The remarks in this note continue the previous discussion of the "The German Research Companion", by Shirley Riemer. Chapters 6 through 10 are:
6) Archives and repositories,
7) German genealogy aids,
8) Genealogical tools,
9) Geography, and
10) American Military Resources.
Until the middle of the fourteenth century, Latin was the official written language of the Holy Roman Empire, which comprised most of the German speaking regions in Europe today. At this time, German was adopted in the court documents of the HRE. By 1500, German was in use in many states and cities as the official language. A big boost came from its adoption by the Universities of Leipzig and Wittenberg. It was the written language of the educated classes.
The printing press, and the books which resulted from it, helped standardize the language, as the books had a wide circulation. The literary language, especially, was becoming standardized. In the spoken languages of the different regions, there were differences in spelling, in the choice of words, and the pronunciation of words.
Martin Luther helped the standardization cause when he published his translation of the Bible into German. He was aware of differences, but he tried to find a common ground in his choice of words. This Bible helped to define High German, which took its name from the region where it was most common, in the southern, higher elevations, as opposed to the northern, almost sea level elevations. Within a century the literary language was well recognized.
Regional differences in spelling and pronunciation continued until almost the end of the 19th century. In 1898, a commission of university professsors and representatives of the theater codified rules of pronunciation for the stage. Further work has refined and extended this to Standard German (Deutsche Hochsprache).
That the development of standards took so long is the result of the political fragmentation of Germany, which was not united until 1871. In 1901, representatives of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland devised a standardized spelling. Reform continues but is opposed by some. One of the spelling proposals would change "Open-Air Festival" to "Openairfestival." (Anyone who has examined web pages that originate in Germany will be impressed by the number of "English" words that they use. It sometimes leaves in doubt as to which language is being used.)
Of course, English and German have a common root. In some Low German areas, the language shows this. My German teacher (not that I have studied German much) said that in a tour of Germany they came to area when she couldn't tell if they speaking bad English or bad German.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.