Pomeranian language

The Pomeranian language (Polish: pomorszczyzna or język pomorski; German: Pomoranisch or die pomoranische Sprache) is in the Pomeranian group of Lechitic languages (Polish: grupa pomorska języków lechickich; German: die pomoranische Gruppe der lechischen Sprachen) within the West Slavic languages.

In medieval contexts, it refers to the dialects spoken by the Slavic Pomeranians. In modern contexts, the term is sometimes used synonymously with "Kashubian" and may also include extinct Slovincian.

The name Pomerania comes from Slavic po moře, which means "[land] by the sea".

Ancient Pomeranian

During the early medieval Slavic migrations, the area between the Oder and Vistula rivers was settled by tribes grouped as Pomeranians. Their dialects, sometimes referred to as Ancient Pomeranian, had a transitory character between the Polabian dialects spoken west of Pomerania and the Old Polish dialects spoken to the southeast. The earliest text written in Pomerania comes from 1304, published in 1881-1882 in Pommerellisches Urkundenbuch.

Universis Christi fidelibus, ad quos presens scriptum pervenerit, Venzeke prawi curriwi sin de Solkowe, felicitatem in domino sempiternam

Universis Christi fidelibus, ad quos presens scriptum pervenerit, Więcek prawy kur[ri]wi syn de Sul[ech]owo, felicitatem in domino sempiternam.

Slovincian and Kashubian

During the High Middle Ages, German immigration and assimilation of the Slavic Pomeranians (Ostsiedlung) introduced Low German East Pomeranian, Central Pomeranian, and Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch dialects, which became dominant in Pomerania except for some areas in the east, where the populace remained largely Slavic and continued to use the Slavic Pomeranian language. This was especially the case in Pomerelia, where the Slavic population became known as Kashubians and their language accordingly as Kashubian.