Dialects German language

In Germany, dialects are more firmly preserved than anywhere else in Europe and play a significant role in the life of large sections of the population. They are preserved not only in rural areas, but also in the city. Another characteristic feature of Germany is significant differences between territorial dialects; Germans from different regions do not understand each other if they speak a dialect.

The national language was formed on the basis of High German dialects, which are divided into two groups:

Middle German with the dialects Middle Frankish, Rhenish Frankish, East Frankish and East Central German.
South German with South Frankish, Swabian-Alemannic and Bavarian dialects. The German literary language contrasts, like the High German dialects, with the Low German dialects: Low Frankish, Low Saxon, East Low German and Frisian, the border between High German and Low German being the Benrath line.

After World War II, the previously existing tendency to level out linguistic differences intensified. But there is also an opposite tendency - towards the maintenance and wider use of the dialect in informal oral communication and fiction.

The names of ancient tribal dialects (Alemannic, Bavarian) are used along with later designations for individual regions (Palatinate, Hessian, Westphalian). A certain role is played by the designation of dialects or dialect groups by the names of the states where they are common. Various variants of names coexist or compete with each other, although they are not always completely identical (Lower Alemannic\Alsatian, Upper Alemannic\Swiss, Bavarian\Austrian\Bavarian-Austrian).

Individual dialects and dialect groups in some cases are distinguished very clearly, and in others they form gradual transitions from one to another, not always dependent on state borders. The border between the dialects of Bavaria and Austria is not defined, the Low Alemannic dialect of the Basel region is close to Alsatian, in Luxembourg there is Moselle-Frankish, which is also spoken in Germany, in the north there is no clear border with the Netherlands. In contrast, the dialect boundaries of German and Frisian or German and Danish are clearly defined. Dialects are distinguished on the basis of isoglosses, which include: second movement of consonants (ik- ich, maken- machen ), processes of diphthongization and monophthongization.

Local dialects appear mainly in oral communication in the family and everyday sphere, outside of it - in informal communication. Although German dialects are relatively stable, in the system of existence of the German language they occupy the weakest position; their functions partially transfer to everyday spoken forms of the language. Everyday spoken language is a complex multi-stage formation, the most important components of which are the semi-dialects of large cities: Leipzig, Dresden, Cologne, Vienna, as well as colloquial “Koine”, historically developed in certain regions - in Lower Germany, Upper Saxony, Swabia, Hesse and others

Low German dialects go back (with the exception of Low Frankish) to the tribal languages of the Ingvaeonian group of Germanic tribes (Saxons, Frisians), and not to Istveonian (Frankish) and Herminonian (Alemannic-Bavarian), like High German. They did not take part in the formation of the norm and show significant differences from High German national language in grammatical structure, vocabulary and especially phonetics, although many originally Ingveonian features in them were eliminated as a result of “over-Germanization”: “Verhochdeutschung”.

Border - along the Benrath line (second movement) - isogloss maken - machen : north of Aachen, crosses the Rhine south of Dusseldorf, the Elbe above Magdeburg and reaches Frankfurt an der Oder. The second essential feature of Low German dialects is the uniform plural form of the verb. In the Middle Ages, in connection with the formation of the Hanseatic League, Low German played a major role in northern Europe, influencing, for example, the languages of the Scandinavian subgroup. After the collapse of the Hanse, Low German lost its significance and High German gradually established itself as a literary language instead. But society's efforts to maintain Low German continued: in 1919, the principles of a unified Low German orthography (Lübecker Richtlinie) were developed. The Low German supra-dialect norm, established in 1935, is used in some school textbooks, in religious services and in the theater (Low German Schwerin Theater).

The current situation is like a pyramid, the base of which is local dialects, and the top is a unified written form of the literary language.

GermanforoutsideGGermany

Austrian national variant

The settlement of the "Eastern Mark" in the 9th-10th centuries, under the Carolingians, by Bavarian settlers determined the Bavarian-Austrian linguistic area with close ties inside him, V 996 the name of ancient times was first recorded. Ostarrichi.

In 1156, the Austrian mark separated from Bavaria and became an independent duchy; in 1282 the Habsburgs came to power in Austria. They constantly expanded their possessions, annexing Bohemia, western Hungary, Transylvania, all of Hungary, Bukovina, Galicia, Croatia, Bosnia, Dalmatia, Lombardy and Veneto. In 1804, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was proclaimed. Austria became the center of a multilingual state, and German was the official language. It included many borrowings also due to the close cultural ties of the Viennese court with Rome, Paris and Madrid. The Austrian national variant includes the literary form of the German language, the everyday spoken language and the dialects: Central Austrian and South Austrian, belonging to the Bavarian dialect region. Urban semi-dialects developed in the Vienna region, Linz, and Klagenfurt. The Viennese dialect occupies a prestigious position, its influence is felt by all dialects, it is the basis of the spoken language of Austria. A number of features of the literary language of Austria are based on historical tradition and are the result of the independent development of the German language in the conditions of a separate state. Literary German is used in Austria mainly in written form, and in oral, especially informal communication, everyday colloquial and dialect forms function. The everyday spoken language to a certain extent unites Munich, Vienna, Innsbruck and Graz.

Features specific to the Austrian literary version developed at all levels - lexical, grammatical and phonetic.
Lexical differences:

German:		Austrian:
	Sahne		Obers
	Rentner		Pensionist
	abgetragenes Kleid		übertragenes Kleid
	Apricose		Marille
	grüne Bohne		Fisole
	Stechmücke		Gelse
	Schrank		Kasten
	räuchern		selchen
	sich erkälten		sich verkühlen
	Kasse		Kassa
	(greetings)		Grüß Gott

There are differences in word formation models and in the gender of the noun ( German der Schank – Austrian die Schank) , in the formation of the plural (German die Erlasse - Austrian die Erlässe, German Pralinen - Austrian Pralinees ), in the distribution by types of declension, in the formation of degrees of comparison of adjectives ( German dunkler - Austrian dünkler). The number of differences recorded in different reference books varies greatly: from 5000 to 2000.

The written literary Austrian language is constantly being replenished from dialects and urban dialects, especially Viennese. Thus, in the area of vocabulary, more and more differences from the German language in Germany are being discovered - Binnendeutsch. But basically it remains pan-German.

Swiss national variant

As you know, Switzerland has four national languages. Multilingualism dates back to ancient times, to the 2nd century. BC, when the Romans conquered the Helvetian Celts. During the period of Romanization, Roman culture was widely introduced, cities appeared : Geneva (Geneva, Genf/Geneve ), Lausonium (Lausanne, Lausanne), Turicum (Zurich, Zürich) , monasteries, roads, etc.

In the 5th century n. e. Western Switzerland was conquered by the Burgundians, and eastern Switzerland by the Alamanni. This is how the Germanization of a significant part of Swiss territory took place. The Illyrian tribe of the Rhets was pushed into high mountains eastern Switzerland (canton of Grisons). But the area of the Romanized Helvetii in the west has been preserved, this is the so-called “French Switzerland”. Thus, the distribution of language groups characteristic of present-day Switzerland was established back in the 5th-6th centuries. In the 6th century. Switzerland joined Frankish state. After its collapse, according to the Treaty of Verdun, the west and south of Switzerland went to Lothair, the east to Louis the German. Then it became part of Burgundy. During the struggle against the Habsburgs, the Swiss Confederation was founded in 1291: the cantons of Schwyz, Uri and Unterwalden entered into a defensive Eternal Alliance. During the 14th century. the remaining cantons join them. Political isolation was neutralized by cultural and economic ties, so that linguistic isolation did not occur.

