History[edit]

Main article: History of Polish

Polish began to emerge as a distinct language around the 10th century, the process largely triggered by
the establishment and development of the Polish state. Mieszko I, ruler of the Polans tribe from the
Greater Poland region, united a few culturally and linguistically related tribes from the basins of the
Vistula and Oder before eventually accepting baptism in 966. With Christianity, Poland also adopted the
Latin alphabet, which made it possible to write down Polish, which until then had existed only as a
spoken language.[28] The closest relatives of Polish are the Elbe and Baltic Sea Lechitic dialects (Polabian
and Pomeranian varieties). All of them, except Kashubian, are extinct.[29] The precursor to modern Polish
is the Old Polish language. Ultimately, Polish descends from the unattested Proto-Slavic language.

The Book of Henryków is the earliest document to include a sentence written

entirely in what can be interpreted as Old Polish – Day, ut ia pobrusa, a ty poziwai, meaning "let me grind, and you have a
rest" highlighted in red.

The Book of Henryków (Polish: Księga henrykowska, Latin: Liber fundationis claustri Sanctae Mariae
Virginis in Heinrichau), contains the earliest known sentence written in the Polish language: Day, ut ia
pobrusa, a ti poziwai (in modern orthography: Daj, uć ja pobrusza, a ti pocziwaj; the corresponding
sentence in modern Polish: Daj, niech ja pomielę, a ty odpoczywaj or Pozwól, że ja będę mełł, a ty
odpocznij; and in English: Come, let me grind, and you take a rest), written around 1280. The book is
exhibited in the Archdiocesal Museum in Wrocław, and as of 2015 has been added to UNESCO's "Memory
of the World" list. [30]

The medieval recorder of this phrase, the Cistercian monk Peter of the Henryków monastery, noted that
"Hoc est in polonico" ("This is in Polish"). [31][32][33]

The earliest treatise on Polish orthography was written by Jakub Parkosz [pl] around 1470.[34] The first
printed book in Polish appeared in either 1508[35] or 1513,[36] while the oldest Polish newspaper was
established in 1661.[37] Starting in the 1520s, large numbers of books in the Polish language were
published, contributing to increased homogeneity of grammar and orthography. [38] The writing system
achieved its overall form in the 16th century, [29][39] which is also regarded as the "Golden Age of Polish
literature".[36] The orthography was modified in the 19th century and in 1936.[29]

Tomasz Kamusella notes that "Polish is the oldest, non-ecclesiastical, written Slavic language with a
continuous tradition of literacy and official use, which has lasted unbroken from the 16th century to this
day."[40] Polish evolved into the main sociolect of the nobles in Poland–Lithuania in the 15th century.[39]
The history of Polish as a language of state governance begins in the 16th century in the Kingdom of
Poland. Over the later centuries, Polish served as the official language in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania,
Congress Poland, the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, and as the administrative language in the
Russian Empire's Western Krai. The growth of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth's influence gave
Polish the status of lingua franca in Central and Eastern Europe.[41]