Weißwurstäquator
Encyclopedia
The is a humorous term describing the (supposedly) very different culture and dialect of the southern part
Southern Germany
The term Southern Germany is used to describe a region in the south of Germany. There is no specific boundary to the region, but it usually includes all of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, and the southern part of Hesse...

 of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, especially Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

, and the rest of the country. The term refers to the fact that Weißwurst
Weißwurst
Weisswurst is a traditional Bavarian sausage made from very finely minced veal and fresh pork bacon. It is usually flavoured with parsley, lemon, mace, onions, ginger and cardamom, though there are some variations...

is a favorite dish in Bavaria, but seldom served in the other regions.

An example of the cultural difference is the dominant role of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria
Christian Social Union of Bavaria
The Christian Social Union in Bavaria is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It operates only in the state of Bavaria, while its sister party, the Christian Democratic Union , operates in the other 15 states of Germany...

, a conservative party which is popular in Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

, but does not exist as such in the rest of Germany.

To the south of the Weißwurstäquator, rural regions cling to their dialects of the Upper German
Upper German
Upper German is a family of High German dialects spoken primarily in southern Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Northern Italy.-Family tree:Upper German can be generally classified as Alemannic or Austro-Bavarian...

 variant. In contrast, the areas to the north of the Weißwurstäquator are identified with Central German
Central German
Central German is a group of High German dialects spoken from the Rhineland in the west to the former eastern territories of Germany.-History:...

 dialect in middle Germany and Low German
Low German
Low German or Low Saxon is an Ingvaeonic West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands...

 language in the North. In some formally Central German dialect areas, the local dialect has virtually vanished in favor of Standard German
Standard German
Standard German is the standard variety of the German language used as a written language, in formal contexts, and for communication between different dialect areas...

.

Note that as Austrian German
Austrian German
Austrian German , or Austrian Standard German, is the national standard variety of the German language spoken in Austria and in the autonomous Province of South Tyrol...

 is closely related to the Bavarian dialect, Austria is frequently considered to be "south of the Weißwurstäquator".

The Weißwurstäquator is thus most frequently used to roughly designate the isogloss
Isogloss
An isogloss—also called a heterogloss —is the geographical boundary of a certain linguistic feature, such as the pronunciation of a vowel, the meaning of a word, or use of some syntactic feature...

, or boundary of Upper German, the Speyer line
Speyer line
In German linguistics, the Speyer line, or Main line is an isogloss separating the dialects to the north, which have a geminated stop in words like Appel "apple", from the dialects to the south, which have an affricate: Apfel. The line runs from east to west and passes through the town of Speyer...

. In common practice it is mostly associated with the river Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....

, although sometimes it is drawn more on the River Main.

See also

  • Röstigraben
    Röstigraben
    The Röstigraben, , literally ‘Rösti ditch’, also transcribed Röschtigraben in order to reflect the Swiss German pronunciation , is a humorous term describing the dividing line between the German-speaking and the French-speaking Romands parts of Switzerland with their respecitve cultural differences...

    , the line dividing German and French speaking areas of Switzerland
    Switzerland
    Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

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