French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French (Francien) largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the (Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to the French colonial empire, there are numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French.
Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a small landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France to the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembourg, is one of the four institutional seats of the European Union and the seat of several EU institutions, notably the Court of Justice of the European Union, the highest judicial authority. Luxembourg's culture, people, and languages are highly intertwined with its French and German neighbors; while Luxembourgish is the only national language of the Luxembourgish people and of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, French is the only language for legislation, and all three – Luxembourgish, German and French – are used for administrative matters in the country.
Luxembourgish is a West Germanic language that is spoken mainly in Luxembourg. About 400,000 people speak Luxembourgish worldwide.
Of the languages of France, French is the sole official language according to the second article of the French Constitution. French, a Gallo-Romance language, is spoken by nearly the entire population of France.
Luxembourg has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 37 times since its debut at the first contest in 1956. The nation participated in all but one event between 1956 and 1993, only missing the 1959 contest. After finishing among the bottom seven countries in 1993, Luxembourg was relegated and prevented from competing in 1994. The nation did not return to the contest in 1995, and would make no further appearances over the next three decades. The country is set to return to the event for the first time in 31 years in 2024.
The 12 cantons of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg are subdivisions at the first level of local administrative unit (LAU-1) in the European Union's Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics for Eurostat purposes. They were subdivisions of the three districts of Luxembourg until 2015, when the district level of government was abolished. The cantons are in turn subdivided into 100 communes.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Luxembourg since 1 January 2015. A bill for the legalisation of same-sex marriages was enacted by the Chamber of Deputies on 18 June 2014 and signed into law by Grand Duke Henri on 4 July. Luxembourg was the last Benelux country, the sixteenth country in the world, and the tenth in Europe to allow same-sex couples to marry nationwide. Partnerships have also been available in Luxembourg since November 2004.
Moselle Franconian is a West Central German language, part of the Central Franconian languages area, that includes Luxembourgish. It is spoken in the southern Rhineland and along the course of the Moselle, in the Siegerland of North Rhine-Westphalia, throughout western Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, Luxembourg, the south of the German-speaking Community of Belgium and in the neighboring French département of Moselle. The Transylvanian Saxon dialect spoken in the Transylvania region of Romania is derived from this dialect as a result of the emigration of numerous "Transylvanian Saxons" between 1100 and 1300, primarily from areas in which the Moselle Franconian dialect was then spoken. Another variety of Moselle Franconian, the Hunsrik, is spoken in some rural areas of southern Brazil, brought by 19th century immigrants from the Hunsrück region in modern Germany.
Luxembourgers are an ethnic group native to their nation state of Luxembourg, where they make up around half of the population. They share the culture of Luxembourg and speak Luxembourgish, a West Germanic language.
Beyond the official Romanian language, multiple other languages are spoken in Romania. Laws regarding the rights of minority languages are in place, and some of them have co-official status at a local level. Although having no native speakers, French language is also a historically important language in Romania, and the country is a member of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie.
The Kingdom of Belgium has three official languages: Dutch, French, and German.
Luxemburger Wort is a German-language Luxembourgish daily newspaper. There is an English edition named the Luxembourg Times. It is owned by Mediahuis Luxembourg.
Multilingualism is a part of everyday life for the population of Luxembourg. Legally and socially, different sectors of Luxembourg use French, German, and Luxembourgish, which is a variety of Moselle Franconian, partially mutually intelligible with the neighbouring High German but with a large number of loanwords from French. Additionally, most citizens learn English and may study other languages as well. A substantial immigrant population has brought numerous immigrant languages to the small state, notably Portuguese, which is spoken by more than one-fifth of the population. However, the different languages are used in different social situations.
The Council of State is an institution in Luxembourg that advises the national legislature, the Chamber of Deputies as well as the Government. Until 1 January 1997, it was also the country's supreme administrative court, but this function was ceded to the newly created Administrative Tribunal and Administrative Court.
The Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung, or RdR, is the main international body regulating Standard High German orthography.
Luxembourg nationality law is ruled by the Constitution of Luxembourg. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is a member state of the European Union and, therefore, its citizens are also EU citizens.
The literature of Luxembourg is little known beyond the country's borders, partly because Luxembourg authors write in one or more of the three official languages, partly because many works are specifically directed to a local readership. Furthermore, it was not until the 19th century that the literature of Luxembourg began to develop in parallel with growing awareness of the country's national identity following the Treaty of Paris (1815) and the Treaty of London (1867).
Education in Luxembourg is multilingual and consists of fundamental education, secondary education and higher education.
Caspar Mathias Spoo was a Luxembourgish industrialist and politician.
The French language became an international language, the second international language alongside Latin, in the Middle Ages, "from the fourteenth century onwards". It was not by virtue of the power of the Kingdom of France : '"... until the end of the fifteenth century, the French of the chancellery spread as a political and literary language because the French court was the model of chivalric culture". Consequently, it was less as a centralising monarch than as a "gentle courtly prince" that the king unwittingly spread his language" and "the methods of expansion were not political"'. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the language of European diplomacy and international relations.
