Quick Facts
Biography
Johannes Sass (also in German: Saß, born (1889-09-04)4 September 1889 in Hamburg, died 31 December 1971(1971-12-31)) was a linguist who specialized in the Low German language. He obtained his doctorate in 1926 from the University of Hamburg.
Significance in Low German
Although Low German has no official written form, Sass's dictionary of the language holds the same authoritative place for the language that the Duden dictionary does for the Standard German language, as a de facto spelling standard.
The diverse writing systems for Low German caused Sass to develop his spelling rules which he published in 1935. In 1956 this led to the Fehrs-Gilde, an organization promoting the Low German language, producing the 'Rules for Low German spelling', which mainly followed the example of the 'Sass'schen Schrievwies' (Sassian writing system) laid down by Sass.
The Johannes-Saß-Preis (Johannes Sass Prize) for scientific works about Low German is named after Sass.