settlements from the Middle Ages and later. Most scholars consider Wymysorys to derive from 12th-century
Middle High German, with a strong influence from
Polish. The inhabitants of Wilamowice are thought to be descendants of
German,
Flemish and Scottish settlers who arrived in Poland during the 13th century. Many of the inhabitants claim that they are descended from the people of Flanders, Friesland, and Holland, with others claiming to be descended from the
Anglo-Saxons. Unlike in other West Germanic enclave communities in Polish-speaking territory, where closely related dialects (e.g.
Halcnovian) were spoken, Wymysorys speakers did not self-identify as Germans and used Polish, not German, as a
Dachsprache. Wymysorys was the
vernacular language of Wilamowice until
World War II. However, it seems it has been in decline since the late 19th century. In 1880 as many as 92% of the town's inhabitants spoke Wymysorys (1,525 out of 1,662 people), in 1890 – only 72%, in 1900 – 67%, in 1910 – 73% again. The widespread bilingualism of the people saved most local residents from being
forcibly resettled to Germany, but many of them stopped teaching their children their language or even using it in daily life. Acting on a proposal by Tymoteusz Król, the
Library of Congress added the Wymysorys language to the register of languages on 18 July 2007. It was also registered in the
International Organization for Standardization, where it received the
wym ISO 639-3 code. In a 2009
UNESCO report Wymysorys has been reported as "severely endangered" and nearly extinct. Wymysorys words read by
Józef Gara were recorded, and the Wymysorys dictionary in
Wiktionary was supplemented (in 2018, the dictionary consisted of over 7,000 words). == Revitalisation ==