Sunday, February 28, 2016
9
East Central German is the eastern, non-Franconian sub-group of Central German dialects, themselves part of High German. Present-day Standard German as a High German variant[1] has actually developed from a compromise of East Central (especially Upper Saxon promoted by Johann Christoph Gottsched) and East Franconian German. East Central German dialects are mainly spoken in Central Germany and parts of Brandenburg, and were formerly also spoken in Silesia and Bohemia.
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For the West Slavic language also called Pomeranian, see Pomeranian language.
| East Low German | |
|---|---|
| Ostniederdeutsch | |
| Native to | Germany, Poland, Brazil |
Indo-European
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | nds |
| ISO 639-3 | nds (partial) |
| Glottolog | None |
East Low German is a group of Low German dialects, including various varieties known as Pomeranian and Prussian, spoken in north-eastern Germany as well as by minorities in northern Poland. Together with West Low German, it constitutes Low German. Before 1945 the dialect was spoken along the entire GermanBaltic Coast, from Mecklenburg, through Pomerania, West Prussia into certain villages of the East Prussian Memel-Klaipėda Region.
The varieties known as Pomeranian (German: Pommersch) should not be confused with the West Slavic Pomeranian language (German: Pomoranisch).
7
Plautdietsch, or Mennonite Low German, was originally a Low Prussian variety of East Low German, with Dutch influence, that developed in the 16th and 17th centuries in the Vistula delta area of Royal Prussia. The word is the form, in that language, of Plattdeutsch (Low German). Plaut is the same word as Germanplatt or Dutch plat, meaning 'flat' or 'low' (referring to the plains of northern Germany), and the name Dietsch corresponds etymologically to Dutch Duits and German Deutsch (both meaning "of the Tribe"[3] i.e."German"), which originally meant 'vernacular language' in all the continental West Germanic languages.
Plautdietsch, an East Low German dialect was a German dialect like others until it was taken by Mennonite settlers to the south west of the Russian Empire starting in 1789. From there it evolved and subsequent waves of migration brought it to North America, starting in 1873, and mostly from there to Latin America starting in 1922.
Plautdietsch is spoken by about 400,000 Russian Mennonites, most notably in the Latin American countries of Mexico, Bolivia, Paraguay, Belize, Brazil,[4] Argentina and Uruguay, as well as in the United States and Canada (particularly Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario).
Today Plautdietsch is spoken in two major dialects that trace their division to Ukraine. These two dialects are split between the Old Colony Mennonites and New Colony. Many younger Russian Mennonites in Canada and the United States today speak only English. For example, Homer Groening, the father of Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons), spoke Plautdietsch as a child in a Mennonite community in Saskatchewan in the 1920s, but his son Matt never learned the language.
In 2007, Mexican filmmaker Carlos Reygadas directed the film Stellet Lijcht (Silent Light), set in a Mennonite community in Chihuahua, Mexico. Most of the film's dialogue is in Plautdietsch, which some of the actors had to learn phonetically. Other parts were played by people of the local community.
6
German (Deutsch [ˈdɔʏtʃ] (
listen)) is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and (co-)official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol (Italy), and Liechtenstein; it is also an official, but not majority language of Luxembourg and Belgium. Major languages which are most similar to German include other members of the West Germanic language branch, such as Afrikaans, Dutch, and English.
listen)) is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and (co-)official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol (Italy), and Liechtenstein; it is also an official, but not majority language of Luxembourg and Belgium. Major languages which are most similar to German include other members of the West Germanic language branch, such as Afrikaans, Dutch, and English.
German derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family.[9] A portion of German words are derived from Latin and Greek, and fewer are borrowed from French and English. With slightly different standardized variants (German, Austrian, and Swiss Standard German), German is a pluricentric language. German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many unique varieties existing in Europe and also other parts of the world.[2][10] Due to the limited intelligibility between certain varieties and Standard German, as well as the lack of an undisputed, scientific difference between a "dialect" and a "language",[2] some German varieties or dialect groups (e.g. Low German (Low Saxon) or Plautdietsch[5]) are alternatively referred to as "languages" and "dialects".[11]
One of the major languages of the world, German is the first language of about 95 million people worldwide and the most widely spoken native language in the European Union.[2][12] German also is the third most widely taught foreign language in both the US[13] and the EU,[14] the second most commonly used scientific language[15] as well as the third most widely used language on websites.[16] Germany is ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one tenth of all books (including e-books) in the world being published in the German language.[17]
5
He was educated at Hamburg and Göttingen, and in 1756 was made professor of mathematics in the Hamburg gymnasium, which post he held till his death. Besides suggesting many theoretical improvements in the carrying on of trade by the city, he brought about the establishment of an association for the promotion of art and industry (German: Hamburgische Gesellschaft zur Beförderung der Künste und nützlichen Gewerbe), and the foundation of a school of trade, instituted in 1767, which became under his direction one of the most noted establishments of its class in the world. For some time before his death Büsch was almost totally blind.
