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"Old German" redirects here. For other uses, see Old German (disambiguation).
Old High German
diutisc
Spoken in: southern Germany (south of the Benrath line), parts of Austria and Switzerland, Southern Bohemia, Sporadic communities in Eastern Gaul
Language extinction: developed into Middle High German from the 11th century
Language family: Indo-European
 Germanic
  West Germanic
   Old High German
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: goh
ISO 639-3: goh
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. la Theodiscus, the latinised form of Germanic Diutisc ("vernacular" "native" or "indigenous" is a Middle Latin Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. In German linguistics the Benrath line (German Benrather Linie) is the maken-machen Isogloss. Austria (Österreich ( officially the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation South is one of Cardinal directions and is opposite to the North. Bohemia (Čechy; Bohemia Czechy is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands, currently the Gaul (Gallia was the Roman name for the region of Western Europe comprising present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western According to some definitions an extinct language is a Language which no longer has any speakers, whereas a dead language is a language which is no longer spoken Middle High German (MHG German Mittelhochdeutsch) is the term used for the period in the history of the German language between 1050 and 1350 List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family The Germanic languages are a group of related languages that constitute a branch of the Indo-European (IE Language family. The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three traditional branches of the Germanic family of Languages and include languages such as English ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages ISO 639 -3 (ISO 639-32007 is an international standard for Language codes The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages In Computing, Unicode is an Industry standard allowing Computers to consistently represent and manipulate text expressed in most of the world's
The (Late Old High) German speaking area of the Holy Roman Empire around 950.
The (Late Old High) German speaking area of the Holy Roman Empire around 950. The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. The Holy Roman Empire ( HRE; German Heiliges Römisches Reich (HRR, Latin Sacrum Romanum Imperium (SRI was a union of territories in Events and Trends Simple950s Zh-yue950年代

The term Old High German (OHG, German: Althochdeutsch, German abbr. Ahd. ) refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Coherent written texts do not appear until the second half of the 8th century, and some treat the period before 750 as 'prehistoric' and date the start of Old High German proper to 750 for this reason. The 8th century is the period from 701 to 800 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. There are, however, a number of Elder Futhark inscriptions dating to the 6th century (notably the Pforzen buckle), as well as single words and many names found in Latin texts predating the 8th century. The Elder Futhark (or Elder Fuþark, Older Futhark, Old Futhark) is the oldest form of the Runic alphabet, used by Germanic tribes The Pforzen buckle is a silver belt buckle found in Pforzen, Ostallgäu ( Schwaben) in 1992. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome.

Contents

Characteristics

The main difference between Old High German and the West Germanic dialects from which it developed is that it underwent the Second Sound Shift or High German consonant shift. The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three traditional branches of the Germanic family of Languages and include languages such as English In Historical linguistics, the High German consonant shift or second Germanic consonant shift was a phonological development ( Sound change) which took place This is generally dated very approximately to the late 5th and early 6th centuries - hence dating its start to around 500. The result of this sound change is that the consonant system of German remains different from all other West Germanic languages, including English and Low German. The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Low German or Low Saxon (in Germany: Plattdüütsch or Nedderdüütsch; in Netherlands: Nedersaksisch or Nederduuts Grammatically, however, Old High German remained very similar to Old English, Old Dutch and Old Saxon. Old Dutch (aka Old West Low Franconian) is a branch of Old Low Franconian spoken and written during the early Middle Ages (c Old Saxon, also known as Old Low German ( ISO 639 -3 code osx) is the earliest recorded form of Low German, documented from the 9th century

By the mid 11th century the many different vowels found in unstressed syllables had all been reduced to 'e'. In Phonetics, a vowel is a Sound in spoken Language, such as English ah! or oh!, pronounced with an open Vocal tract Since these vowels were part of the grammatical endings in the nouns and verbs, their loss led to radical simplification of the inflectional grammar of German. For English usage of verbs see the wiki article English verbs. In Grammar, inflection or inflexion is the way language handles grammatical relations and relational categories such as tense, mood, voice For these reasons, 1050 is seen as the start of the Middle High German period, though in fact there are almost no texts in German for the next hundred years. Middle High German (MHG German Mittelhochdeutsch) is the term used for the period in the history of the German language between 1050 and 1350

