MASURIAN DIALOGUE

Dialogue, as you know, is the language of a given region. We often hear words in the Silesian Kurpie or Poznań dialect. However, few people know that Masurians also had their own language.

Every dialect is spoken language, so if you don’t use it it eventually fades away. Unfortunately, currently very few people know the real Masurian dialect, and even fewer people use it.

Masurian dialect was used mainly in the Duchy of Prussia by Polish settlers – peasants and nobility from around the fourteenth century until the end of the eighteenth century. There were very few borrowings from Prussian and German in the Masurian dialect of this period. On the other hand, from the beginning of the 19th century, along with the intensification of Germanization, the Masurian dialect was supplanted by the German language and, at the same time, it absorbed numerous Germanisms.

Currently, people who speak the Masurian dialect fluently can be counted on their fingers. It’s a pity, because we have something that we can be famous no worse than the inhabitants of, for example, Silesia.

A basic dictionary of Masurian dialect can be found at the reception desk of King Sielawy. There are also more and more new publications written in dialect. The most interesting of them is the complete translation of “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupery into the Masurian language. There is also a primer to learn the dialect of “MAZURSKI FÉBEL abo MAZURSKÁ FIBLA, or ELEMENTAR of the Masurian speech”, as for now in the pdf version, however, when the printed version is created, it will certainly be in our collection.

The Masurian anthem was created by Friedrich Dewischeit – a member of the aforementioned Corps Masovia. The original was written in German in 1855. The anthem was quickly gaining popularity. In the interwar period, when Masuria was dragged from one side to the other by the Germans and Poles, Wiktor Szeler created a Polish-language adaptation of this text. The melody is also inspired by the original, although not completely identical to it. The text with notes was published by Karol Małłek in Gazeta Mazurska in 1923 and sometimes he is wrongly credited with the authorship of the Polish version.

Below we present the Masurian anthem in its original version:

Psioter ôt Sziatków – Psieszniá Mazurów 

Wszród modréch fal

Báta ribacká w jieżiora mknie dal

Ji pruje wodi cÿstó tóń,

Mazurská krżepká chłopská dłóń

Kiej naków burżi rozhucÿ szie grżniot

Swój lot

Prżispsiesá báta ji furá jek grot

Bez rozsalałéch falów splot

Ôjcÿzna to nasá, te wodi, tén las

Niech zÿjó Mazuri tén kraj pełén kras!

Zasuniáł bór…

Wznosó ptasÿnÿ zrénkowi swój chór

Ajw jégier szie skradá bez bziéle ji gaj

Bo nase Mazuri prżed jégra to raj

A kiéj do nieba podnieszies swój wzrok

Co krok

Ôbłoków szie kstałti andrujó ráz wráz

Ôjcÿzna to nasá, te wodi, tén las

Niech zÿjó Mazuri, tén kraj pełén kras!

Bez wodi ji lónd,

Zietrżów séroki ji fatki dmie prónd

Ajw w ti drogi ôjcÿżnie na zawdi chce bicz,

Ajw chce já zémrżécz i ajwoj chce zÿcz

Ajw chce já zémrżécz i ajwoj chce zÿcz

Ajw, kéndi zÿje dżielnÿ nas lud

Wszród cnót

Ji słóńce ôszwecá nas zboznÿ trud

Ôjcÿzna to nasá, te wodi ji las,

Niech zÿjó Mazuri, tén kraj pełén kras!

Psioter ôt Sziatków – Psieszniá Mazurów (2019): tłum. z niem. oryginału

Fest z jeżiór zietrż dnie

Báta ribacká prżispsiesá swój bziég

Sum bziáłi ni szniég

Ôd głémbzi z wałani durch buchá na brżég

Furá ôbłocek nad psiénknó ôjców żiéń!

Ôch, pódżwa gréndó k’ôjcÿżnie

Kién rodnÿ psiéń

Mazurski raj, dómatoszcz ma

Niech zÿjó Mazuri, ôjcÿsti nas kraj.

Mazurski raj, dómatoszcz ma

Niech zÿjó Mazuri, ôjcÿsti kraj!