Germanic dialect group spoken in the Rhineland, eastern Belgium and southern Dutch Limburg from northwest of Düsseldorf and Cologne to Aachen in the west, and Waldbröl in the east, and also the name of the people who spoke it...
, not always as Limburgish. According to a contemporary vision, all varieties in a wider half circle some 20 km around Aachen, including 2/3 of Dutch South Limburg and also the so-called
Low DietschLow Dietsch is a term mainly used within the Flemish terminology for the transitional Limburgish–Ripuarian dialects of a number of towns and villages in the north-east of the Belgian province of Liege, such as Gemmenich, Homburg, Montzen and Welkenraedt.This region, lying within the Belgian ...
area between
VoerenVoeren is a Flemish municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. Bordering the Netherlands to the north and the Walloon province of Liège to the south, it is geographically detached from the rest of Flanders...
and
EupenEupen is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Liège, 15 km from the German border , from the Dutch border and from the nature reservation "High Fens" . The town is also the capital of the Euroregion Meuse-Rhine....
in Belgium, can be taken as a group of its own, which recently has been named
Limburgish of the Three Countries Area (Dutch:
Drielandenlimburgs, German:
Dreiländerplatt), referring to the place where the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany meet. This term was introduced by Ad Welschen, and researched by Jean Frins (2005, 2006). This variety still possesses interesting syntactic idiosyncrasies, probably dating from the period in which the old
Duchy of LimburgThe Duchy of Limburg was a historical region in the Low Countries. It consisted of parts of the present Belgian provinces Liège and Limburg , the Dutch province of Limburg , and a small part of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany The Duchy of Limburg was a historical region in the Low Countries....
existed. In Belgium, the south-eastern boundary between Meuse-Rhenish or (French)
francique rhéno-mosan and Ripuarian is formed by the
Low DietschLow Dietsch is a term mainly used within the Flemish terminology for the transitional Limburgish–Ripuarian dialects of a number of towns and villages in the north-east of the Belgian province of Liege, such as Gemmenich, Homburg, Montzen and Welkenraedt.This region, lying within the Belgian ...
language area.
If only tonality is to be taken as to define this variety, it stretches several dozen kilometers into
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
. In Germany, the consensus is to class it as belonging to
High GermanThe High German languages or the High German dialects are any of the varieties of standard German, Luxembourgish and Yiddish, as well as the local German dialects spoken in central and southern Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Luxembourg and in neighbouring portions of Belgium,...
varieties. But this is a little over-simplified. In order to include them properly, a more encompassing concept is needed. The combination of Meuse-Rhenish and
RipuarianRipuarian is a West Germanic dialect group spoken in the Rhineland, eastern Belgium and southern Dutch Limburg from northwest of Düsseldorf and Cologne to Aachen in the west, and Waldbröl in the east, and also the name of the people who spoke it...
, including their overlapping transitional zones of Southeast Limburgish and
Low DietschLow Dietsch is a term mainly used within the Flemish terminology for the transitional Limburgish–Ripuarian dialects of a number of towns and villages in the north-east of the Belgian province of Liege, such as Gemmenich, Homburg, Montzen and Welkenraedt.This region, lying within the Belgian ...
, will do.
Classification
- Indo-European
The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major languages of Europe, Iran, and northern India, and historically also predominant in Anatolia and Central Asia...
- Germanic
The Germanic languages are a group of related languages that constitute a branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all the languages in this branch is Proto-Germanic, spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
- West Germanic
- Low Franconian
- Meuse-Rhenish
- Limburgish and Zuid-Gelders / Low Rhenish
Low Rhenish is the collective name for the regional Low Franconian language varieties spoken along the Lower Rhine in the west of Germany and the adjacent regions in the Netherlands. Low Franconian is a language or dialect group that has developed in the lower parts of the Frankish Empire,...
Source
- Ad Welschen 2000-2005: Course Dutch Society and Culture, International School for Humanities and Social Studies ISHSS, Universiteit van Amsterdam (permission granted)
See also
- Low Rhenish
Low Rhenish is the collective name for the regional Low Franconian language varieties spoken along the Lower Rhine in the west of Germany and the adjacent regions in the Netherlands. Low Franconian is a language or dialect group that has developed in the lower parts of the Frankish Empire,...
- Southeast Limburgish
- Limburgish
- South Guelderish
South Guelderish refers to a group of dialects of the Dutch language which are spoken roughly along the Nederrijn-area in the Netherlands, and around the city of Cleves in Germany...
- Low Dietsch
Low Dietsch is a term mainly used within the Flemish terminology for the transitional Limburgish–Ripuarian dialects of a number of towns and villages in the north-east of the Belgian province of Liege, such as Gemmenich, Homburg, Montzen and Welkenraedt.This region, lying within the Belgian ...