The burgher reformation was led in Switzerland by the Zurich cleric Ulrich Zwingli. His translation of the Bible is close to the Upper Rhine version of the written language. But at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th centuries. East Central German forms of the written language penetrate into city offices and Zwingli's Bible is translated into it. During the 17th century. The German literary language is replacing the Swiss version of the literary language. Announcement of Switzerland in the 17th century. According to the Peace of Westphalia, an independent state could no longer change the linguistic situation. Swiss scientists - Bodmer and Breitinger, Johann Kaspar Lavater, Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi - take an active part in the literary and scientific life of Germany. Language of literature of the 19th century. practically free from local peculiarities.

In the 20th century During the period of the National Socialist Reich, a movement for complete linguistic isolation from Germany arose - the “Union of Defenders of the Swiss-German Language” - “Bund für Schwyzertütsch” as a counteraction to the attempts of the so-called Anschluß. This union still exists today and requires a conscious concern for Swiss-German along with literary German. In 1948, the "Zurich-German Grammar" was published, conceived as a manual for mastering the central and most influential Swiss-German dialect of Zurich - the largest city and the most influential economic and cultural center of German-speaking Switzerland. Zurich is the main center for the study of Swiss dialects.

The four languages in Switzerland are independent and equal. But, being in close and continuous contact for many centuries, they exert mutual influence not only in the form of lexical borrowings, but also at the levels of phonetics, grammar and even stylistics.

2/3 of the population of Switzerland - 4.5 million people, inhabiting more than 70% of the country's territory - speak German. The Swiss national variant includes standard German (Schweizerhochdeutsch) and a dialect-oriented spoken form of the language (Schwytzerdütsch), combining various communicative functions and used by all segments of society.

Literary German is used as a means of instruction in school and higher education. educational institutions, for official communication in court, parliament, military institutions, during religious services, in the press, on radio and television. It is mainly used in written form, and in oral informal communication - only in cases where they speak with persons who do not speak the local form of the language. The latter appears not only in private communication, but also in public speech - in cantonal councils, various unions, clubs, in some courts, partly in the church, as well as on radio and television. Schwyzerdüitsch is also used in written form - in periodicals and fiction. The functions of the dialect and everyday spoken language are partly combined in it with those that the literary language performs in other situations.

The literary German language in Switzerland, somewhat limited in its functions and directly in contact with the Swiss dialect Koine, has a number of features that allow it to be considered as an independent variant of the German language. The features of literary German in Switzerland are determined by the influence of Swiss dialects on it, the preservation of some southern German features, and the strong foreign language (mainly French) influence on vocabulary. The overall assessment of the specificity of the German language in Switzerland varies. Fiction presents different types of interaction - from a literary language oriented to general German norms to a language more or less saturated with Helvetianisms, for example, in the works of Max Frisch and Friedrich Dürrenmatt. IN oral speech For the Swiss, the proportion of each of the interacting linguistic forms fluctuates depending on the personality of the interlocutor, the situation and the topic of the conversation. Specific Features can be traced in literary German Switzerland at different levels.

In phonetics: the absence of a solid attack and a slightly different distribution of longitude and brevity, weak aspiration of voiceless stops, shift of stress in derived words.

In spelling: discrepancies in the use of lowercase and capital letters and in the combined or separate writing of individual combinations. They, like the Austrians, did not accept the German spelling reform.

In morphology: differences in gender (German das Hektar - Swiss die Hektare), in the formation of some plural forms.

The greatest discrepancy is in vocabulary and semantics: German. Rechtsanwalt - Swiss. Fursprech , German Quark – Swiss. Ziger. In the Swiss version of literary German there are more foreign language lexemes: Automobilist, Aviatik, Salar, Velo, Television. There are also some peculiarities in word formation.

Schwyzerdütsch is common in the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland, it is the language of everyday communication without any socio-demographic restrictions, which is why it is considered the national language of the country. It is used not only in everyday communication, but also penetrates into the higher spheres of communication: literature, radio, television, theater, cinema, administrative institutions, and is partially used as a means of teaching in gymnasiums and universities. It is implemented in the form of 20 private subsystems or subdialects, in which the commonality of basic elements dominates over individual characteristics. The modern state of Schwyzerdütsch is characterized by the development of elements of trans-dialectality and interaction with standard German. It is part of the Alemannic dialect, which belongs to South German. In the 16th century The Swiss literary dialect dominated all genres of writing in German-speaking Switzerland. During the 17th century. literary German becomes a literary language in Switzerland too, gradually displacing the Swiss literary dialect from written use. However, the dialect tradition continued to develop in epic, drama, and lyric poetry (Häflinger, Gebel, Tavel). 60s 20th century were marked by a new flowering of dialect lyrics (Marty, Eggiman, Burren).

In recent decades, the emergence of a unique interdialect has begun to emerge, the role of which is claimed by the dialect of Zurich as the largest center. Schwyzerdütsch has a number of unique characteristics: it is absolutely devoid of any social marking and represents practically the only means of everyday language communication for the German-Swiss. Literary German in its Swiss version is a business, official language, it is the language of the official report, the press and printing. In dialogical speech, only Schwyzerdütsch is used, thus fulfilling functions traditionally belonging to literary language. Therefore, sometimes they even try to present it as an independent language, calling it the fifth language of the country, and Switzerland as a five-lingual country.

German language in Luxembourg

Today's Luxembourg is a small Grand Duchy (2586 km2). It became independent in 963, at first it was an independent county, the possession of the counts of Lutzelburg ( Lützelburg, Wed. svn. lützi l - "small"). Since 1354 Luxembourg has been a duchy, since 1815 it has been a Grand Duchy. In 1867, Luxembourg received final state and political independence. A complex linguistic situation is developing in the duchy as a result of its geographical location at the junction of the Romanesque and German areas and close economic and cultural ties with both France and Germany. Luxembourgers consider Letzeburgesch to be their native language; it is based on the Mosel Frank dialect, West Mosel Frankish. This language is the main means of everyday communication in the state, showing a tendency towards linguistic unification and the development of a stable written literary norm. In Letzeburg in the 20th century. started to appear literary works, mainly poetry and drama.

The constitution of Luxembourg in 1868 established bilingualism: French and German were declared the official languages of the country. After the fascist occupation, Letzeburg received official recognition as another state language, as a means of national self-identification. But German and especially French still dominate: in business life, official spheres, the highest circles of Luxembourg society speak exclusively French. The German language predominates in liturgy and periodicals: in the press the ratio of German to French is 5:1. The lack of a national university in Luxembourg also has a negative impact on the language situation. Almost all Luxembourgers are trilingual. In terms of usage, the Letzeburg language prevails over German, and German over French.

