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Low German or Low Saxon (Plattdüütsch, Nedderdüütsch; Standard German: Plattdeutsch or Niederdeutsch; Dutch: Nedersaksisch in the wider sense. See Nomenclature below.) is an Ingvaeonic West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands.
The historical Sprachraum of Low German also included contemporary northern Poland, the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, and a part of southern Lithuania. German speakers in this area were expelled or murdered after the post-World War II boundary changes. The former German communities in the Baltic states (see Baltic Germans) also spoke Low German. Moreover, Middle Low German was the Lingua Franca of the Hanseatic League, and it had a significant influence on the Scandinavian languages.
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