Editing Plautdietsch (section)

==Influences and borrowings==
===German===
Most [[Anabaptism|Anabaptists]] that settled in the Vistula Delta were of Dutch or northern German origins, and were joined by refugees from different parts of Germany and Switzerland, who influenced their developing language. After almost two centuries in West Prussia, German replaced Dutch as church, school and written language and has become a source from where words are borrowed extensively, especially for religious terms. Many of these words show the effects of the High German consonant shift, even though they are otherwise adapted into Plautdietsch phonetics. Compare:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Plautdietsch
! Standard High German
! Low German
! Pennsylvania German
! Dutch
! English
|-
| Zol
| Zahl
| Tahl/Tall
| Zaahl
| tal
| number (compare "(to) tally")
|-
| jreessen
| grüßen
| gröten (but Westphalian: gruißen)
| griesse
| groeten
| greet
|-
| kjamfen
| kämpfen
| fechten; kempen
| fechde
| vechten
| fight
|}

This is the case particularly on nouns made out of verbs. The verb normally shows the unshifted consonant, whereas the noun has a shifted Germanized consonant: schluten, Schluss; bräakjen, Bruch (to close, closure; to break, a break)

===Dutch===
The first half of the 16th century was the onset of the rule of terror by the [[Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba|Duke of Alba]] in the Spanish [[Low Countries]] during the [[Dutch Revolt]] (a.k.a. [[Eighty Years' War]]), that was centered on religious freedom for the [[Protestantism|Protestants]]. As a result, many Mennonites and [[Calvinism|Reformed]] left the country. This continued in the 17th century, when the [[Dutch Reformed Church]] became the official religion, being less than indulgent to other types of Protestantism, let alone the types perceived as radical (non-violent, no bearing of arms, no recognition of worldly authorities). In [[Low German]] area, they left their language traces in particular at the lower [[Vistula]], around [[Gdańsk|Danzig]] and [[Elbląg|Elbing]], and up the river towards [[Toruń]].

===Old Prussian and Baltic languages===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Plautdietsch
! Origin
! English
|-
| Mejal
| Margell
| girl
|-
| Kujel
| Kuigel
| male pig
|}

===Russian or Ukrainian===
Wherever Mennonites settled, they found new foods and other items with which they were not familiar with. When that happened, they took the name that local people used for those items. The following words are of Russian or Ukrainian origin:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Plautdietsch
! Standard High German
! English
! Russian
! Ukrainian
|-
| Bockelzhonn
| Aubergine
| aubergine
| баклажан (''baklazhan'', "eggplant")
| баклажан (''baklazhan'', "eggplant")
|-
| Arbus/Erbus/Rebus
| Wassermelone
| watermelon
| арбуз (''arbuz'')
| кавун (''kavun'', "squash, melon")
|-
| Schisnikj
| Knoblauch
| garlic
| чеснок  (''chesnok'')
| часник  (''chasnyk'')
|}

===English===
As Mennonites came into contact with new technology, they often adopted and adapted the names for those technologies. For Mennonites who had settled in North America in the 1870s, all new words were borrowed from English. Even though many of those settlers left for South America only 50 years after their arrival, they kept and sometimes adapted these words into the Mennonite Low German Phonetics:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! English word
! Adapted PD word
! IPA
! alternate word
|-
| bicycle
| Beissikjel
| {{IPA|bɛsɪcl}}
| Foaraut
|-
| highway
| Heiwä
| {{IPA|hɛve}}
| Huachwajch
|-
| truck
| Trock
| {{IPA|trɔk}}
| -
|}

In particular, words for auto parts are taken from English: ''hood'', ''fender'', ''brakes'' (along with the more Low German form ''Brams''), spark plugs (pluralized ''Ploggen''), but also words like ''peanuts'', ''belt'', ''tax''.

===Spanish===
Plautdietsch speakers living in Spanish-speaking countries use many Spanish words in daily speech, especially in business and communication (telephone, for instance) vocabulary. Two examples of words that are completely adapted into Mennonite Low German are ''Burra'' (Mexican Spanish ''burro'', donkey) and ''Wratsch'' (Mexican Spanish ''huarache'', sandal). Both have a Low German plural: ''Burrasch'', ''Wratschen''. The pure Low German words ''Äsel'' and ''Schlorr'' are seldom used in Mexico.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cox |first=Christopher |year=2013 |title=The Resilient Word: Linguistic Preservation and Innovation among Old Colony Mennonites in Latin America. |journal=Journal of Mennonite Studies |volume=31 |pages=60–61 |via=Academic Search Premier}}</ref>