Wede

This article is about the languages created by Adalbert Baumann from 1915. For the language created by Wilhelm Ostwald in 1911, see Weltdeutsch. For people with the surname Wede, see Wede (surname). For the American radio station, see WEDE-CD.

Not to be confused with Wedel.
Wede
Weltdeutsch, Weltpitshn, Oiropa'pitshn
An extract from Baumann's Weltdeutsch, in Weltdeutsch
Pronunciation[ˈveːdə], [ˈvɛltdɔʏtʃ], [ˈvɛltpɪtʃn̩]
Created byAdalbert Baumann
Date1915–28
Purpose
Latin
SourcesGerman, Yiddish
Language codes
ISO 639-3None (mis)

Wede (IPA: [ˈveːdə] ⓘ), Weltdeutsch (IPA: [ˈvɛltdɔʏtʃ] ⓘ), Weltpitshn (IPA: [ˈvɛltpɪtʃn̩]), and Oiropa'pitshn were a series of languages created by Bavarian politician and teacher Adalbert Baumann to create a zonal auxiliary language based on the German language. The first of the languages, Wede (short for Welt-dialekt, World dialect), was published in 1915, with Weltdeutsch, Weltpitshn, and Oiropa'pitshn being published in 1916, 1925, and 1928 respectively. The languages were a posteriori, largely based on the German language – they primarily differed in grammatical and orthographic simplifications. Baumann's languages received a largely negative reception, being mocked by members of the Esperanto and Ido communities; none were implemented in any official manner.

The primary purpose of these languages was to provide a simplified version of German to be easily learnt by foreigners, particularly in the Baltic states and the German colonial empire.[1] Baumann saw previous international auxiliary languages as unsuitable for international communication, in particular criticising their orthographies and source languages. The languages were published via two books and several articles in newspapers.

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