Pomeranian

Pomeranian is an adjective referring to Pomerania, an area divided between Poland and Germany.

Peoples and cultures

Languages

Animal breeds

Places

Pomeranian language

The Pomeranian language (Polish: Grupa pomorska języków lechickich, German: Pomoranische Sprache) is a group of dialects from the Lechitic cluster of the West Slavic languages. In medieval contexts, it refers to the dialects spoken by the Slavic Pomeranians. In modern contexts, the term is sometimes used synonymously with "Kashubian" and may also include extinct Slovincian.

The name Pomerania comes from Slavic po more, which means "[land] by the sea".

Ancient Pomeranian

During the early medieval Slavic migrations, the area between the Oder and Vistula rivers was settled by tribes grouped as Pomeranians. Their dialects, sometimes referred to as Ancient Pomeranian, had transitory character between the Polabian dialects spoken west of Pomerania, and the Old Polish dialects spoken to the Southeast. While there are no surviving documents written in Pomeranian, medieval Pomeranian names are mentioned in contemporary documents written in other languages.

Slovincian and Kashubian

Pomeranian (dog)

The Pomeranian (often known as a Pom or Pom Pom) is a breed of dog of the Spitz type, named for the Pomerania region in Central Europe (today part of northern Poland and eastern Germany). Classed as a toy dog breed because of its small size, the Pomeranian is descended from the larger Spitz type dogs, specifically the German Spitz. It has been determined by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale to be part of the German Spitz breed; and in many countries, they are known as the Zwergspitz ("Dwarf-Spitz").

The breed has been made popular by a number of royal owners since the 18th century. Queen Victoria owned a particularly small Pomeranian and consequently the smaller variety became universally popular. During Queen Victoria's lifetime alone, the size of the breed decreased by 50%. Overall, the Pomeranian is a sturdy, healthy dog. The most common health issue is luxating patella. Tracheal collapse can also be an issue. More rarely, the breed can suffer from a skin condition colloquially known as "black skin disease", or Alopecia X. This is a genetic disease which causes the dog's skin to turn black and lose all or most of its hair. As at 2013, in terms of registration figures, since at least 1998, the breed has ranked among the top twenty most popular breeds in the USA, and the current fashion for small dogs has increased their popularity worldwide.