Old Prussian language | Old Prussian, Baltic, extinct

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The poorly attested Yotvingian <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="dialect" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dialect" data-type="MW">dialect</a> was closely related to Old Prussian.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Old Prussian preserved many <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="archaic" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/archaic" data-type="MW">archaic</a> Baltic features that do not occur in the related East <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Baltic-languages" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Baltic languages</a> (Latvian, Lithuanian), among them the preservation of the final <em>-n</em> of the Proto-Baltic language (the ancestor of Old Prussian, Latvian, Lithuanian, and the other Baltic languages), the Proto-Baltic diphthongs <em>ai</em> and <em>ei,</em> and the use of neuter gender in nouns (East Baltic languages have only masculine and feminine gender). Old Prussian also contained many inflectional forms and vocabulary items unknown in East Baltic. Old Prussian had a position intermediate between East Baltic and the Slavic group.</p><div class="one-good-fact-module"> </div><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Modern knowledge of Old Prussian is based primarily on a German-Prussian vocabulary, known as the <span id="ref122153"></span>Elbing vocabulary and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="compiled" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/compiled" data-type="EB">compiled</a> about 1300, and the three Old Prussian catechisms dating from the 16th century. </p><a class="link-module shadow-sm d-block qa-quiz-module" href="/quiz/languages-alphabets" data-link-module-iframe-link=""> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/62/129562-131-63F782C3/wall-engravings-Buddhist-Thailand-Hands-society-history-2009.jpg" alt="Buddhist engravings on wall in Thailand. Hands on wall. 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Old Prussian language | Old Prussian, Baltic, extinct | Britannica