Rachel “Emeline” Ferdinandi

Proto-Germanic and the Languages

that Stem from It

Also called TeutonicSpeakers of Common Germanic lived in

Northern Europe , and expanded south in the First Millennium BC

Roman Tacitus left a monograph on Germanic people and customs. He lists the tribes and describes their religions , children's games, and other aspects of their culture.

Germanic people borrowed words from Uralic (Finnish and Estonian) and Balto-Slavic languages.

Germanic

A series of three separate sound changes which shifted all inherited Proto-Indo-European stops.

Stages-Grimm I- changes the PIE voiceless stops into

voiceless fricatives. Does not apply if the consonant is preceededby the letter s

Grimm II- changes voiced stops into voiceless stops

Grimm III- changes voiced aspirated into voice stops

Grimm’s Law

Rasmus Christian Rask- first to understand the sound changes that make up Grimm’s Law. He compared Germanic, Slavic, Lithuanian, and Greek. Explained the umlaut. One of three pioneering figures in rhe early ninteenth century Indo European Studies.

Johann Jacob Grimm- (Grimm Brothers) philologist and dialectologist. Second of three pioneering figures in early ninteenth century Indo-European studies. Noticed the same sound change as Rask, and publish his own version of the Law.

Grimm’s Law

Germanic languages split into three different branches

East GermanicNorth Germanic West Germanic

East Germanic The spelling and alphabet were based off of the

Greek’sUses Proto Germanic vowels more than any other

German languageGoth’s homeland was in Scandinavia, they expanded

to the Baltic coast , and south east to the Black sea. Atta unsar þu in himinam Our father, thou in heaven,

weihnai namo þein holy be thy name.

qimai þiudinassus þeins Thy kingdom come,

wairþai wilja þeins thy will be done,

swe in himina jah ana airþai. as in heaven also on earth

Gothic (extinct)

North GermanicThe alphabet is called futhark. The first

Germanic alphabet, used only in magic or religious rituals. It was meant to be inscribed onto wood.

it is most likely based off of a northern Etruscan alphabet.

The earliest runes found were on a brooch and is from the middle of the first century AD.

Runic (extinct)

North GermanicMost likely developed from Runic. Spoke

around the 7th- 10th century ADSpeakers from western Scandinavian coasts,

Norway, and parts of Sweden and Denmark.Most Vikings spoke Old Norse, raided as

much of Europe as they could reach by boat.Old Norse languages have more words and

shorter words than other Germanic languages

Old Norse (extinct)

The first Old Norse rune appeared around the 7th century AD, and different dialects appeared shortly after.

Old Norse literature shows pre-Christian Germanic myths and folklore more than other Germanic lit.

There are historical counts of travels and raids and mythic poetry dated back to the 12th century

Edda is a collection of mythological poems which represent the earliest of Old Norse literature.

Skaldic poetry-poetry that uses elaborate and dense metaphors, which make it difficult to understand

Old Norse Literature

North GermanicRunic and Norse are it’s ancestorDifferences in Old Norse developed into the

modern Scandinavian languageso Icelandico Faroese

Scandinavian

oNorwegianoDanishoSwedish

West GermanicAlso called Anglo-SaxonFirst scripts are from around the year 400 ADMost literature was written between the 8th and 11th

centuries.The oldest poem found was dated around 650 ADBeowulf was originally written in Old English Its major dialects were West Saxon, Northumbrian,

Mercian, and Kentish.Palatization, sounds change. C became ch, and g became y.Drencan became drench

Old English

West Germanic Between 1000 and 1500 AD Normans attacked Middle English nobility, and replaced the

native clergy and scribes with of Norman French, so 1000 to 1150

are poorly documented,

and during this time

Middle English speakers

adopted hundreds of

French words English speakers gained

prestige in 1204 when

the French lost

Normandy in 1204

Middle English

West GermanicEnglish since 1500 ADIt’s largest linguistic development was the Great

English Vowel Shift which occurred in the 18th century.

Modern English

All of the long low and mid vowels were raised, and the long high vowels became diphthongs.Bīten became biteSēen became see

West GermanicDutch is the descendant of Old Low Franconian.Some descendants of Dutch speak Afrikaans,

others speak Flemish. These languages and their dialects are often together called Netherlandic

West GermanicFrisian is the closest living language to English. The earliest script of this language is from the

13th century, although there are scripts from the 6th to 9th centuries that could be an earlier form of Frisian.

Dutch and Frisian

West GermanicSpoken until the 12th century. Descendants

speak Low German , which was an important language between the 13th and 15th

centuries.Heliand “Savior” composed in 830 AD. Tells the life of Christ.Linguistically close to Old English.

Old Saxon

West Germanic First appears in runic inscriptions around 600

AD. The first literature appears around 800 AD6 dialects: East Frankish, Old Alemannic, Old

Bavarian, South Rhine Franconian, Rhine Franconian, and West Frankish.

Frankish, part of these dialects, but often thought of as it’s own West Germanic language extremely influenced French.

Most of the literature that is left of this language is from Christian monasteries but there are a few pagan scripts.

Hildebrandsleid

Old High German

Zweite Lautverschiebung German translation means Second Sound

Shift, second after Grimm’s Law English German Pound Pfund Tin Zinn Cook Kchoch Ape Affe Water Wasser Make Machen

The High German Consonant Shift

West GermanicFirst developed around 1100 AD. It was the first standard GermanImportant literature is poetry, with Christian themes. Epic;

Nibelungenlied and romance;

courtly poetry.

Middle High German

West GermanicThe most important influence on this language’s

development was Martin Luther’s translation of the Bible, both New and Old Testament.Martin Luther included linguistic aspects of many regions, and used modern words and expressions.

Modern HighGerman

West GermanicLiterally means Jewish (Jűdisch)A cross between Hebrew and Bavarian or East Middle German. Influenced by polish and Slavic languagesSentence structure and about ¾ of the

vocabulary is German. Usually uses the Hebrew alphabet.

First documents are from the 12th century.

Yiddish

http://www.saveyourheritage.com/ancient_runes.htm

Forston, Benjamin W. IV. Indo-European Language and Culture an Introduction.

Works Cited