Editing Middle Low German (section)

==Terminology==
While ''Middle Low German'' (MLG) is a scholarly term developed in hindsight, speakers in their time referred to the language mainly as {{lang|gml|sassisch}} (Saxon) or {{lang|gml|de sassische sprâke}} (the Saxon language). In contrast to Latin as the primary written language, speakers also referred to discourse in Saxon as speaking/writing {{lang|gml|to dǖde}}, i.e. 'clearly, intelligibly'.<ref name="la14" />{{rp|p=5}}<ref>{{cite Q |Q131356101 |edition=3rd |chapter=düde (1) |chapter-url=http://www.koeblergerhard.de/mnd/mnd_d.html |access-date=2024-11-29 |mode=cs1 }}</ref> This contains the same root as {{lang|gml|dǖdisch}} 'German' ([[cf.]], [[High German]]: {{wikt-lang|de|deutsch}}, [[Dutch language|Dutch]] {{wikt-lang|nl|duits}} ([[wikt:archaic|archaic]]ally ''N(i)ederduytsche'' to mean the [[Middle Dutch|contemporary version]] of the [[Dutch language]])  both from [[Proto-Germanic language|Proto-Germanic]] {{wikt-lang|gem-x-proto|*þiudiskaz}} {{lit}} "of the people"; 'popular, vernacular') which could also be used for [[Low German]] if the context was clear. Compare also the modern colloquial term {{lang|de|Platt(dütsch)}} (from {{lang|de|platt}} 'plain, simple') denoting [[Low Germanic Languages|Low]] (or [[West Central German|West Central]]) [[German dialects]] in contrast to the written [[Standard High German|standard]].

Another medieval term is {{lang|gml|ôstersch}} (lit. 'East-ish') which was at first applied to the [[Hanseatic League|Hanseatic]] cities of the [[Baltic Sea]] (the 'East Sea'), their territory being called {{lang|gml|Ôsterlant}} ('East-land'), their inhabitants {{lang|gml|Ôsterlinge}} ('Eastlings'). This appellation was later expanded to other German Hanseatic cities and it was a general name for Hanseatic merchants in the Netherlands, e.g. in [[Bruges]] where they had their {{lang|gml|komptôr}} (office; see [[Kontor]]).<ref name="la14" />{{rp|p=5}}<ref>{{cite Q |Q131356101 |edition=3rd |chapter=ōsterisch |chapter-url=http://www.koeblergerhard.de/mnd/mnd_o.html |access-date=2024-11-29 |mode=cs1 }}</ref>

In the 16th century, the term {{lang|gml|nedderlendisch}} (lit. 'Lowland-ish, [[Terminology of the Low Countries|Netherlandish]]') gained ground, contrasting Saxon with the [[High German languages|German]] dialects in the [[Central Uplands|uplands]] to the south. It became dominant in the High German dialects (as [[Early New High German|ENHG]] {{lang|gmh|niderländisch}}, which could also refer to the modern [[Netherlands]]), while {{lang|gml|sassisch}} remained the most widespread term within MLG. The equivalent of 'Low German' ([[Modern German|NHG]] {{lang|de|niederdeutsch}}) seems to have been introduced later on by High German speakers and at first applied especially to Netherlanders.<ref name="la14" />{{rp|p=6}}

''Middle Low German'' is a modern term used with varying degrees of inclusivity. It is distinguished from [[Middle High German]], spoken to the south, which was later replaced by [[Early New High German]]. Though [[Middle Dutch]] is today usually excluded from MLG (although very closely related), it is sometimes, especially in older literature, included in MLG, which then encompasses the [[dialect continuum]] of all [[High Middle Ages|high-medieval]] [[Continental Germanic]] dialects outside [[Middle High German|MHG]], from [[Flanders]] in the West to the eastern Baltic.<ref>{{cite book |first=David |last=Nicholas |year=2009 |title=The Northern Lands: Germanic Europe, c.1270–c.1500 |pages=180–198 |location=Chichester |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |isbn=978-1-405-10051-9 }}</ref><ref name="la14" />{{rp|p=1}}