Editing Polish language (section)

==History==
{{main|History of Polish}}{{also|Old Polish|Middle Polish}}
Polish began to emerge as a distinct language around the 10th century, the process largely triggered by the establishment and development of the Polish state. At the time, it was a collection of dialect groups with some mutual features, but much regional variation was present.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dejna|first=Karol|title=Dialekty polskie|location=Wrocław|year=1973|page=235}}</ref> [[Mieszko I of Poland|Mieszko I]], ruler of the Polans tribe from the [[Greater Poland]] region, united a few culturally and linguistically related tribes from the basins of the [[Vistula]] and [[Oder]] before eventually accepting baptism in 966. With [[Western Christianity]], Poland also adopted the [[Latin alphabet]], which made it possible to write down Polish, which until then had existed only as a [[spoken language]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.todaytranslations.com/language-history/polish/|title=Polish Language History and Facts|website=Today Translations|date=2014-06-20|access-date=2015-03-31|archive-date=16 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140816122217/http://www.todaytranslations.com/language-history/polish/|url-status=live}}</ref> The closest relatives of Polish are the [[Elbe Slavs|Elbe]] and [[Pomeranians (tribe)|Baltic Sea]] Lechitic dialects ([[Polabian language|Polabian]] and [[Pomeranian language|Pomeranian]] varieties). All of them, except [[Kashubian language|Kashubian]], are extinct.<ref name="Kolaczyk">{{cite web |last1=Dziubalska-Kołaczyk |first1=Katarzyna |last2=Walczak |first2=Bogdan |title=Polish |url=https://tf.edu.pl/t/WA_Dziubalska-Ko%C5%82aczyk_Walczak_Polish.pdf |access-date=12 February 2023 |website=repozytorium.amu.edu.pl |publisher=[[Adam Mickiewicz University]] |pages=1, 5}}</ref> The precursor to modern Polish is the [[Old Polish language]]. Ultimately, Polish descends from the unattested [[Proto-Slavic]] language.

[[File:Book of Henryków.PNG|thumb|left|The [[Book of Henryków]] is the earliest document to include a sentence written entirely in what can be interpreted as [[Old Polish language|Old Polish]] – ''Day, ut ia pobrusa, a ty poziwai'', meaning "let me grind, and you have a rest" highlighted in red.]]

The [[Book of Henryków]] (Polish: {{lang|pl|Księga henrykowska}}, {{langx|la|Liber fundationis claustri Sanctae Mariae Virginis in Heinrichau}}), contains the earliest known sentence written in the Polish language: ''Day, ut ia pobrusa, a ti poziwai'' (in modern orthography: ''Daj, uć ja pobrusza, a ti pocziwaj''; the corresponding sentence in modern Polish: ''Daj, niech ja pomielę, a ty odpoczywaj'' or ''Pozwól, że ja będę mełł, a ty odpocznij''; and in English: ''Come, let me grind, and you take a rest''), written around 1280. The book is exhibited in the Archdiocesal Museum in Wrocław, and as of 2015 has been added to [[UNESCO]]'s "[[Memory of the World Programme|Memory of the World]]" list.<ref>{{Cite news |title=The Book of Henryków on UNESCO's list! |language=en |work=Wroclaw.pl |url=https://www.wroclaw.pl/en/the-book-of-henrykow-on-unescos-list-01 |access-date=2023-06-08 |archive-date=8 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230608161043/https://www.wroclaw.pl/en/the-book-of-henrykow-on-unescos-list-01 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The medieval recorder of this phrase, the Cistercian monk Peter of the Henryków monastery, noted that "Hoc est in polonico" ("This is in Polish").<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://digital.fides.org.pl/publication/834|title=FIDES Digital Library – Liber fundationis claustri Sancte Marie Virginis in Henrichow = Księga henrykowska|via=digital.fides.org.pl|access-date=18 April 2017|archive-date=15 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200715025221/https://digital.fides.org.pl/publication/834|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Barbara i Adam Podgórscy: Słownik gwar śląskich. Katowice: Wydawnictwo KOS, 2008, {{ISBN|978-83-60528-54-9}}</ref><ref>Bogdan Walczak: Zarys dziejów języka polskiego. Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego, 1999, {{ISBN|83-229-1867-4}}</ref>