Examples of vowel reduction in unstressed syllables:

    Old High German     Middle High German     English
    machôn     machen     to make, to do
    taga     tage     days
    demu     dem(e)     to the

(The Modern German forms of these words are broadly the same as in Middle High German. Vowel reduction is the term in Phonetics that refers to various changes in the acoustic quality of Vowels which are related to changes in stress )

Dialects

There was no standard or supra-regional variety of Old High German - every text is written in a particular dialect, or in some cases a mixture of dialects. Broadly speaking, the main dialect divisions of Old High German seem to have been similar to those of later periods - they are based on established territorial groupings and the effects of the Second Sound Shift, which have remained influential until the present day. But because the direct evidence for Old High German consists solely of manuscripts produced in a few major ecclesiastical centres, there is no isogloss information of the sort on which modern dialect maps are based. A manuscript is any Document that is Written by hand as opposed to being printed or reproduced in some other way An isogloss is the geographical boundary or delineation of a certain linguistic feature e For this reason the dialects may be termed monastery dialects.

The main dialects, with their bishoprics and monasteries:

There are some important differences between the geographical spread of the Old High German dialects and that of Modern German:

Frankish

The Franks conquered Northern Gaul as far south as the Loire; the linguistic boundary later stabilised approximately along the course of the Maas and Moselle, with Frankish speakers further west being romanised. Strasbourg (Strasbourg stʁazbuʁ Alsatian: Strossburi,; Straßburg) is the capital and principal City of the Alsace région Austro-Bavarian or Bavarian is a major group of Upper German varieties. Freising is a town in Bavaria, Germany, capital of the district Freising. Passau ( Latin: Batavis or Batavia, also Passavium; Italian: Passavia; Czech: Pasov) is a town in Regensburg ( also Ratisbon, Ratisbona Řezno originally Castra Regina) is a City (population 131000 in 2007 in Bavaria, Germany Augsburg is an independent City in the south-west of Bavaria. Ebersberg is the district seat of the like-named ''Landkreis'' in the Regierungsbezirk of Oberbayern. Wessobrunn Abbey ( Kloster Wessobrunn) was a Benedictine monastery near Weilheim in Bavaria, Germany. Tegernsee Abbey or the Imperial Abbey of Tegernsee ( German Kloster Tegernsee, Abtei or Reichsabtei Tegernsee) is a former Benedictine is the fourth-largest city in Austria and the capital of the federal state of Salzburg. Mondsee Abbey ( Kloster Mondsee) was a Benedictine monastery in Mondsee in Upper Austria. Lombardic or Langobardic is the extinct language of the Lombards ( Langobardi) the Germanic speaking settlers in Italy in the The Elbe ( die Elbe Low German: de Ilv) is one of the major Rivers of Central Europe. The Saale, also known as the Saxon Saale (Sächsische Saale and Thuringian Saale (Thüringische Saale is a River in Germany and a left-bank The Migration Period, also called Barbarian Invasions, or sometimes Völkerwanderung ( German for "wandering of peoples" is the English name Lombardic or Langobardic is the extinct language of the Lombards ( Langobardi) the Germanic speaking settlers in Italy in the The Lombards ( Latin Langobardi, whence the alternative names Langobards and Longobards) were a Germanic people originally from Related categories Central Italy Southern Italy Insular Italy Northeast Italy Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Epigraphy (ἐπιγραφολογία from Greek ἐπιγραφή — "inscription" is the study of inscriptions or epigraphs engraved The Franks or Frankish people (Franci or gens Francorum) were West Germanic tribes first identified in the 3rd century as an Ethnic group Gaul (Gallia was the Roman name for the region of Western Europe comprising present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Loire ( Arpitan: Lêre, Occitan: Léger) is an administrative department in the east-central part of France occupying the Moselle is a ''département'' in the east of France named after the Moselle River. Old Frankish was the language of the Franks and it is classified as a West Germanic language. However, Frankish is a special case among the old West Germanic languages, the Frankish tribes built their empire at the same time as the High German consonant shift took place. In Historical linguistics, the High German consonant shift or second Germanic consonant shift was a phonological development ( Sound change) which took place This meant that the dialects of Frankish in the north of their empire, the Low Countries, did not shift while the dialects in the south did. The Low Countries, the historical region of de Nederlanden, are the countries on low-lying land around the delta of the Rhine, Scheldt The dialects in the south are part of Old High German, the ones in the north are part of Old Dutch. Old Dutch (aka Old West Low Franconian) is a branch of Old Low Franconian spoken and written during the early Middle Ages (c