Yiddish(DasJiddische)

Variant of the name is Hebrew. In literature in Russian, the name “Jewish-German jargon” was previously adopted. Now the term “Yiddish” is used to avoid terminological confusion with Hebrew - also a “Jewish language.” Yiddish belongs to the Western subgroup of the Germanic group of the Indo-European family, it was formed as a result interaction of German, Semitic, Slavic and Romance components. Yiddish speakers now live in the USA, Israel, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, the Baltic republics, Argentina, Canada, South Africa, Poland, Romania, Australia, France, etc. On the eve of the second. World War II, more than 10 million people spoke Yiddish. Now the number of active speakers is estimated at about 2 million, mainly older people who survived the war and the Holocaust.

Yiddish is represented by two groups of dialects - Western and Eastern. Western ones were supplanted by German and various local languages in the 1st half of the 19th century. Individual speakers of Western dialects survive in Alsace, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. These dialects have been poorly studied.

The Eastern group is divided into three subgroups:

northeastern, or Belarusian-Lithuanian dialect (Lithuania, Belarus, northeastern Poland)
southeastern, or Ukrainian dialect (Ukraine, eastern Galicia, Romania, southeastern Poland)
Central, or "Polish", Yiddish, which was used in the territory between the German-Polish border in 1939.

Moreover, the western group was so different from, for example, the southeastern one that the works of Sholom Aleichem, a native of Ukraine, were translated from eastern to western. Nowadays, the distribution of dialects does not always coincide with the areas that gave them their names due to migrations of speakers.

Yiddish in its eastern version has the functions of the state language (along with Russian) in the Jewish Autonomous Region. Outside of it, it is predominantly the language of everyday communication. All Yiddish speakers are bilingual or multilingual, speaking the language of their country of residence and Hebrew with Ashkenazi pronunciation used as a sacred language. Mass bilingualism and multilingualism are a traditional phenomenon for Yiddish speakers. At the same time, despite universal literacy in the language of the country of residence, a significant part of speakers of oral Yiddish cannot read and write in their native language. Previously, the situation was the opposite.

The first literary monuments in Yiddish are known from the 13th century. Their language is the so-called. “Ivre-taych” was available to speakers of all varieties of Yiddish of that time. The first printed book was “Seifer de Rabbi Anshl”, it was published in 1534. Modern literary Yiddish began to take shape at the end of the 19th century. based on the eastern group of dialects. Its founders are three classics of German prose: Mendele Moikher-Sforim (a native of Belarus), Yitzchok-Leibush Peretz (a native of Poland) and Sholom Aleichem (a native of Ukraine, Sholom Rabinovich himself, a pseudonym that means “peace be upon you”). Despite the rapid development of writing language, the corresponding colloquial norm has not spread outside of radio, theater and educational institutions. Now there are two main variants of the literary language. One is widespread in Russia, the other is almost everywhere outside of Russia, where literature in Yiddish is published. There are some differences in them. vocabulary and grammatical forms. Differences are also manifested in spelling. Abroad, words of Semitic - Aramaic and Hebrew origin - are usually written according to the rules of consonantal writing, which is typical for these languages. In our country, such words are not an obstacle to communication. Unlike prose, in Yiddish poetry phonetic and grammatical dialectisms are quite acceptable. Tens of thousands of books have been published in Yiddish, periodicals: we have the monthly “Sovetish Geimland”, later renamed “Di Yidishe Gas”, and the newspaper “Birobidzhaner Stern” published 5 times a week; theater and variety groups performed (Mikhoels).

Currently, Yiddish is on the verge of extinction throughout the world. It played a certain role as a language of instruction in educational institutions. In a number of universities, Yiddish is studied as a unique phenomenon - it stands at the junction of Germanic and Semitic languages. In Moscow, a major subject at the Jewish Academy named after. Maimonides and optional courses at the Russian State University for the Humanities and the Hebrew University. To write Yiddish, Jewish script is used, the writing direction is from right to left.

There are early (10th-14th centuries), old (14th-17th centuries) and new (up to the present) periods of Yiddish history. In the early period, “Ivre-Taych” stood out as a special language common to the Jews of Germany and neighboring countries, which included elements of various German dialects, as well as, to a lesser extent, elements of the Romance language of the Jews of early medieval Europe “Laaz” and the Hebrew language that served then the main written language of the Jews, like their Christian neighbors, is Latin. In the old period, Yiddish was significantly influenced by Polish and other Slavic languages, and to an even greater extent compared with it. early period, absorbs elements of Hebrew and Aramaic. In the new period, the differences between the eastern and western variants are becoming increasingly stronger. The latter begins to play a leading role in the literary and folklore tradition.

An example of Slavic influence: a stylistic device that gives an emotionally intensifying meaning to complex words of the Semitic type from non-Hebrew roots: soprano-sebesoprano- “the most soprano.” Russian Yiddish includes: Hokhma (and derivative words), Hala , zemelakh, tsimes, and in American English - nudnik - “bore” and no-gudnik-"worthless person"
German entered from Yiddish : schummeln, besebeln- "deceive" , Gauner- “thief”, from Hebrew Tohuwabohu- "Durcheinander", Menetekel -"Zeichen drohenden Unheils, Warnungszeichen", Shlemihl. It is interesting that from Heb. kochem- “cunning, rascal” is a German pseudoparticiple formed ausgekocht with the same meaning.

German settlements V foreign language surrounded

These are places of compact residence of German speakers outside countries where German is the state language or one of the state languages. For example, back in the 12-13th centuries. During the development of the East March, part of the German colonists moved further to the south and southeast, forming separate German-speaking "islands" - " Sprachinseln". Most of these islands were in Transylvania, in Semigrad. They were also available in Hungary, Yugoslavia, the Czech Republic, and Italy (in Tyrol). From the end of the 17th century. islands appear in the New World, the oldest are in Pennsylvania, there even a peculiar dialect formed there, called Pennsylfaanisch, or Pennsylvaniendeutsch. From the 18th – early 19th centuries. there were numerous German settlements in Poland and Russia. Their inhabitants, as a rule, came from western Germany, which was devastated by continuous wars with France, continued to speak their native dialects: Swabian, Hessian, etc., or mixed dialects if the inhabitants came from different regions of Germany. The population of the “islands” is usually bilingual, sometimes multilingual, while knowledge of other languages is rather passive. Their language is characterized by the penetration of elements from surrounding languages, especially elements that were not present in the native German dialect. There is a study of the dialect of the Germans in the village of Kultuk in Altai. It was founded by Mennonite sectarians, immigrants from northern Germany who spoke a dialect of Low German. Under the influence of the Russian-speaking environment, this dialect developed a category of subjunctive, which in principle differs from the categories characteristic of German: Jemand then an die Tür klopft.

History of the German language

The German language (Deutsch, Deutsche Sprache) is the language of the Germans, Austrians and part of the Swiss. It is the official language of Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, one of the official languages of Switzerland, Luxembourg and Belgium. The German language belongs to the Indo-European family of languages (Germanic branch). Writing is based on the Latin alphabet.

Until the beginning of the 20th century. The Gothic font was officially used (in particular, there was a special Gothic handwritten font). Letters in the generally accepted European style are used first unofficially since the 19th century, and after the victory of the November Revolution of 1918 they are introduced officially. Nazi attempts to reintroduce Gothic as an official script were unsuccessful, and it is now used only for decorative purposes.