The earliest treatise on Polish orthography was written by {{ill|Jakub Parkosz|pl|Jakub Parkoszowic}} around 1470.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stankiewicz |first1=Edward |title=Grammars and Dictionaries of the Slavic Languages from the Middle Ages up to 1850: An Annotated Bibliography |date=1984 |publisher=[[Mouton Publishers]] |isbn=3110097788 |page=33}}</ref> The first [[History of printing in Poland|printed]] book in Polish appeared in either 1508<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://krakowcityofliterature.com/city-of-literature/the-history-of-literature-in-krakow/|title=The history of literature in Krakow|website=krakowcityofliterature.com|language=en-US|access-date=2023-02-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190616103432/http://krakowcityofliterature.com/city-of-literature/the-history-of-literature-in-krakow/ |archive-date=16 June 2019}}</ref> or 1513,<ref name="Comrie">{{cite book |last1=Stone |first1=Gerald |editor1-last=Comrie |editor1-first=Bernard |title=The World's Major Languages |date=2009 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |page=290 |edition=2nd |chapter=Polish|isbn=978-0-415-35339-7}}</ref> while the [[Merkuriusz Polski Ordynaryjny|oldest Polish newspaper]] was established in 1661.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Aumente |first1=Jerome |title=Eastern European Journalism: Before, During and After Communism |date=1999 |publisher=Hampton Press |isbn=1-57273-177-X |page=7}}</ref> Starting in the 1520s, large numbers of books in the Polish language were published, contributing to increased homogeneity of grammar and orthography.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bideleux |first1=Robert |last2=Jeffries |first2=Ian |title=A History of Eastern Europe: Crisis and Change |date=1998 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=0-415-16111-8 |page=129 }}</ref> The writing system achieved its overall form in the 16th century,<ref name="Kolaczyk"/>{{sfn|Kamusella|2009|page=111}} which is also regarded as the "[[Polish Golden Age|Golden Age]] of Polish literature".<ref name="Comrie"/> The [[History of Polish orthography|orthography was modified]] in the 19th century and in 1936.<ref name="Kolaczyk"/>

[[Tomasz Kamusella]] notes that "Polish is the oldest, non-ecclesiastical, written Slavic language with a continuous tradition of literacy and official use, which has lasted unbroken from the 16th century to this day."<ref>{{cite book |last= Kamusella |first= Tomasz |year= 2009 |title= The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe |publisher= Palgrave Macmillan |page=138 |isbn= 978-0-230-55070-4 }}</ref> Polish evolved into the main [[sociolect]] of the nobles in [[Polish–Lithuanian union|Poland–Lithuania]] in the 15th century.{{sfn|Kamusella|2009|page=111}} The history of Polish as a language of state governance begins in the 16th century in the [[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Kingdom of Poland]]. Over the later centuries, Polish served as the official language in the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]], [[Congress Poland]], the [[Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria]], and as the administrative language in the [[Russian Empire]]'s [[Western Krai]]. The growth of the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]]'s influence gave Polish the status of ''lingua franca'' in [[Central and Eastern Europe]].{{sfn|Kamusella|2009|page=137}}

The process of standardization began in the 14th century<ref>{{Cite journal|lang=pl|title=Geneza polskiego języka literackiego|journal=Teksty Drugie|number=3|year=1994|last=Walczak|first=Bogdan|publisher=IBL PAN|location=Warsaw}}</ref> and solidified in the 16th century during the Middle Polish era.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dejna|first=Karol|title=Dialekty polskie|location=Wrocław|year=1973|pages=16–17}}</ref> Standard Polish was based on various dialectal features, with the [[Greater Poland dialect group]] serving as the base.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dejna|first=Karol|title=Dialekty polskie|location=Wrocław|year=1973|page=18}}</ref> After [[World War II]], Standard Polish became the most widely spoken variant of Polish across the country, and most dialects stopped being the form of Polish spoken in villages.<ref>{{Cite journal|lang=pl|title=Status gwary w języku polskim|last=Wronicz|first=Jadwiga|journal=Socjolingwistyka|volume=XXX|issn=0208-6808}}</ref>