With Charlemagne's conquest of the Lombards in 776, nearly all continental Germanic speaking peoples had been incorporated into the Frankish Empire, thus also bringing all continental West Germanic speakers under Frankish rule. Charlemagne (ˈʃɑrlɨmeɪn Carolus Magnus or Karolus Magnus meaning Charles the Great) (747 – 28 January 814 was King of the Franks from 768 to his The Lombards ( Latin Langobardi, whence the alternative names Langobards and Longobards) were a Germanic people originally from Francia or Frankia, later also called the Frankish Empire (imperium Francorum Frankish Kingdom (Latin regnum Francorum, "Kingdom of the The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three traditional branches of the Germanic family of Languages and include languages such as English However, since the language of both the administration and the Church was Latin, this unification did not lead to any development of a supra-regional variety of Frankish nor a standardized Old High German.

Phonology

The charts show the vowel and consonant systems of the East Franconian dialect in the 9th century. This is the dialect of the monastery of Fulda, and specifically of the Old High German Tatian. Fulda (ˈfʊlda is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the Fulda River and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district ( Kreis Tatian the Assyrian was an early Christian writer and theologian of the second century. Dictionaries and grammars of OHG often use the spellings of the Tatian as a substitute for genuine standardised spellings, and these have the advantage of being recognizably close to the Middle High German forms of words, particularly with respect to the consonants. Middle High German (MHG German Mittelhochdeutsch) is the term used for the period in the history of the German language between 1050 and 1350

Vowels

Short and long vowels

OHG had corresponding sets of five short and five long vowels, which could occur in both stressed and unstressed syllables.

  front central back
short long short long short long
close i iː   u uː
mid e eː   o oː
open   a aː  

Notes:

  1. It seems likely that all back vowels had front allophones as a result of Umlaut, which were then phonemicized in MHG. A front vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far forward A central vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned halfway between A back vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as In Linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a Vowel sound In Linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a Vowel sound A close vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in many spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as A mid vowel is a Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned mid-way between an An open vowel is a Vowel sound of a type used in most spoken Languages The defining characteristic of an open vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far as In Linguistics, umlaut (from German um - "around"/"the other way" + Laut "sound" is a process whereby a There was also a mid-close [e] resulting from the Umlaut of /a/ and /e/.
  2. It is probable that the short high and mid vowels are lower than their long equivalents, as in Modern German, but this is impossible to establish from the written sources.
  3. Towards the end of the period, short vowels and then long vowels tended to be replaced, when in unstressed syllables, by <e> spellings, which may have represented [ɛ] or schwa [ə]. In Linguistics, specifically Phonetics and Phonology, schwa can mean the following An unstressed and toneless neutral

Diphthongs

OHG diphthongs are indicated by the spellings: <ei>, <ie>, <io>, <iu>, <ou>, <uo>.

