Arelerland

Arrondissement of Arlon

The Land of Arlon (Luxembourgish/German: Arelerland; French: Pays d'Arlon; Dutch: Land van Aarlen) is the traditionally Luxembourgish-speaking part of Belgian Lorraine, but now predominantly French-speaking. Arlon is the main city of this region.

The area borders in the west to the Gaume and in the east to the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg. It lies to the south of the Ardennes. It coincides largely with the arrondissement of Arlon, part of the province of Luxembourg.

Languages

Bilingual street sign in Martelange.
Bilingual street sign in Tontelange.

In the Land of Arlon, the traditional language is Luxembourgish, which is also spoken in the adjacent Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg. In 1990, the French Community of Belgium recognised the regional languages on its territory, of which Luxembourgish, however without taking any further measures.

Linguistic census results

The following data are the linguistic results of the census as they appeared in the Belgian Official Journal. Here is the language shift from Luxembourgish to French clearly visible.

Language that is mostly or exclusively spoken.

Year NL
Number 		FR
Number 		DE
Number 		NL
Pct. 		FR
Pct. 		DE
Pct.
1910 253 9,997 30,124 0.6% 24.8% 74.6%
1920 217 16,623 22,936 0.5% 41.8% 57.7%
1930 155 21,928 18,646 0.4% 53.8% 45.8%
1947 116 36,467 2,411 0.3% 93.5% 6.2%

Known languages

Year only NL
Number 		NL & FR
Number 		only FR
Number 		FR & DE
Number 		only DE
Number 		DE & NL
Number 		NL & FR & DE
Number 		None
Number 		only NL
Pct. 		NL & FR
Pct. 		only FR
Pct. 		FR & DE
Pct. 		only DE
Pct. 		DE & NL
Pct. 		NL & FR & DE
Pct.
1846 299 3,909 24,275 1.0% 13.7% 85.2%
1866 68 127 3,221 6,342 19,465 23 68 1 0.2% 0.4% 11.0% 21.6% 66.4% 0.1% 0.2%
1880 362 161 3,799 9,459 16,007 8 75 60 1.2% 0.5% 12.7% 31.7% 53.6% 0.0% 0.3%
1890 7 179 4,827 13,523 14,818 14 327 2 0.0% 0.5% 14.3% 40.1% 44.0% 0.0% 1.0%
1900 144 323 6,203 18,950 10,108 11 294 1,867 0.4% 0.9% 17.2% 52.6% 28.1% 0.0% 0.8%
1910 122 415 8,045 20,670 10,892 7 238 2,165 0.3% 1.0% 19.9% 51.2% 27.0% 0.0% 0.6%
1920 94 407 11,566 20,842 6,715 2 350 1,346 0.2% 1.0% 28.9% 52.1% 16.8% 0.0% 0.9%
1930 45 432 15,914 18,456 5,562 7 326 1,763 0.1% 1.1% 39.1% 45.3% 13.7% 0.0% 0.8%
1947 14 675 27,234 9,726 733 4 1,071 1,605 0.0% 1.7% 69.0% 24.6% 1.9% 0.0% 2.7%

Municipalities and villages in Arelerland

Map of the Luxembourgish language area within Belgium

These are the municipalities, with their sections and villages, in the Land of Arlon.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Land of Arlon.

Coordinates: 49°40′N 5°46′E / 49.667°N 5.767°E