Editing Old Prussian language (section)

==Corpus of Old Prussian==
[[File:The epigram of Basel - oldest known inscription in Prussian language and Baltic language in general, middle of 14th c.jpg|thumb|right|upright|The epigram of Basel – oldest known inscription in Prussian language and Baltic language in general, middle of 14th century]]

===Onomastics===
There was Prussian toponomy and hydronomy within the territory of (Baltic) Prussia. Georg Gerullis undertook the first basic study of these names in ''{{lang|de|Die altpreußischen Ortsnamen}}'' ('The Old Prussian Place-names'), written and published with the help of Walter de Gruyter, in 1922.{{r|GerullisPlace}}

Another source are personal names.<ref name="Trautmann">{{cite book|first=Reinhold|last=Trautmann|author-link=Reinhold Trautmann|title=Die altpreußischen Personennamen|trans-title=The Old Prussian personal names|language=de|publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht|place=Göttingen|orig-date=1925|date=1974|isbn=3-525-27302-9}}</ref>

===Evidence from other languages===
Further sources for Prussian words are Vernacularisms in the German dialects of East and West Prussia, as well as words of Old Curonian origin in Latvian and West-Baltic vernacularisms in Lithuanian and Belarusian.{{r|Klussis|p=4}}<ref>{{cite journal|first=Walther|last=Mitzka|title=Altpreußisches|trans-title=Old Prussian|language=de|journal=Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiet der Indogermanischen Sprachen|publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht|date=1924|issue=1/2|volume=52|pages=129–147|jstor=40799583}}</ref>

===Vocabularies===
Two Prussian vocabularies are known. The older one by [[Simon Grunau]] (Simon Grunovius), a historian of the [[Teutonic Knights]], encompasses 100 words (in strongly varying versions). He also recorded an expression: {{lang|prg|sta nossen rickie, nossen rickie}} ('This (is) our lord, our lord'). The vocabulary is part of the ''{{lang|de|Preussische Chronik}}'' written {{circa|1517–1526}}.{{r|Trautmann1910|pages=XXV{{Hyphen}}XXVI}}

The second one is the so-called Elbing Vocabulary, which consists of 802 thematically sorted words and their German equivalents. Peter Holcwesscher from [[Malbork|Marienburg]] copied the manuscript around 1400; the original dates from the beginning of the 14th or the end of the 13th century. It was found in 1825 by Fr Neumann among other manuscripts acquired by him from the heritage of the Elbing merchant A. Grübnau; it was thus dubbed the ''{{lang|la|Codex Neumannianus}}''.{{r|Klussis|page=7{{Hyphen}}8}}{{r|Schmalstieg|p=4}}

===Fragmentary texts===
There are separate words found in various historical documents.{{r|Klussis|p=4}}

The following fragments are commonly thought of as Prussian, but are probably actually [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]] (at least the adage, however, has been argued to be genuinely West Baltic, only an otherwise unattested dialect<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hill |first1=Eugen
|title=Die sigmatischen Modus-Bildungen der indogermanischen Sprachen. Erste Abhandlung: Das baltische Futur und seine Verwandten |journal=International Journal of Diachronic Linguistics and Linguistic Reconstruction |date=2004 |issue=1 |volume=1 |pages=69–171 |url=https://www.academia.edu/3884660 |access-date=29 August 2014 |language=de|trans-title=The sigmatic modus formation in Indo-European languages. 1st Treatise: The Baltic future and its relatives}}
</ref>):
# An adage of 1583, ''{{lang|bat|Dewes does dantes, Dewes does geitka}}'': the form ''{{lang|prg|does}}'' in the second instance corresponds to Lithuanian future tense ''{{lang|lt|duos}}'' ('will give')
# ''{{lang|bat|Trencke, trencke!}}'' ('Strike! Strike!')