German names and titles are transmitted in Russian according to the traditional system, which is quite simple, but at the same time often conditional and does not reflect pronunciation.

Literary German (Hochdeutsche Sprache, or Hochdeutsch) developed from the High (South) German and Middle German dialects, in which the so-called second consonant shift occurred during the Middle Ages. Gradually, it also influenced dialects that did not undergo the second consonant movement - Low (North) German (Niederdeutsch).

The word "teutsch" (Deutsch) is a Latin neoplasm based on the Germanic word for "people" (thioda, thiodisk) - it denoted the language of a people who did not speak Latin.

The first attempt at unifying adverbs was made around 1200 in Central German poetry. The success of this attempt is noticeable, since the poets, wanting to be understood outside their regions, tried to avoid regional words and expressions. But one should not attach much importance to this attempt, since the majority of the population was illiterate. Therefore, scholars believe that the development of a new written and oral Hochdeutsch occurred during the late Middle Ages and early modern times (Frühe Neuzeit).

In most European countries, the standard literary language is based on the dialect of that country's capital. Standard German (Hochdeutsch), in contrast to the practice of most European countries, is a cross between the Middle German and High German dialects. Literary German is native only in Hannover. The Berlin dialect, on the contrary, is difficult to understand by residents of other regions.

In the northern part of Germany, standard German (Hochdeutsch) spread as the language of government and school education during the Reformation. During the heyday of the Hansa, Low German dialects and the Dutch language reigned throughout northern Germany. Over time, literary German in the northern regions of Germany practically replaced the local dialects. And since the Low German dialect is very different from the literary one, the formation of any compromise dialect was impossible, and most modern residents of northern Germany speak only literary German and often no longer even speak the dialect of their ancestors. In the center and south of Germany, where the language was originally more similar to the literary one, the population retained its dialects.

Martin Luther translated in 1521 New Testament and in 1534 Old Testament into the then not yet established standard New German written language (Neuhochdeutsch). The language he used in his translation had an "East Central German" flavor and influenced the language of entire generations. Some scholars believe that the importance of the language of Luther's Bible in the formation of the New German language is greatly exaggerated compared to reality. Already from the 14th century, a region-wide written German language, also called Early Modern German (Frühneuhochdeutsch), gradually developed. The formation of a standard written German language was largely completed in the 17th century.

Periods in the history of the German language

750-1050: old literary German Althochdeutsch

1050-1350: Middle literary German Mittelhochdeutsch

1350-1650: Early Modern Literary German Frühneuhochdeutsch

from 1650: modern literary German Neuhochdeutsch

The oldest monuments of the German language date back to the middle of the 8th century. German belongs to the Germanic branch (Western group) of the Indo-European family. Approximately 3000-2500 BC. Indo-European tribes settled in northern Europe. From their mixing with local tribes of a different ethnic group, the tribes that gave rise to the Germans emerged. Their language, isolated from other Indo-European languages, became the Germanic base language, from which, in the process of subsequent fragmentation, new tribal languages of the Germans arose. Subsequently, the German language, which did not have a single ancestral basis, was formed in the process of convergence of several West German dialects. The ancient Germans early entered into military clashes with Rome, and trade and economic relations were also conducted. Contacts inevitably reflected on the vocabulary of Germanic dialects in the form of Latin borrowings.

The development of the German language from tribal dialects to a national literary language is associated with numerous migrations of its speakers. The Istveons (Franks) spread to the west of the continent, to Romanized northern Gaul, where at the end of the 5th century. The bilingual state of the Merovingians was formed. Under the rule of the Franks, within the framework of the state of the Merovingians and Carolingians (5-9 centuries), there was a unification of West Germanic tribes (Franks, Alemanni, Bayuvars, Turings, Chatti), as well as the Saxons, who moved in the 4-5 centuries. from the North Sea coast in the Weser and Rhine region, which created the preconditions for the later formation of the Old High German language as the language of the German people. Erminons (Alemanni, Bayuvars) from the 1st century. n. e. move from the Elbe basin to the south of Germany and subsequently become speakers of southern German dialects. The basis of the Low German dialects was Old Saxon, which was originally part of the Ingvaeon group and was strongly influenced by Frankish dialects. This influence is associated with the Frankish conquests. Under Charlemagne (768 - 814), the Saxon tribes living in the wooded area between the lower Rhine and the Elbe were conquered and subjected to forced Christianization as a result of a series of long, fierce wars.

The Christianization of the Germans contributed to the spread of the Latin script and the Latin alphabet among them; the vocabulary was enriched with Latin vocabulary associated with the Christian cult. The Latin language for a long time - as in other European states - remained the language of science, official business and book language. The gigantic Frankish empire was later divided into three parts, which was secured by the Treaty of Verdun in 843. The East Frankish Empire, like other fragments of great empires, created by conquest, was multi-tribal, and its inhabitants’ awareness of their ethnic and linguistic unity came only at the end of the 10th - beginning of the 11th centuries, i.e. towards the end of Old German and the beginning of the Middle German period, which was first reflected in the Annolied (between 1080 and 1085), where the word diutisch served as a symbol of the German linguistic community.

The basis of the language of the German people was primarily a group of dialects of the Frankish union of tribes (Saliev and Ripuari), the sphere of influence of which first included the Alemannic and Bavarian dialects, and then, from the 9th century, the dialects of the Saxon language (Altsaechsisch), which gradually received the status of a Low German dialect as part of the German language, while the Frankish, Alemannic and Bavarian dialects began to oppose it as a High German dialect, uniting South German and Central German dialects.

The tendency towards the formation of supra-dialectal forms of the language on a southwestern basis began in the 12th and 13th centuries. In the 13th-14th centuries. the formation of the German language leads to the fact that Latin is gradually losing its position as the language of the official business sphere. Gradually mixed East German dialects formed as a result of the colonization of Slavic lands east of the river. Elbe, take on a leading role and, enriched by interaction with the southern German literary tradition, form the basis of the German national literary language. The emergence of this language as a national language was facilitated by the victory of the Reformation and the translation of the Bible into German by Martin Luther, as well as intensive development in the 17th-19th centuries. fiction. The formation of the norms of modern literary language is completed mainly in the end. XVIII century, when the grammatical system was normalized, spelling was stabilized, normative dictionaries were created, at the end of the 19th century. Orthoepic norms are developed on the basis of stage pronunciation. In the XVI-XVIII centuries. emerging literary norms spread to the north of Germany.

Features of language and translation from German into Russian and from Russian into German

German orthography is historical, which is where many discrepancies between spelling and sound come from. Modern German has some normative differences, mainly in vocabulary and pronunciation. A certain territorial differentiation in oral communication remains, which is reflected both in fiction and in its translation.

First dictionaries

Johann Christoph Adelung released the first large dictionary in 1781. The Brothers Grimm in 1852 began creating an extensive Dictionary of the German Language (Deutsches Worterbuch), which was completed only in 1961.

