Abstract
<jats:p>Starting with Coquebert de Montbret’s linguistic surveys on the languages spoken in the French Empire (1806-12), the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke XV, 11-32) became, at least until the beginning of the twentieth century, the typical text used to collect linguistic samples of a specific variety. For many varieties, the translations collected during the nineteenth-century linguistic surveys represent the oldest available text; in some cases these translations are the only documentation of now extinct varieties. Through the analysis of different case studies from German varieties, the contributions collected in the present volume discuss the linguistic characteristics of the translations in relation to the grammar of present-day varieties, and highlight their potential for comparative linguistic research. The volume can be of interest to all those working on diachronic linguistics, comparative linguistics, contact linguistics, and heritage German varieties.</jats:p>