====Fragmentary Lord's Prayer====
Additionally, there is one manuscript fragment of the first words of the {{lang|la|[[Pater Noster]]}} in Prussian, from the beginning of the 15th century:{{r|Klussis|p=437}}
''{{lang|prg|<poem>Towe Nüsze kås esse andangonsün
swyntins</poem>}}''

====Maletius' Sudovian Book====
[[Vytautas Mažiulis]] lists another few fragmentary texts recorded in several versions by Hieronymus Maletius in the [[Sudovian Book]] in the middle of the 16th century. Palmaitis regards them as Sudovian proper.{{r|Klussis|p=7; 437}}
#''{{lang|prg|Beigeite beygeyte peckolle}}'' ('Run, run, devils!')
#''{{lang|prg|Kails naussen gnigethe}}'' ('Hello our friend!')
#''{{lang|prg|Kails poskails ains par antres}}'' – a drinking toast, reconstructed as ''{{lang|prg|Kaīls pas kaīls, aīns per āntran}}'' ('A cheer for a cheer, a tit for tat', literally: 'A healthy one after a healthy one, one after another!')
#''{{lang|prg|Kellewesze perioth, Kellewesze perioth}}'' ('A carter drives here, a carter drives here!')
#''{{lang|prg|Ocho moy myle schwante panicke}}'' – also recorded as ''{{lang|prg|O hoho Moi mile swente Pannike}}'', ''{{lang|prg|O ho hu Mey mile swenthe paniko}}'', ''{{lang|prg|O mues miles schwante Panick}}'' ('Oh my dear holy fire!')

===Complete texts===
In addition to the texts listed beneath, there are several colophons written by Prussian scriptors who worked in Prague and in the court of Lithuanian duke [[Butautas|Butautas Kęstutaitis]].

====Basel Epigram====
The so-called Basel Epigram is the oldest written Prussian sentence (1369).{{r|Klussis|pages=33{{Hyphen}}35}}<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.schaeken.nl/lu/research/online/editions/baselepigram/| title = The Old Prussian Basel Epigram|first=Jos|last=Schaeken |year=2003}}</ref> It reads: {{Verse translation |lang=prg
|
Kayle rekyse
thoneaw labonache thewelyse
Eg koyte poyte
nykoyte pênega doyte
|
Cheers, Sir!
You are no longer a good little comrade
if you want to drink
(but) do not want to give a penny!
}}
This jocular inscription was most probably made by a Prussian student studying in [[Prague]] ([[Charles University in Prague|Charles University]]); found by Stephen McCluskey (1974) in manuscript MS F.V.2 (book of physics ''{{lang|la|Questiones super Meteororum}}'' by [[Nicholas Oresme]]), fol. 63r, stored in the [[Basel University]] library.

====Catechisms====
The longest texts preserved in Old Prussian are three Catechisms printed in {{lang|de|[[Königsberg]]|italic=no}} in 1545, 1545, and 1561 respectively. The first two consist of only six pages of text in Old Prussian – the second one being a correction of the first. The third catechism, or ''Enchiridion'', consists of 132 pages of text, and is a translation of [[Luther's Small Catechism]] by a German cleric called Abel Will, with his Prussian assistant Paul Megott. Will himself knew little or no Old Prussian, and his Prussian interpreter was probably illiterate, but according to Will spoke Old Prussian quite well. The text itself is mainly a word-for-word translation, and Will phonetically recorded Megott's oral translation. Because of this, the ''Enchiridion'' exhibits many irregularities, such as the lack of case agreement in phrases involving an [[article (linguistics)|article]] and a [[noun]], which followed word-for-word German originals as opposed to native Old Prussian syntax.{{r|Trautmann1910|page=XXVII}}{{r|Klussis|pages=8{{Hyphen}}9}}

====Trace of Crete====
The "Trace of Crete" is a short poem added by a Baltic writer in [[Chania]] to a manuscript of the '' Logica Parva'' by [[Paul of Venice]].<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{cite journal |last1=Kessler |first1=Stephan |last2=Mossman |first2=Stephen |year=2013 |title=Ein Fund aus dem Jahre 1440: Ein bisher unbekannter Text in einer baltischen Sprache |journal=Archivum Lithuanicum |volume=15 |pages=511–534 |url=https://www.academia.edu/8450574|language=de|trans-title=Find from the year 1440: A hitherto unknown text in a Baltic language}}
|{{cite journal |last1=Lemeshkin |first1=Ilja |title=Lituanica aliter |url=https://www.academia.edu/41917389 |journal=Billēmai Bhe Ersinnimai |date=January 2019 |access-date=12 November 2020}}}}</ref>
{{Verse translation |lang=prg
|
Atonaige maian meilan am ne wede maianwargan
Thaure ne ſtonais po pieſ pievſſenabdolenai galei ragai
Stonais po leipen zaidiant acha peda bete medde
|
Stand under the May tree willingly/dear – the May tree does not bring you to misery
Aurochs, do not stand under the pine tree – horns bring death,
Stand under the blooming linden tree – the bee brings honey here.
}}