Spelling

German spelling was formed during the 19th century. A significant breakthrough in the creation of a common spelling was achieved thanks to Konrad Duden, who published the “Spelling Dictionary of the German Language” in 1880. During the German spelling reform process in 1901, this dictionary, in a slightly modified form, was recognized as the basis of German official spelling.

Modern spelling reform

At the end of the 20th century, the leaders of the German-speaking countries - Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, as well as representatives of states with compactly living German minorities (Italy, Romania and Hungary) decided to carry out a reform of German spelling, which was planned to be completed in August 2005.

However, a year before this deadline, several leading newspapers and magazines in Germany (primarily those that are part of the largest publishing concern Axel Springer AG) announced a return to traditional rules.

One of the most conservative and respected newspapers in Germany, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, in 1999, like the whole country, switched to a new spelling, but a year later returned to the usual spelling. The country's most important socio-political magazine, Der Spiegel, also abandoned the new spelling.

According to journalists, the new spelling rules only worsened the situation with the German language and led to mass confusion, since, according to surveys, only 38% of the German population are familiar with the new rules. The officials themselves also violate the new rules, even in official documents.
It is said that most writers refused to accept the new spelling rules from the very beginning. Of all the achievements of Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Schröder, this is called “the most dubious.” In most states affected by the reform, in principle, people are given the right to decide for themselves which spelling rules they apply. In Germany, this issue became the subject of internal party struggle and a way to receive dividends from voters.

The population of Schleswig-Holstein held a referendum back in 1998 and voted to reject the reform. However, the federal government, given the funds already spent on teaching students under the new rules, is unwilling to back down on spelling reform. Currently, the spelling reform is being partially reworked, that is, a “reform of the reform” is being carried out.

History of German translation

The first written monuments of the Old German language date back to the 8th century. and are translations into German of Catholic prayers. By the end of the 8th - beginning of the 9th century. translations into German of the Gospel of Matthew, one of Augustine’s sermons and the treatise of Isidore of Seville “On the Christian Faith Against the Pagans” are being carried out. Speaking about this latter, the researchers note that, despite the complexity of the content and style, the German translator managed to cope with his task perfectly and showed an amazing ability to use the means of his native language to translate the Latin original into German. Later, a German version of the translation of Tatian’s “Gospel Harmony” (2nd century) was created, also translated from Latin. The principle of literal translation prevails in it, i.e. transmitting text while maintaining word order.

At the turn of the X - XI centuries. The activity of the monk of the St. Gallen monastery, Notker the Gubasty, also called Notker the German (950-1022), unfolds. In order to make life easier for his students, he decided, in his words, to do something “hitherto unheard of”: he translated texts of Latin church pedagogical literature into German. Other translations into German by Nocter are also known: the philosophical and theological works of Aristotle, Marcianus Capella, Boethius, as well as the psalms of David, Virgil’s Bucolics, etc. He invariably provided comments with his translations into German. When translating, he had to put a lot of effort into creating appropriate terms and conveying concepts.

In the XII - XIII centuries. The French chivalric novel is being intensively mastered. Translations into German of “The Song of Roland”, “The Romance of Troy”, “Ivaine”, etc. appeared. In the 14th - 15th centuries, there was a further development of translated literature. Of particular note is the anonymous translation into German of the Bible, which was printed in 1465 in Strasbourg. Appearance Holy Scripture in German became a kind of harbinger of the coming Reformation. Translations were made from religious works, scientific and artistic texts, including the translation of some works of ancient authors, the heyday of translations of which, however, occurred later - during the Renaissance.

From the thirties of the 15th century, Renaissance traditions began to appear in the activities of humanists in Germany. Translations from Greek and Latin occupy a central place. Reverence for “solemn Latin” led to an almost complete copying of the syntactic features of the original and the saturation of the translation text with borrowed vocabulary. This trend was especially evident in the activities of Niklas von Wiele (1410-1497).

Considering his native language to be devoid of “art and correctness,” Vile insisted on reproducing the classic text wort uss wort, i.e. translation word by word. This position was very popular among a significant number of German humanists of the 15th century, and the language of Wiele’s translations began to be considered by them as a kind of example of high style, which many translators sought to imitate. However, supporters of such a translation into German also had many opponents. Thus, the writer and translator Heinrich Steinheuvel (1412-1482), especially famous for his version of Aesop's fables, argued that the original must be conveyed not word by word, but meaning by meaning. The language of his translations was distinguished by significant freedom, simplicity and a desire to reproduce the ideas of the original. Similar principles The translator of the German language, Albrecht von Eyb (1420-1475), was also guided by this, who sought to bring the speech of the characters in Plautus’s comedy as close as possible to the everyday German language. He widely introduced German proverbs, sayings, everyday vocabulary into the text and even “Germanized” the original, replacing Latin names and names of officials with German ones.

Particular interest in the problem of translation began to be observed in Germany in the second half of the 18th century. There is a growing desire to become acquainted with works of European literature, so to speak, not second-hand - through translations from French translations, but through German translations from the originals. The activities of Breitinger, Klopstock, Herder and other authors of this era are often characterized as a kind of “first peak” reached by translation thought in Germany and largely prepared the rise that characterized German translation in the following centuries.

“Neither the French nor the English have such good translations from Greek as the Germans have now enriched their literature with. Their Homer is Homer: the same unartificial, noble simplicity in language that was the soul of the times.”

The German language, like other modern foreign languages, has several parallel existing forms: German national literary language (Hochsprache), urban dialects or vernacular (Umgangssprache) And dialects.

Modern literary language(Hochsprache, Hochdeutsche Sprache, or Hochdeutsch) exists in oral and written form and developed on the basis of the Upper (South) and Central German dialects, which underwent in the 6th-8th centuries AD. e. so-called second consonant movement. The source of a common literary language for the Germans was the translation of the Bible, then the services in German by the Augustinian monk Martin Luther at the beginning of the 16th century. He took the Saxon dialect, then the most widespread in the German states, as the basis for the common German language.

The formation of literary written German was largely completed in the 17th century. Unlike most European countries, whose literary language is based on the dialect of the capital, the German literary language is something of a “middle ground” between the Middle and High German dialects and is considered local only in Hannover.

The next variety of the German language is dialectally colored city dialects or vernacular(colloquial German - Umgangssprache), for example, Berlin dialect (Berlinisch) or Hamburg dialect (Hamburgisch).

Despite almost a century and a half of consolidation, the German language is also represented by numerous dialects (Mundarten). These are dialects of the north, center and south of the country, as well as individual geographical regions. Dialects are different local varieties of the German language, existing mainly in oral communication and differing from each other in the field of vocabulary, grammatical forms and especially pronunciation. Local dialects developed back in the Middle Ages, reflecting the territorial, political and economic fragmentation and disunity inherent in this era. The language that differs most from the literary language is Low German - Plattdeutsch. It is closest to the Dutch and Flemish languages. The German-speaking territory is historically divided into three regions: in the north in villages they speak the Low German dialect, in the cities of Hochdeutsch (with certain local peculiarities). In the south, the High German dialects are very common - Bavarian and Swabo-Alemannic. In central Germany they speak Central German dialects - Saxon, Hessian and Moselle-Frankish. But at the same time, the literary language Hochdeutsch is spoken almost everywhere, including in the Austrian capital Vienna. In Switzerland, Hochdeutsch is largely a written language. It is studied in school, but many German-speaking Swiss cannot speak it, which greatly worries the Swiss government.

