[quote
ost_uid0="Gatac"][color=#000000
ost_uid0]I tell you, people, linguistics is like Six Degrees without Kevin Bacon.
Gatac[/color
ost_uid0][/quote
ost_uid0]
[color=#000000
ost_uid0]Oh, it's [i
ost_uid0]way[/i
ost_uid0] more fun than that.
[quote
ost_uid0]The similarities stem from the so-called Hanse, a pretty big trading company that dominated the Baltic seas for quite some time. [/quote
ost_uid0]More resembling a mediaeval guild than a discrete company -- also known as the Hanseatic League -- their control of the Baltic trade meant that, to a large extent, they controlled trade in all of northern Europe for most of the Middle Ages.
Plattdeutsch = Low(land) German, which is more closely related to Dutch and Frisian.
Hochdeutsch = High(land) German, which is that foreign language spoken by the Bavarians and especially the Austrians.
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ost_uid0]