Consonants

  Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal/Velar Glottal
Plosive p  b     t  d   k <k, c>, g 
Affricates p͡f     ts <z>    
Nasal m     n   ŋ <ng>  
Fricative   f v <f, v> θ <th> s  z   x <h, ch> h
Approximant w <uu>       j <i>  
Liquid       r  l    
  1. There is wide variation in the consonant systems of the Old High German dialects arising mainly from the differing extent to which they are affected by the High German Sound Shift. In Phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a Consonant articulated with both Lips The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet In Phonetics, labiodentals are Consonants articulated with the lower Lip and the upper Teeth. In Linguistics, a dental consonant or dental is a Consonant that is articulated with the tongue against the upper teeth such as /t/ /d/ /n/ and Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior Alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets Postalveolar consonants are Consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of the Alveolar ridge, placing them a bit further back in the Palatal consonants are Consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the Hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth Glottal consonants are Consonants articulated with the Glottis. A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a Consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the Vocal tract. Affricate Consonants begin as stops (most often an alveolar, such as or) but release as a fricative (such as or or occasionally into A nasal consonant (also called nasal stop or nasal continuant) is produced with a lowered velum in the mouth allowing air to escape freely through the Fricatives are Consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together Approximants are speech sounds ( Phonemes) that could be regarded as intermediate between Vowels and typical Consonants In the articulation of approximants Liquid consonants, or liquids, are Approximant Consonants that are not classified as Semivowels (glides because they do not correspond phonetically In Historical linguistics, the High German consonant shift or second Germanic consonant shift was a phonological development ( Sound change) which took place Precise information about the articulation of consonants is impossible to establish.
  2. In the plosive and fricative series, where there are two consonants in a cell, the first is fortis the second lenis. Fortis ( Latin "strong" and lenis ("weak" are linguistic terms The voicing of lenis consonants varied between dialects.
  3. OHG has long consonants, and the following double consonant spellings indicate not vowel length as in Modern German orthography, but rather genuine double consonants: pp, bb, tt, dd, ck (for /kk/), gg, ff, ss, hh, zz, mm, nn, ll, rr.
  4. /θ/ changes to /d/ in all dialects during the 9th century. The status in the Old High German Tatian (c. 830), reflected in modern Old High German dictionaries and glossaries, is that <th> is found in initial position, <d> in other positions.
  5. It is not clear whether the distribution of palatal and velar allophones /c ~ k/ and /ç ~ x/ (before front and back vowels, respectively) found in Modern German was already present in OHG.

Texts

Further information: Medieval German literature

The early part of the period saw considerable missionary activity, and by 800 the whole of the Frankish Empire had, in principle, been Christianized. Medieval German literature refers to Literature written in Germany stretching from the Carolingian dynasty; various dates have been given for the end of the Francia or Frankia, later also called the Frankish Empire (imperium Francorum Frankish Kingdom (Latin regnum Francorum, "Kingdom of the All the manuscripts which contain Old High German texts were written in ecclesiastical scriptoria by scribes whose main task was writing in Latin rather than German. Scriptorium, literally "a place for writing" is commonly used to refer to a room in medieval European Monasteries devoted to the copying of manuscripts by monastic A scribe (or scrivener) is a person who writes books or documents by hand as a profession Consequently, the majority of Old High German texts are religious in nature and show strong influence of ecclesiastical Latin on the vocabulary. Ecclesiastical Latin (sometimes called Church Latin) is the Latin dialect as used in documents of the Roman Catholic Church and in its Latin liturgies In fact, most surviving prose texts are translations of Latin originals. Even secular works such as the Hildebrandslied are often preserved only because they were written on spare sheets in religious codices. The Lay of Hildebrand ( Das Hildebrandslied) is a Heroic Lay, written in Old High German Alliterative verse. A codex ( Latin for block of wood, Book; plural codices) is a book in the format used for modern books with separate pages normally

The earliest Old High German text is generally taken to be the Abrogans, a Latin-Old High German glossary variously dated between 750 and 780, probably from Reichenau. The Abrogans, or Codex Abrogans (St Gall Stiftsbibliothek Cod Reichenau Island lies in Lake Constance in southern Germany, at approximately. The 8th century Merseburg Incantations are the only remnant of pre-Christian German literature. The Merseburg Incantations (die Merseburger Zaubersprüche are two medieval magic spells charms or Incantations written in Old High German. Germanic paganism refers to the religious beliefs of the Germanic peoples preceding Christianization. The earliest texts not dependent on Latin originals would seem to be the Hildebrandslied and the Wessobrunn Prayer, both recorded in manuscripts of the early 9th Century, though the texts are assumed to derive from earlier copies. The Lay of Hildebrand ( Das Hildebrandslied) is a Heroic Lay, written in Old High German Alliterative verse. The Wessobrunn Prayer (or Wessobrunner Gebet in German) sometimes called the Wessobrunn Creation Poem ( "Wessobrunner Schöpfungsgedicht" The 9th century is the period from 801 to 900 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era.

