Editing Old Prussian language (section)

==Classification==
Old Prussian is an Indo-European language belonging to the Baltic branch. It is considered to be a Western Baltic language.

Old Prussian was closely related to the other extinct [[West Baltic languages]], namely [[Sudovian language|Sudovian]], [[Galindian language|West Galindian]]<ref>{{cite journal| url = https://www.academia.edu/37147068| title = The Balts in the migration period|first=Iliya|last=Tarasov|pages=95–124| journal=Istoričeskij Format | script-journal = ru:Исторический Формат|volume=3–4| date = January 2017|language=ru}}</ref> and possibly [[Skalvians#Language|Skalvian]] and [[Curonian language|Old Curonian]].<ref name="Gimbutas">{{cite book|first=Marija|last=Gimbutas|author-link=Marija Gimbutas|date=1963|title=The Balts|series=Ancient peoples and places|place=London|publisher=Thames and Hudson|volume=33}}</ref>{{rp|page=33}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zinkevičius |first=Zigmas |author-link= Zigmas Zinkevičius |title=The History of the Lithuanian Language |date=1996 |publisher=Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidykla |place=Vilnius |isbn=9785420013632 |pages=51 |language=en}}</ref> Other linguists consider Western Galindian and Skalvian to be Prussian dialects.<ref name="Rinkevicius">{{cite book|first=Vytautas|last=Rinkevičius|title=Prūsistikos pagrindai|trans-title=Fundamentals of Prussian linguistics|publisher= Vilniaus universitetas|location=Vilnius|date=2015|language=lt|isbn=978-609-417-101-7}}</ref>{{rp|15}}

It is related to the [[East Baltic languages]] such as [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]] and [[Latvian language|Latvian]], and more distantly related to [[Slavic languages|Slavic]]. Compare the words for 'land': Old Prussian ''{{lang|prg|semmē}}'' [zemē], {{langx|lv|zeme}}, {{langx|lt|žemė}}, {{langx|ru|link=no|земля́}}, ({{lang|ru-Latn|zemljá}}) and {{langx|pl|ziemia}}.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

Old Prussian had [[loanword]]s from Slavic languages (e.g., Old Prussian ''{{lang|prg|curtis}}'' [kurtis] '[[hound]]', like Lithuanian ''{{lang|lt|kùrtas}}'' and Latvian ''{{lang|lv|kur̃ts}}'', cognate with Slavic (compare {{langx|uk|хорт}}, {{lang|uk-Latn|khort}}; {{langx|pl|chart}}; {{langx|cs|chrt}})), as well as a few borrowings from [[Germanic languages|Germanic]], including from [[Gothic language|Gothic]] (e.g., Old Prussian ''{{lang|prg|ylo}}'' '[[Stitching awl|awl]]' as with Lithuanian ''{{lang|lt|ýla}}'', Latvian ''{{lang|lv|īlens}}'') and from [[Scandinavian languages]].<ref name="britannica.com">{{cite encyclopedia| url = http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/50949/Baltic-languages/74885/Loanwords-in-Baltic|first=Vytautas|last=Mažiulis|author-link=Vytautas Mažiulis| encyclopedia = Encyclopædia Britannica |title=Baltic languages|version=September 2022|access-date=9 November 2022}}</ref>