In our time, the spread of the printed word, radio and television has led to the fact that dialectal norms are losing their meaning, especially in written speech.

Usually isolated three groups of dialects:

I. Low German dialects (Plattdeutsch oder Niederdeutsch), Northern German dialects:

1) Niederfränkisch(Low Frankish)

2) Niedersächsisch(Low Saxon).- Ostfällisch(Ostphalian), Westfällisch(Westphalian), Nordsächsisch(North Saxon), Holsteinisch(Holstein)

3) Ostniederdeutsch(East Low German); Meklenburgisch(Mecklenburgian), Markisch(Markian), Pommersch(Pomeranian), Brandenburgisch (Brandenburg).

II. Central German dialects (Mitteldeutsch), dialects of Central Germany:

1) Westmitteldeutsch(West Central German): Ripuarisch(Ripuarian), Moselfrankisch(Moselfrancian), Rheinfränkisch(Rhine Frankish);

2) Ostmitteldeutsch(East Central German): Thüringisch(Thuringian), Obersächsisch(High Saxon), Schlesisch(Silesian), Erzgebirgisch(Erzgebirgian).

III. South German dialects (Oberdeutsch, Southern German dialects:

1) Oberfränkisch(High Frankish): Südfränkisch(South Frankish), Ostfränkisch (East Frankish);

2) Alemannisch(Alemannic): Nordemannisch(Northern Alemannic), Südalemannisch(South Alemannic), Schwäbisch(Swabian);

3) Bairisch-Österreichisch(Bavarian-Austrian): Oberpfälzisch(Upper Palatinate), Nordbairisch(Northern Bavarian), Südbairisch(South Bavarian), Mittelösterreichisch(Middle Austrian), Südösterreichisch(South Austrian).

Terms Niederdeutsch, Plattdeutsch, Mitteldeutsch And Oberdeutsch associated with the characteristics of the German landscape. Niederdeutsch, Plattdeutsch are dialects of the North German Lowland (Norddeutsche Tiefebene), they are opposed to the dialects of the more southern, elevated part of Germany. Central German and South German dialects have a number of common features, especially in the field of phonetic structure, and are united under the common name High German dialects (hochdeutsche Mundarten). Literary German was formed primarily on the basis of High German dialects, which is why it is often designated by the term Hochdeutsch.

Topic 2: Ancient Germans and their languages

History of the ancient Germans

Ancient Germanic tribes and their languages

History of Germanic writing

Have you started studying German. We are pleased with your choice and will try to slightly expand your understanding of the German language by revitalizing it. After all, a language is alive only when it has a history and is a means of communication for many, many people. For 105 million inhabitants of the planet German is a native language and 80 million study it as a foreign language.

German is the official language in Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein, as well as one of the official languages Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Development

West Germanic linguistic region in the East Frankish Kingdom (962)

Martin Luther. Portrait by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1526

In 3000-2500 BC e. Indo-European tribes settled in northern Europe. From mixing with tribes of another ethnic group, they formed tribes that gave rise to the Germans. Their language, isolated from other Indo-European languages, became the basis of the languages of the Germans.

The development of the German language from tribal dialects to a national literary language is associated with migrations of its speakers. Under the rule of the Franks, there was a unification of the West German tribes (Franks, Alemanni, Bayuvars, Turings, Chatti) and Saxons, who moved in the 4th-5th centuries. in the area of Wieser and the Rhine, which created the preconditions for the formation of the Old High German language. Erminons (Alemanni, Bayuvars) from the 1st century. n. e. come to the south of Germany and become speakers of High German dialects. The Low German dialects were based on Old Saxon, which was strongly influenced by Frankish dialects.

The Christianization of the Germans contributed to the spread of Latin writing. The vocabulary of the Germans is enriched by Latin borrowings associated, as a rule, with the Christian cult. For a long time, Latin (as in other European countries) remained the language of science, official business and book language.

In 843, according to the Treaty of Verdun, the Frankish Empire was divided into three parts. The East Frankish Empire, like other fragments of great empires created by conquest, was multi-tribal, and its inhabitants realized their ethnic and linguistic unity only at the end. X - start XI centuries, that is, towards the end of the Old German and the beginning of the Middle German period, which was first reflected in the Annolied (between 1080 and 1085), where the word diutisch served as a symbol of the German linguistic community.

At all, the word Deutsch is derived from the Old German thioda, and meant “speaking the language of the people” (as opposed to speaking Latin). The Latin theodisce, derived from it and first appearing in the report of Nuncio Gregor to the synod in 786, described peoples who did not speak Latin, in particular the Germanic ones.

Unlike its Romance and Slavic neighbors, the German linguistic area had territorially fragmented political structures throughout the Middle Ages, which led to the formation and development of a large number of different dialects. Regional peculiarities of language use complicated the process of creating cultural integrity and prompted the early poets. XIII century avoid dialectal forms in order to expand the circle of potential readers, which is considered the first attempt to create a common German language. However, only the spread of literacy among the general population during periods late Middle Ages marked the beginning of the development of a new written and oral literary German language.

In the Middle Ages into German strongly influenced by Arabic. Arabic borrowings in German are represented by words related to trade (Magazin, Tarif, Tara), botany (Orange, Kaffee, Ingwer), medicine (Elixier, Balsam), mathematics (Algebra, Algorithmus, Ziffer), chemistry (alkalisch, Alkohol) and astronomy (Almanach, Zenit, Rigel).

In the XIII-XIV centuries. the formation of the German language leads to the fact that Latin is gradually losing its position as the language of the official business sphere. Gradually mixed East German dialects formed as a result of the colonization of Slavic lands east of the river. Elbe, take on a leading role and, enriched by interaction with the southern German literary tradition, form the basis of the German national literary language.

In 1521, Martin Luther translated (into the then not yet established) standard New German written language (Neuhochdeutsch) the New, and in 1534 - the Old Testament, which, according to scientists, influenced the development of the language of entire generations, since already in the 14th century. there was a noticeable gradual development of a region-wide written German language, also called Early Modern German (Frühneuhochdeutsch). The formation of literary written German was largely completed in the 17th century.

Unlike most European countries, whose literary language is based on the dialect of the capital, the German literary language is a cross between the Middle and High German dialects, which have undergone the so-called. second consonant movement, and is considered local only in Hanover. In the northern part of Germany, the language spread into the areas of government and school education during the Reformation. During the heyday of the Hansa, Low German dialects and the Dutch language reigned throughout northern Germany. Over time, literary German in the northern regions of Germany practically replaced the local dialects, which have partially survived to this day. In the center and south of Germany, where the language was originally more similar to the literary one, the population retained its dialects.

Intensive development in the 17th-19th centuries was of great importance for the German language. artistic culture (literature). The formation of the norms of modern literary language is completed at the end. XVIII century., when the grammatical system was normalized, spelling stabilized, normative dictionaries were created, at the end of the 19th century. Orthoepic norms are developed on the basis of stage pronunciation. In the XVI-XVIII centuries. emerging literary norms spread to the north of Germany. At this time, words from French (Boulevard, Konfitüre, Trottoir) and Slavic languages (Grenze, Gurke, Pistole) actively penetrated into the German language.

