POLISH LANGUAGE. A language belong ing to the western group of 'Zlavic languages (q.v.) and occupying the second place in impor tance in that family. It is spoken by about 15.0)00, 00U persons in those parts of Russia, Austro Hungary, and Prussia which constituted the former Kingdom of Poland, and by more than 1.000.000 persons in Amp] b.a. of the many Polish dialects. the following are the most im Greed Po/is/a in Posen and portions of the governments of Kalisz and Hoek: Little Polish—the most euphonious—in Galieia (•ra= cow and Lemberg being the centres) : Masurian, or Milsorion—in East Prussia and in the north eastern part of the Polish Kingdom (Warsaw. the centre) : Lithuanian Polish, used by Mickie wiez and writers: Prussian and Si/cion Po/is/I—full of Germanisms. The earliest literaly monuments in Polish do not go further back than the twelfth century. In its his torical development the Polish language under went many outside influences. The introduction of Christianity (c.9651 brought Latin to the front at the expense of the native tongue, while the numerous German settlers introduced Ger man words for articles of every-day life. The Reformation brow; ht the language of the country into Church use. For about two centuries the nine:ironic literature (a mixture of Latin and Polish) prevailed. The psentirnelassieal period brought the mania for everything French and with it the adoption of numerous Gallieisms. it was reserved for the Romanticists to purify the Polish language, anal their traditions are still kept tip by many purists in a struggle against the inroads of Russian technical terms and of Germanisms.
Although the combinations of sibilants in Pol ish look formidable on paper, they are soft in pronunciation, sz=sh, rz=ch, rz=zh, or sh after consonants. Besides the phonologic char mentioned in the article Sj.vic LAx the following features of the Polish language may be mentioned: (11 Seven cases in nouns—nominative. genitive, dative. accusa
tive, vocative. instrumental t ablat ice), and locative (prepositional). (2) Loss of the dual (in nouns and verbs), of which traces are -till to be food, however, in various dialects. (3) .111 futures are compound: the simple preterites have all been lost. and periphrastic forms now take their place. (4) Invariable accentuation on the pemdt, which is a later substitution for the orig inal Slavic free accent. In power and variety of expression, the Polish language fairly rivals Russian.
TitnuoGruPitY. Dictionaries: In Polish: Linde. Dictionary of the Polish Language (0 2d ed.. Lemberg. 1854-60) ; Dictionary of the Polish Language (ed. by sei'en Polish scholars, 2 vols., Vilna, 1556-61), fuller than the preceding but not so scientific. In other languages: Chodzko, ('our ph /c English-Polislt and Polish-Eny(ish Dic tionary; Booeh-Arkossy, Follstandiges nu!ttlach dr and drutsch-polaisclas Warterbuch 16th ed., Leipzig, 1593) ; id.. Po/nisch-d. utsehes and deutsch-polnischcs ll'orterbuelt (4th ed., Leipzig, 1599).
Grammars: In Polish: Malecki, Grammar of the Polish Language (Lemberg. 1863). excellent ; id.. Grammar of the Poli.sh Language, Brit ft r Course (ib.. 6th ed. 1S52) : id.. Comparatire His torical Grammar of the Polish Language ( ib., 1879 : Malinowski. compara(irr Critical Gram mar of the Polish Language 1570: and supplement, 1573) ; Kalina, Grammatical Poring of the Polish Language to flit- End of the Eigh t( enth Century (Lentburg, 1853), most valuable.
In other languages: Morfill, Simplified Gram mar of the Polislt Language 1s54 ) ; Smith, Polinische Groan mot& ( 2d ed., Berlin. 1863) ; Vyntazal, Grammatik du- pol nisehmt Spraehr zunachst rum Briinn, 153I ) ; Poplinski. Grommotik r nisclun .'_:prachr (7th ed., Thorn, 1S51); id., Ele mentarbuch der polnischen Sprach(' (14th ed., Leipzig, 1593).