The Saxons no longer want to be seen as the nation's fools with their special dialect. A new film series from the image campaign "So geht sächsisch" (This is how Saxon works) is now taking a linguistic approach to the phenomenon. In the three-part series "History of Saxon", historian André Thieme, Managing Director of Festung Königstein, takes viewers on a journey into the history of the Saxon dialect.
Saxon is a comparatively young dialect
"Saxon is a comparatively young dialect that only developed from the 12th century onwards. During this time, settlers from all over Europe flocked to the Mark Meissen - today's Saxony - and brought their own dialects with them. This collision of dialects ultimately led to the emergence of new dialects," explained the historian.
"A central chapter of the film series is dedicated to the language-shaping influences of the Wettins, who as Margraves of Meissen and later as Electors of Saxony developed a more standardized administrative language: the so-called 'Meißner Kanzleideutsch'," announced the Saxon State Chancellery. This written language found its way into the entire empire with Martin Luther's translation of the Bible and had a lasting impact on High German.
