Low German
- noun
- /loʊ ˈdʒɜrmən/
:
bajo alemán
- In northern Germany, many families still speak Low German as their traditional dialect.
- Low German dialect
Examples
-
Jehoshaphat's prayer was the source for another song in Dutch or Low German.
Academic text (2004) -
Probably from the Low German, Klover.
-
Because the tale is told in Low German and comes from a region near the Netherlands, "East India" may first and foremost have brought to mind the Dutch East India Company and its territories.
Academic text (2016) -
Contemporary newspapers in both Canada and the United States commented on their insular villages, "strange" house-barn architecture, distinct dress, Low German dialect, and pacifist religion.
Academic text (1992) -
He would say ja or nee, and he'd say nee instead of nein, like Grandma did, because Grandpa spoke Low German.
Fiction book (1991) -
I tried to look into the eyes of this woman, who alone of all earthly women had discovered the new world, but they were only the eyes of a tired traveler; when I strained my ears, I could hear clearly that she spoke to her fellow travelers in a Low German dialect, the language of pilgrims at that time.
Fiction book (2002) -
She learned Low German from her grandparents, who grew up in a small village near Hamburg.
-
The local festival featured music and stories presented in Low German, celebrating the region's heritage.
Synonyms
A form of German spoken in northern Germany and parts of the Netherlands
Surface Forms
Morphology
Although the phrase is composed of 'low' + 'German', the intended meaning ('a group of dialects spoken in northern Germany') is not derivable from the common sense of 'low' (inferior) and 'German' (from Germany). 'Low' here is a specialized historical/geographical label (lowland vs High German) rather than a quality adjective, so a B1 learner who knows only the basic senses of the constituents would likely not infer the correct meaning without prior exposure.
Etymology
Low German comes from the word low for the flat land near the sea where people long ago spoke these dialects. So 'low' refers to the land, not 'bad', and Low German now means the group of northern German dialects spoken in those low-lying areas and nearby regions.
