Low German (
Plattdeutsch or
Niederdeutsch), also called Lower Saxon, is a language consisting of the
dialects of the northern and central part of
Germany and some border provinces of the
Netherlands. Although a variation of
German, in many aspects it is more closely related to
Dutch, which started life as a Low German dialect - German as we now know it is a mixture of dialects, but mostly
High German. However, Low German was once much more widespread than today, being used as a lingua franca throughout the Baltic region.