The Land of Arlon (Luxembourgish/German: Arelerland, in Luxembourgish; Letzeburgesch pronounced as /ˈaːʀəlɐlɑnt/, pronounced as /de/; French: Pays d'Arlon, in French pronounced as /pe.i daʁlɔ̃/; Dutch: Land van Aarlen in Dutch; Flemish pronounced as /ˌlɑnt fɑn ˈaːrlə(n)/)[1] is the traditionally Luxembourgish-speaking part of Belgian Lorraine, which is now predominantly French-speaking. Arlon is the main city of this region.
The area has borders with the Gaume to the west and with the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg to the east. It lies to the south of the Ardennes. It coincides largely with the arrondissement of Arlon, part of the province of Luxembourg.
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 is one; however, it did not take any further measures.
The following data are the linguistic results of the census as they appeared in the Belgian Official Journal. Here the language shift from Luxembourgish to French is 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% |
These are the municipalities, with their sections and villages, in the Land of Arlon.