Hamburg German Hamburg German Hamburg German, also known as Hamburg or Hamburger dialect (), is a group of Northern Low Saxon varieties spoken in Hamburg, Germany. Occasionally, the term "Hamburgisch" is also used for Hamburg "Missingsch", a variety of standard German with Low Saxon substrates. These are urban dialects that have absorbed numerous English and Dutch loanwords, for instance "Törn" ‘trip’ (< turn) and "suutje" ‘gently’ (< Dutch "zoetjes"). Hamburg is pronounced in these dialects, with a "ch" similar to that in the standard German word "Milch". Typical of the Hamburg dialects and other Lower Elbe dialects is the pronunciation (and spelling)
Accession of Hamburg to the German Customs Union (Zollverein) form a wider more powerful entity. The states which joined fought vigorously against any impairment of their full sovereignty. Hence each member had a veto and the union was not permanent, but had to be renewed after 12 years. Each member sought its own economic advantage. Accordingly, the accession of any of the Hanseatic cities of Hamburg, Bremen or Lübeck would have to be on condition that accession served the city's own advantage. A pre-condition of such advantage was that their territory touched directly with that of the Customs Union, which only happened for Hamburg after 1854, when Hanover joined.