The first dictionaries of the German language were compiled by I. K. Adelung (1781)and the Brothers Grimm(1852, completely finished in 1961). German spelling was formed throughout the 19th century. A significant breakthrough in the creation of a common spelling was achieved thanks to Konrad Duden, who in 1880 published the “Spelling Dictionary of the German Language”. During the German spelling reform process in 1901, this dictionary, in a slightly modified form, was recognized as the basis of German official spelling. The differences between the High and Low German literary written language were partially eliminated by the “Rules for German Spelling” of 1956.

Great influence on the language in the XX - early. XXI centuries influenced by English borrowings, which may be associated, for example, with the development of pop musical art in English-speaking countries. The Internet and the media play a significant role in this.

Periods in the history of the German language

about 750 - approx. 1050: Old High German (Althochdeutsch)
about 1050 - approx. 1350: Middle High German (Mittelhochdeutsch)
around 1350 - approx. 1650: Early New High German (Frühneuhochdeutsch)
from about 1650: New High German, modern German (Neuhochdeutsch)

Modern spelling reform

On August 1, 1998, new rules for German spelling were introduced in Germany. Now in words with ß after short vowels ß is replaced by ss (Fluss, muss, dass), but after long vowels and diphthongs the letter ß is retained (Fuß, heiß). When new words or forms are formed, the base of the word is preserved (nummerieren is written with a double mm, since the base is Nummer). For frequently used borrowings, simplified spelling is allowed (Mayonnaise → Majonäse). In words of Greek origin, the letter combination ph can be replaced by the letter f (Geographie → Geografie). Some complex verbs, previously written together, are now written separately (kennen lernen, Halt machen, verloren gehen). Designations of the time of day accompanied by the words gestern, heute, morgen (heute Nachmittag, morgen Vormittag), as well as substantivized numerals (der Zweite) are written with a capital letter. The changes also affected punctuation. Now in a complex sentence with the conjunctions und or oder, as well as in the construction Infinitiv + zu, a comma is not placed.

The reform was received ambiguously.

As it became known, most writers refused to accept the new spelling rules from the very beginning. The officials themselves also violate the new rules, even in official documents. The population of Schleswig-Holstein held a referendum back in 1998 and voted to reject the reform. In July 2005, the Institute of Demoscopy in Allensbach conducted a study on the acceptance of the reform by the population. The result showed a clear rejection of reform in Germany: only 8% of respondents supported the reform, 61% were against it.

Of all the achievements of German Federal Chancellor Schröder, this reform is called “the most dubious.” According to journalists, the new spelling rules only worsened the situation with the German language and led to mass confusion, since, according to surveys, only 38% of the German population are familiar with the new rules. In most states affected by the reform, people are given the right to decide for themselves which spelling rules to use. recycled.

On August 1, 2007, the final version of the German spelling reform law came into force in Germany.. New rules of punctuation and spelling are mandatory for everyone without exception government agencies and education systems. The reform abolishes 87 of the 212 spelling rules, instead of 52 punctuation rules, only 12 remain. The decision to reform the written German language was made on July 1, 1996 in Vienna at a meeting of the ministers of culture of German-speaking countries. Experts spent more than ten years developing updated rules.

Standardsprache). The first means, first of all, the language of literature, free in terms of the choice of means of expression, when the second is codified. The problem of the literary language is one of the most pressing problems of German linguistics, since there is still no consensus among philologists about what should characterize the German literary language common to all residents of German-speaking states. This article will present only those characteristic features that do not cause significant controversy among scientists and are recognized by the majority of philologists as correct.

Story

The emergence and development of the literary German language, the formation of its norms to this day is one of the most pressing problems in German philology, since the history of the formation of the literary language is closely linked with the history of the formation of the national language. When connecting normalization processes in language, one should first of all take into account the complex linguistic situation in Germany in the Middle Ages and modern times, as well as the peculiarities of the development of German literature, urban writing, and printing. Acquiring a supra-dialectal character, these forms of language, however, were not divorced from dialectal features and could not consider their language the most “pure”. Under these conditions, the specifics of the formation of a literary language in the 16th-18th centuries were associated with the choice of a single supraregional (national) variant with uniform norms and the purification of the language from borrowings (mainly Italian, French and Latin). The identification of a single norm from many dialects was not an easy task, however, the understanding of the need to overcome dialects was obvious. In the work “Buch von der Deutschen Poetery” this “pure language” has already begun to be called “high German” (German. Hochdeutsch), untainted by dialects "misspoken".

In the 17th century, the East Central German dialect began to gain increasing popularity, influencing the formation of the literary language. It was quickly adopted as a written and in some cases as an urban vernacular language, which allowed it to quickly displace the Low German dialects from literature, although the latter could not disappear under Middle German influence and continued to be widely used in other areas. The beginning of the “East Central German expansion” is associated with the activities of Martin Luther, who, even in the Early New High German period of the development of the German language, used this dialect in his works and translations. The further development of the literary language from the East Central German dialect was associated with the purposeful activities of communities created in Germany (the most famous of them is the Fruitful Society) and writers who advocated for the purity and unity of the language (among them Gryphius, Olearius, Opitz, Schottel, von Zesen and others ) .

In the 18th-19th centuries, scientists and writers Leibniz, Gottsched and Adelung became new fighters for a pure and unified language, who actively dealt with issues of spelling, grammar and rhetoric, used High German for writing, recommending it in their works as the most perfect of all German dialects . Thus, Gottsched and Adelung were able to make a significant contribution to the development of German orthography by creating the first dictionaries of the German language. Later Zibs and Duden supplemented it, also reforming grammar and rhetoric. In the 20th century, literary norms were fixed, and no significant changes occurred in grammar. The German language had its own peculiarities during the rise of power of the NSDAP (see German language in the Third Reich) and after the war in the ideologized GDR (German language in the GDR), but they did not affect the literary norm and all innovations concerned exclusively lexical (semantic) shifts . To beginning of the XXI century, some discrepancy was recorded between the norms of stage pronunciation of Siebs and the language of the Germans, but the nature of this phenomenon does not affect the fundamental norms in the present. It is believed that this is a natural process of change in the pronunciation of individual vowels.

The problem of literary language

One of the main problems of the literary language, identified in the introduction, comes down to the formalization of the terminological apparatus. To define a literary language, it is used as a concept Literaturesprache, so Standardsprache, which are practically synonymous. However, these concepts must be distinguished. Other terms that are not clearly defined but related to standard German are: Schriftsprache- written language (usually understood in a historical sense), Hochsprache- high language (the language of fiction, the purest language), Einheitssprache- a single language, Gemeindeutsch- the same (general German language), Dachsprache- a common language (“roof language” that unites all native speakers). Such a terminological mess does not allow the creation of unified approaches to the description of the literary language.