As a mathematics teacher he mentored and helped the young Johann Elert Bode, who later became a famous astronomer.
4
Bode was born in Hamburg. As a youth, he suffered from a serious eye disease which particularly damaged his right eye; he continued to have trouble with his eyes throughout his life.[1]
His early promise in mathematics brought him to the attention of Johann Georg Büsch, who allowed Bode to use his own library for study. He began his career with the publication of a short work on the solar eclipse of 5 August 1766. This was followed by an elementary treatise on astronomy entitled Anleitung zur Kenntniss des gestirnten Himmels (1768, 10th ed. 1844), the success of which led to his being invited to Berlin by Johann Heinrich Lambert[2] in 1772 for the purpose of computing ephemerides on an improved plan. There he founded, in 1774, the well-known Astronomisches Jahrbuch, 51 yearly volumes of which he compiled and issued.[3]
He became director of the Berlin Observatory in 1786, from which he retired in 1825.[3] There he published the Uranographia in 1801, a celestial atlas that aimed both at scientific accuracy in showing the positions of stars and other astronomical objects, as well as the artistic interpretation of the stellar constellationfigures. The Uranographia marks the climax of an epoch of artistic representation of the constellations. Later atlases showed fewer and fewer elaborate figures until they were no longer printed on such tables.
Bode also published another small star atlas, intended for astronomical amateurs (Vorstellung der Gestirne). He is credited with the discovery of Bode's Galaxy (M81). Comet Bode (C/1779 A1) is named after him; its orbit was calculated by Erik Prosperin. Asteroid 998 Bodea, discovered 1923 August 6 by Karl Reinmuthat Heidelberg, was also christened in his honour, the letter 'a' added to its name to fulfil the convention that asteroids were given feminine names.
His name became attached the 'law' discovered by Johann Daniel Titius in 1766. Bode first makes mention of it in the Anleitung zur Kenntniss des gestirnten Himmels in a footnote, and although it is often officially called the Titius–Bode law, it is also commonly just called Bode's law. This law attempts to explain the distances of the planets from the Sun in a formula although ironically it breaks down for the planet Neptune which was later discovered in Berlin. It was the discovery of Uranus at a position predicted by the law which aroused great interest in it. There was actually a gap (with no planet) between Mars and Jupiter, and Bode urged a search for a planet in this region which culminated in a group formed for this purpose, the so-called "Celestial Police". However before the group initiated a search, they were trumped by the discovery of the asteroid Ceres by Giuseppe Piazzi from Palermo in 1801, at Bode's predicted position.
Latterly, the law fell out of favor when it was realised that Ceres was only one of a small number of asteroids and when Neptune was found not to be in a position required by the law. The discovery of planets around other stars has brought the law back into discussion.
Bode himself was directly involved in research leading from the discovery of a planet - that of Uranus in 1781. Although Uranus was the first planet to be discovered by telescope, it is just about visible with the naked eye. Bode consulted older star charts and found numerous examples of the planet's position being given while being mistaken for a star, for example John Flamsteed, Astronomer Royal in Britain, had listed it in his catalog of 1690 as a star with the name 34 Tauri. These earlier sightings allowed an exact calculation of the orbit of the new planet.
