Zipser German

Zipser German (German: Zipserisch or Zipserdeutsch; Hungarian: szepességi szász nyelv or cipszer nyelv; Romanian: dialectul țipțer) is a dialect of the German language which developed in the Upper Zips region (Slovak: Spiš, Hungarian: Szepes) of what is now northeastern Slovakia among people who settled there from present-day central Germany and the northern Lower Rhine river (e.g. contemporary Flanders and Luxembourg) beginning in the 13th century (or during the High Middle Ages as part of the Ostsiedlung).^[1]

These German settlers are collectively known as Zipser Germans in Central and Eastern Europe and part of the Carpathian Germans (German: Karpatendeutsche) in their native Slovakia. The Lower Zips was inhabited by other Germans who spoke a different dialect called "Gründlerisch".^[1] The Upper Zipser German dialect is also close or related to the Transylvanian Saxon dialect (German: Siebenbürgisch-Sächsisch) of the Transylvanian Saxons (German: Siebenbürger Sachsen).

The Zipser German dialect has been spoken for centuries in present-day Slovakia and Romania. In Romania, the dialect has been spoken in the historical regions of Bukovina and Maramureș, northern Transylvania. Nowadays there are a few Zipser German-speaking communities in southern Bukovina (more specifically Suceava County) as well as Maramureș County. In addition, there are several differences between the forms of the Zipser German dialect which had developed on the territory of present-day Romania and the main Zipser German dialect from Zips, Slovakia. In Maramureș, the main community of Zipser Germans (and, by extension, Zipser German speakers) still lives in Vișeu de Sus (German: Oberwischau) and Baia Mare (German: Frauenbach or Groß-Neustadt). Smaller communities of Zipser Germans are also found in the mountainous Banat or Caraș-Severin County. There are also sparse communities of Zipser Germans across Carpathian Ruthenia (i.e. Zakarpattia Oblast), Ukraine.