Masurian (; ) was a dialect of the
Polish language, spoken by
Masurians in
East Prussia, today
Poland, which were descendants of
Masovians.
Since the 14th century, some settlers from
Masovia started to settle in southern
Prussia, which had been devastated by the crusades of the
Teutonic Knights against the native
Old Prussians. According to other sources, people from Masovia did not move to southern Prussia until the time of the
Protestant Reformation, Prussia having become
Lutheran in 1525. The Masurians were mostly of the Protestant faith, in contrast to the neighboring
Roman Catholic people of the
Duchy of Masovia, which was incorporated into the
Polish kingdom in 1526. A new dialect developed in Prussia, isolated from the remaining Polish language area. The Masurian dialect has many German and
Old Prussian words mixed in with Polish-language endings.
Beginning in the 1870s,
Imperial German officials restricted the usage of languages other than German in Prussia's eastern provinces.
While in 1880 Masurians were still treated as Poles by German Empire, at the turn of century the German authorities undertook several measures to Germanise and separate them from the Polish nation by creating a separate identity. After
World War I the
East Prussian plebiscite was held on July 11, 1920 according to the
Treaty of Versailles, in which the Masurians had to decide whether they wanted to be part of the
Second Polish Republic or remain in German East Prussia; about 98% voted for Germany.
By the early 20th century, most Masurians were at least bilingual and could speak German; in some areas about half of them still spoke Masurian, at least at home. In 1925, only 40,869 people gave Masurian as their native tongue, many considering
German their first language, considering Masurian merely as their domestic
dialect.
The replacement of Masurian in favor of German was not completed by the time the
Soviet Red Army conquered Masurian
East Prussia in January, 1945 during
World War II. The territory was transferred to Poland according to the postwar
Potsdam Conference. During the wartime fighting and post-war deportations in the subsequent decades, most Masurian-speakers left Masuria for western Germany, especially to post-war
West Germany, where they were quickly assimilated into the German mainstream. As a result the Masurian dialect virtually died out.
See also