Write a review on the article "Literary German"

Notes

Language structure

Writing and phonetics

Spreading

Like a native

As a foreigner

Story

Varieties

Personalities

An excerpt characterizing Literary German

Having driven along the road, on both sides of which French dialect could be heard from the fires, Dolokhov turned into the courtyard of the manor’s house. Having passed through the gate, he dismounted from his horse and approached a large blazing fire, around which several people were sitting, talking loudly. Something was boiling in a pot on the edge, and a soldier in a cap and blue overcoat, kneeling, brightly illuminated by the fire, stirred it with a ramrod.
“Oh, c"est un dur a cuire, [You can’t deal with this devil.],” said one of the officers sitting in the shadows on the opposite side of the fire.
“Il les fera marcher les lapins... [He will get through them...],” said another with a laugh. Both fell silent, peering into the darkness at the sound of the steps of Dolokhov and Petya, approaching the fire with their horses.
- Bonjour, messieurs! [Hello, gentlemen!] - Dolokhov said loudly and clearly.
The officers stirred in the shadow of the fire, and one, a tall officer with a long neck, walked around the fire and approached Dolokhov.
“C”est vous, Clement?” he said. “D”ou, diable... [Is that you, Clement? Where the hell...] - but he did not finish, having learned his mistake, and, frowning slightly, as if he were a stranger, he greeted Dolokhov, asking him how he could serve. Dolokhov said that he and a friend were catching up with their regiment, and asked, turning to everyone in general, if the officers knew anything about the sixth regiment. Nobody knew anything; and it seemed to Petya that the officers began to examine him and Dolokhov with hostility and suspicion. Everyone was silent for a few seconds.
“Si vous comptez sur la soupe du soir, vous venez trop tard, [If you are counting on dinner, then you are late.],” said a voice from behind the fire with a restrained laugh.
Dolokhov replied that they were full and that they needed to move on at night.
He gave the horses to the soldier who was stirring the pot, and squatted down by the fire next to the long-necked officer. This officer, without taking his eyes off, looked at Dolokhov and asked him again: what regiment was he in? Dolokhov did not answer, as if he had not heard the question, and, lighting a short French pipe, which he took out of his pocket, asked the officers how safe the road was from the Cossacks ahead of them.
“Les brigands sont partout, [These robbers are everywhere.],” answered the officer from behind the fire.
Dolokhov said that the Cossacks were terrible only for such backward people as he and his comrade, but that the Cossacks probably did not dare to attack large detachments, he added questioningly. Nobody answered.
“Well, now he’ll leave,” Petya thought every minute, standing in front of the fire and listening to his conversation.
But Dolokhov again began the conversation that had stopped and directly began asking how many people they had in the battalion, how many battalions, how many prisoners. Asking about the captured Russians who were with their detachment, Dolokhov said:
– La vilaine affaire de trainer ces cadavres apres soi. Vaudrait mieux fusiller cette canaille, [It’s a bad thing to carry these corpses around with you. It would be better to shoot this bastard.] - and laughed loudly with such a strange laugh that Petya thought the French would now recognize the deception, and he involuntarily took a step away from the fire. No one responded to Dolokhov’s words and laughter, and the French officer, who was not visible (he was lying wrapped in an overcoat), stood up and whispered something to his comrade. Dolokhov stood up and called to the soldier with the horses.
“Will they serve the horses or not?” - Petya thought, involuntarily approaching Dolokhov.
The horses were brought in.
“Bonjour, messieurs, [Here: farewell, gentlemen.],” said Dolokhov.
Petya wanted to say bonsoir [good evening] and could not finish the words. The officers were whispering something to each other. Dolokhov took a long time to mount the horse, which was not standing; then he walked out of the gate. Petya rode beside him, wanting and not daring to look back to see whether the French were running or not running after them.
Having reached the road, Dolokhov drove not back into the field, but along the village. At one point he stopped, listening.
- Do you hear? - he said.
Petya recognized the sounds of Russian voices and saw the dark figures of Russian prisoners near the fires. Going down to the bridge, Petya and Dolokhov passed the sentry, who, without saying a word, walked gloomily along the bridge, and drove out into the ravine where the Cossacks were waiting.
- Well, goodbye now. Tell Denisov that at dawn, at the first shot,” said Dolokhov and wanted to go, but Petya grabbed him with his hand.
- No! - he cried, - you are such a hero. Oh, how good! How great! How I love you.
“Okay, okay,” said Dolokhov, but Petya did not let him go, and in the darkness Dolokhov saw that Petya was bending down towards him. He wanted to kiss. Dolokhov kissed him, laughed and, turning his horse, disappeared into the darkness.

X
Returning to the guardhouse, Petya found Denisov in the entryway. Denisov, in excitement, anxiety and annoyance at himself for letting Petya go, was waiting for him.
- God bless! - he shouted. - Well, thank God! - he repeated, listening to Petya’s enthusiastic story. “What the hell, I couldn’t sleep because of you!” Denisov said. “Well, thank God, now go to bed.” Still sighing and eating until the end.
“Yes... No,” said Petya. – I don’t want to sleep yet. Yes, I know myself, if I fall asleep, it’s over. And then I got used to not sleeping before the battle.
Petya sat for some time in the hut, joyfully recalling the details of his trip and vividly imagining what would happen tomorrow. Then, noticing that Denisov had fallen asleep, he got up and went into the yard.
It was still completely dark outside. The rain had passed, but drops were still falling from the trees. Close to the guardhouse one could see black figures of Cossack huts and horses tied together. Behind the hut were two black wagons with horses standing, and in the ravine the dying fire was red. The Cossacks and hussars were not all asleep: in some places, along with the sound of falling drops and the nearby sound of horses chewing, soft, as if whispering voices were heard.
Petya came out of the entryway, looked around in the darkness and approached the wagons. Someone was snoring under the wagons, and saddled horses stood around them, chewing oats. In the darkness, Petya recognized his horse, which he called Karabakh, although it was a Little Russian horse, and approached it.
“Well, Karabakh, we’ll serve tomorrow,” he said, smelling her nostrils and kissing her.
- What, master, aren’t you sleeping? - said the Cossack sitting under the truck.
- No; and... Likhachev, I think your name is? After all, I just arrived. We went to the French. - And Petya told the Cossack in detail not only his trip, but also why he went and why he believes that it is better to risk his life than to make Lazar at random.
“Well, they should have slept,” said the Cossack.
“No, I’m used to it,” answered Petya. - What, you don’t have flints in your pistols? I brought it with me. Isn't it necessary? You take it.
The Cossack leaned out from under the truck to take a closer look at Petya.
“Because I’m used to doing everything carefully,” said Petya. “Some people just don’t get ready, and then they regret it.” I don't like it that way.
“That’s for sure,” said the Cossack.
“And one more thing, please, my dear, sharpen my saber; dull it... (but Petya was afraid to lie) it was never sharpened. Can this be done?
- Why, it’s possible.
Likhachev stood up, rummaged through his packs, and Petya soon heard the warlike sound of steel on a block. He climbed onto the truck and sat on the edge of it. The Cossack was sharpening his saber under the truck.
- Well, are the fellows sleeping? - said Petya.
- Some are sleeping, and some are like this.
- Well, what about the boy?
- Is it spring? He collapsed there in the entryway. He sleeps with fear. I was really glad.
For a long time after this, Petya was silent, listening to the sounds. Footsteps were heard in the darkness and a black figure appeared.