Bode was also responsible for giving the new planet its name. The discoverer William Herschel proposed to name it after George III which was not accepted so readily in other countries. Bode opted for Uranus, with the apparent logic that just as Saturn was the father of Jupiter, the new planet should be named after the father of Saturn.[4] [5] There were further alternatives proposed, but ultimately Bode's suggestion became the most widely used - however it had to wait until 1850 before gaining official acceptance in Britain when the Nautical Almanac Office switched from using the name Georgium Sidus to Uranus. In 1789, Bode's Royal Academy colleague Martin Klaproth was inspired by Bode's name for the planet to name his newly discovered element "uranium".[6][37]
From 1787 to 1825 Bode was director of the Astronomisches Rechen-Institut. In 1794, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In April, 1789 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society.[7]
Bode died in Berlin on 23 November 1826, aged 79.
3
Caelum is a faint constellation, having no star brighter than fourth magnitude and only two brighter than fifth magnitude. Lacaille gave six stars Bayer designations, labeling them Alpha to Zeta in 1756, but omitted Epsilon and designated two nearby stars as Gamma. Bode extended the designations to Rho for other stars but most have fallen out of use.[6] Caelum is too far south for any of its stars to bear Flamsteed designations.[b]
The brightest star, Alpha Caeli, is a double star, containing an F-type main-sequence star of magnitude 4.45 and a red dwarf of magnitude 12.5, 20.17 parsecs (65.8 ly) from Earth.[9][10] Beta Caeli, another F-type star of magnitude 5.05, is further away, being located 28.67 parsecs (93.5 ly) from Earth. Unlike Alpha, Beta Caeli is a subgiant star, slightly evolved from the main sequence.[11] Delta Caeli, also of magnitude 5.05, is a B-type subgiant and is much farther from Earth, at 216 parsecs (700 ly).[12]
Gamma1 Caeli is a double star with a red giant primary of magnitude 4.58 and a secondary of magnitude 8.1. The primary is 55.59 parsecs (181.3 ly) from Earth. The two components are difficult to resolve with small amateur telescopes because of their difference invisual magnitude and their close separation.[13] This star system forms an optical double with the unrelated X Caeli (Gamma2 Caeli), a Delta Scuti variable located 98.33 parsecs (320.7 ly) from Earth.[14] These are a class of short-period (six hours at most) pulsating stars that have been used as standard candles and as subjects to study astroseismology.[15] X Caeli itself is also a binary star, specifically a contact binary,[16] meaning that the stars are so close that they share envelopes. The only other variable star in Caelum visible to the naked eye is RV Caeli, a pulsating red giant of spectral type M1III,[17] which varies between magnitudes 6.44 and 6.56.[18]
Three other stars in Caelum are still occasionally referred to by their Bayer designations, although they are only on the edge of naked-eye visibility. Nu Caeli[19] is another double star, containing a white giant of magnitude 6.07[20] and a star of magnitude 10.66 with unknown spectral type.[21] The system is approximately 52.55 parsecs (171.4 ly) away.[20] Lambda Caeli,[22] at magnitude 6.24, is much redder and farther away, being a red giant around 227 parsecs (740 ly) from Earth.[23] Zeta Caeli is even fainter, being only of magnitude 6.36. This star, located 132 parsecs (430 ly) away, is a K-type subgiant of spectral type K1.[24] The other twelve naked-eye stars in Caelum are not referred to by Bode's Bayer designations anymore, including RV Caeli.
One of the nearest stars in Caelum is the eclipsing binary star RR Caeli, at a distance of 20.13 parsecs (65.7 ly).[25] This star system consists of a dim red dwarf and a white dwarf.[26] Despite its closeness to the Earth, the system's apparent magnitude is only 14.40[25] due to the faintness of its components, and thus it cannot be easily seen with amateur equipment. In 2012, the system was found to contain a giant planet, and there is evidence for a second substellar body.[27] The system is a post-common-envelope binary and is losing angular momentum over time, which will eventually cause mass transfer from the red dwarf to the white dwarf. In approximately 9–20 billion years, this will cause the system to become a cataclysmic variable.[28]
Deep-sky objects[edit]
Due to its small size and location away from the plane of the Milky Way, Caelum is rather devoid of deep-sky objects, and contains no Messier objects. The only deep-sky object in Caelum to receive much attention is HE0450-2958, an unusual Seyfert galaxy. Originally, the jet's host galaxy proved elusive to find, and this jet appeared to be emanating from nothing.[29] Although it has been suggested that the object is an ejected supermassive black hole,[30] the host is now agreed to be a small galaxy that is difficult to see due to light from the jet and a nearby starburst galaxy.[31]
Notes[edit]
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