The Bavarian Muspilli is the sole survivor of what must have been a vast oral tradition. Muspilli is one of but two surviving pieces of Old High German Epic poetry (the other being Hildebrandslied) dating to around Other important works are the Evangelienbuch (Gospel harmony) of Otfried von Weissenburg, the short but splendid Ludwigslied and the 9th century Georgslied. The Diatessaron ( c 150 - 160 is the most prominent Gospel harmony. Otfrid of Weissenburg (German Otfrid von Weißenburg) (c 800 - after 870 was a monk at Weissenburg (modern-day Wissembourg in Alsace) and the author The Ludwigslied (in English, Lay or Song of Ludwig) is an Old High German poem of 59 rhyming couplets celebrating the victory The Georgslied ( Song of St George; composed towards the end of the 9th century; written down around 1000) is an incomplete Old High German poem The boundary to Early Middle High German (from ca. 1050) is not clear-cut. The most impressive example of EMHG literature is the Annolied. The Annolied ( "Song of Anno") was composed in about 1100 in Early Middle High German rhyming couplets by a monk of Siegburg Abbey

Samples

The Lord's Prayer in four Old High German dialects. The Lord's Prayer, also known as the Our Father or Pater noster, is probably the best-known Prayer in Christianity. Because these are translations of a liturgical text, they are best not regarded as examples of idiomatic language, but they do show dialect variation very clearly.

Alemannic, 8th Century South Rhine Franconian, 9th Century East Franconian, c. 830 Bavarian, early 9th century
The St Gall Paternoster Weissenburg Catechism Old High German Tatian Freisinger Paternoster

Fater unseer, thu pist in himile,
uuihi namun dinan,
qhueme rihhi diin,
uuerde uuillo diin,
so in himile sosa in erdu. Saint Gall, Gallen, or Gallus (c 550 - c 646 was an Irish disciple and one of the traditionally twelve companions of Saint Columbanus The Lord's Prayer, also known as the Our Father or Pater noster, is probably the best-known Prayer in Christianity. A catechism (ˈkætəkɪzəm κατηχισμός is a summary or exposition of Doctrine, traditionally used in Christian religious teaching from New Testament Tatian the Assyrian was an early Christian writer and theologian of the second century.
prooth unseer emezzihic kip uns hiutu,
oblaz uns sculdi unsero,
so uuir oblazem uns skuldikem,
enti ni unsih firleiti in khorunka,
uzzer losi unsih fona ubile.

Fater unsēr, thu in himilom bist,
giuuīhit sī namo thīn.
quaeme rīchi thīn.
uuerdhe uuilleo thīn,
sama sō in himile endi in erthu.
Brooth unseraz emezzīgaz gib uns hiutu.
endi farlāz uns sculdhi unsero,
sama sō uuir farlāzzēm scolōm unserēm.
endi ni gileidi unsih in costunga.
auh arlōsi unsih fona ubile.

Fater unser, thū thār bist in himile,
sī geheilagōt thīn namo,
queme thīn rīhhi,
sī thīn uuillo,
sō her in himile ist, sō sī her in erdu,
unsar brōt tagalīhhaz gib uns hiutu,
inti furlāz uns unsara sculdi
sō uuir furlāzemēs unsarēn sculdīgōn,
inti ni gileitēst unsih in costunga,
ūzouh arlōsi unsih fon ubile.

Fater unser, du pist in himilum.
Kauuihit si namo din.
Piqhueme rihhi din,
Uuesa din uuillo,
sama so in himile est, sama in erdu.
Pilipi unsraz emizzigaz kip uns eogauuanna.
Enti flaz uns unsro sculdi,
sama so uuir flazzames unsrem scolom.
Enti ni princ unsih in chorunka.
Uzzan kaneri unsih fona allem sunton.

Source: Braune/Ebbinghaus, Althochdeutsches Lesebuch, 17th edn (Niemeyer, 1994)

See also

External links

Sources


Dictionary

Old High German

-noun

  1. The earliest recorded form of the German language, spoken from the middle of the 9th century to the end of the 11th century.
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