Please click here to leave an anniversary message (in any language you choose). You do not need to be a member of Lowlands-L to do so. In fact, we would be more than thrilled to receive messages from anyone. Click here to read what others have written so far.
What’s with this “Wren” thing?
The oldest extant version of the fable
we
are presenting here appeared in 1913 in the first volume of a two-volume anthology
of Low
Saxon folktales (Plattdeutsche
Volksmärchen “Low German Folktales”)
collected by Wilhelm Wisser (1843–1935). Read
more ...
What’s
with this “Wren” thing?
This project grew from an earlier one in which this story was used to showcase
various Low Saxon dialects and orthographies.
The oldest extant version of the story we are presenting here in numerous languages,
dialects and variations appeared in 1913 in the first volume of a two-volume
anthology of Low Saxon folktales
(Plattdeutsche
Volksmärchen “Low German Folktales”) collected by Wilhelm Wisser (1843–1935).
Wisser devised his own German-based spelling system. A circumflex (ˆ) above
a vowel letter indicates a diphthong, and a dot underneath a letter signifies
a long,
monophthong
vowel. A small “e” above a vowel letter symbolizes an umlaut in the specific
type font; it corresponds to two dots above a letter in more modern font styles.
The tale is printed in Fraktur script (also known as “German Gothic” script). This was the preferred type font in German-speaking countries at that time, but it is very difficult to read for people outside German-speaking areas as well as for today’s younger German speakers. If you cannot read this script, please click here to find a modern transliteration of Wisser’s version.
Please click here to leave an anniversary message (in any language you choose). You do not need to be a member of Lowlands-L to do so. In fact, we would be more than thrilled to receive messages from anyone. Click here to read what others have written so far.
What’s with this “Wren” thing?
The oldest extant version of the fable
we
are presenting here appeared in 1913 in the first volume of a two-volume anthology
of Low
Saxon folktales (Plattdeutsche
Volksmärchen “Low German Folktales”)
collected by Wilhelm Wisser (1843–1935). Read
more ...
What’s
with this “Wren” thing?
This project grew from an earlier one in which this story was used to showcase
various Low Saxon dialects and orthographies.
The oldest extant version of the story we are presenting here in numerous languages,
dialects and variations appeared in 1913 in the first volume of a two-volume
anthology of Low Saxon folktales
(Plattdeutsche
Volksmärchen “Low German Folktales”) collected by Wilhelm Wisser (1843–1935).
Wisser devised his own German-based spelling system. A circumflex (ˆ) above
a vowel letter indicates a diphthong, and a dot underneath a letter signifies
a long,
monophthong
vowel. A small “e” above a vowel letter symbolizes an umlaut in the specific
type font; it corresponds to two dots above a letter in more modern font styles.
The tale is printed in Fraktur script (also known as “German Gothic” script). This was the preferred type font in German-speaking countries at that time, but it is very difficult to read for people outside German-speaking areas as well as for today’s younger German speakers. If you cannot read this script, please click here to find a modern transliteration of Wisser’s version.
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