Middle High German (MHG, German Mittelhochdeutsch) is the term used for the period in the history of the German language between 1050 and 1350. It is preceded by Old High German and followed by Early New High German. In some older scholarship, the term covers a longer period, going up to 1500. German (called Deutsch in German; in German the term germanisch is equivalent to English Germanic), is a member of the western group of Germanic languages and is one of the worlds major languages. ... Events Leofric becomes Bishop of Exeter Births Margrave Leopold II of Austria (d. ... Events 29 August - An English fleet personally commanded by King Edward III defeats a Spanish fleet in the battle of Les Espagnols sur Mer. ... The term Old High German (OHG, German: Althochdeutsch) refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. ... Early New High German, or Early Modern German, is the direct ancestor of the modern German language, and was used from 1350 to 1750. ... 1500 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Varieties

Middle High German is not a unified written language and the term covers two main dialect areas:

• Upper German (Oberdeutsch)
  • Alemannic (Alemannisch)
  • Bavarian (Bayrisch)
  • East Franconian (Ostfränkisch)
  • South Franconian (Südfränkisch)
• Central German (Mitteldeutsch)
  • Franconian (Westmitteldeutsch)
    • Rhine Franconian (Rheinfränkisch)
    • Middle Franconian (Mittelfränkisch)
  • East Central German (Ostmitteldeutsch)
    • Thuringian (Thüringisch)
    • Upper Saxon (Obersächsisch)
    • Silesian (Schlesisch)
    • High Prussian (Hochpreußisch)

While there is no standard MHG, the prestige of the Hohenstaufen court gave rise in the late 12th century to a supra-regional literary language (mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache) based on Swabian. However, the picture is complicated by the fact that modern editions of MHG texts have a tendency to use normalised spellings based on this variety (usually called "Classical MHG"), which make the written language appear more consistent than is actually the case in the manuscripts. It is uncertain whether the literary language reflected a supra-regional spoken language of the courts. Subdivisions Alemannic language Austro-Bavarian language Upper German is a family of High German languages spoken primarily in southern Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Northern Italy. ... Alemannic German (Alemannisch) is a group of dialects of the Upper German branch of the Germanic language family. ... Subdivisions Northern Austro-Bavarian Central Austro-Bavarian Southern Austro-Bavarian Austro-Bavarian or Bavarian is an Upper Germanic language. ... East Franconian (Mainfränkisch) is a dialect which is spoken in Bavaria and other areas in Germany around Bamberg, Würzburg and Bayreuth. ... South Franconian (Südfränkisch) is a dialect which is spoken in Baden in Germany around Karlsruhe, Pforzheim and Rastatt. ... Central German (in German: Mitteldeutsch) is a group of German dialects spread from the Rhineland to Thuringia, south of Low German and north of Upper German. ... West Central German (Westmitteldeutsch) is a High German dialect family in the German language. ... Rhenish Franconian (in German: Rheinfränkisch) is a dialect family of West Central German. ... East Central German is a group of Germanic dialects: Upper Saxon German is a dialect spoken in the majority of the modern German Free States of Saxony. ... The Free State of Thuringia (German Freistaat Thüringen) lies in central Germany and is among the smaller of the countrys sixteen Bundesländer (federal states), with an area of 16,200 sq. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Silesian, or Schlesisch in German, (ISO 639-2 language code: SLI) is a German dialect spoken in Lower Silesia in todays southwestern Poland as well as in the northeast of the Czech Republic and a part of postwar East Germany. ... Arms of the Hohenstaufen The Hohenstaufen were a dynasty of Kings of Germany, many of whom were also crowned Holy Roman Emperor and Dukes of Swabia. ...

An important development in this period was the eastward expansion of German settlement beyond the Elbe-Saale line which marked the limit of Old High German. This process started in the 11th century, and all the East Central German dialects are a result of this expansion. East Colonisation (German: Ostsiedlung), also known as German eastward expansion, refers to the eastward expansion of Germans into regions inhabitated by Slavs, Balts, Romanians, and Hungarians beginning in the 12th century. ... The River Elbe (Czech Labe , Sorbian/Lusatian Łobjo, German Elbe) is one of the major waterways of Central Europe. ... Length 413 km Elevation of the source 728  m Average discharge  ?  m³/s Area watershed  ?  km² Origin  Germany Mouth  Elbe Basin countries Germany Saale is the name of two rivers in Germany: the Saxonian Saale (German: Sächsische Saale) and the Franconian Saale (German: Fränkische Saale). ... The term Old High German (OHG, German: Althochdeutsch) refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. ... East Central German is a group of Germanic dialects: Upper Saxon German is a dialect spoken in the majority of the modern German Free States of Saxony. ...

"Judeo-German" is the precursor of the Yiddish language which is attested in the 13th-14th centuries as a variety of Middle High German written in Hebrew characters. Yiddish (ייִדיש, Jiddisch) is a Germanic language spoken by about four million Jews throughout the world. ...

Periodisation

There are several criteria which separate MHG from the preceding Old High German period: The term Old High German (OHG, German: Althochdeutsch) refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. ...

• the weakening of unstressed vowels to /e/ - OHG taga > MHG tage ("days")
• the full development of Umlaut and its use to mark an number of morphological categories
• the devoicing of final stops - OHG tag > MHG tac ("day")

Culturally, the two periods are distinguished by the transition from a predominantly clerical written culture to one centred on the courts of the great nobles. The imperial court in Vienna and the rise of the Swabian Hohenstaufen and then the Habsburg dynasties make South Germany the dominant region in both political and cultural terms. In linguistics the term Umlaut is used in a variety of closely related ways, some narrower, some broader. ... Morphology is the following: In linguistics, morphology is the study of the structure of word forms. ... The Holy Roman Emperor was, with some variation, the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, the predecessor of modern Germany, during its existence from the 10th century until its collapse in 1806. ... Vienna (German: Wien [viːn]; Slovenian: Dunaj, Croatian and Serbian: Beč Romanian: Viena, Hungarian: Bécs, Czech: Vídeň, Slovak: Viedeň, Romany Vidnya, Russian: Вена) is the capital of Austria, and also one of the nine States of Austria. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Arms of the Hohenstaufen The Hohenstaufen were a dynasty of Kings of Germany, many of whom were also crowned Holy Roman Emperor and Dukes of Swabia. ... Flag of the Habsburg Monarchy; also used as the flag of the Austrian Empire until the Ausgleich of 1867. ...

Linguistically, the transition to Early New High German is marked by: Early New High German, or Early Modern German, is the direct ancestor of the modern German language, and was used from 1350 to 1750. ...

• Diphthongisation of long vowels and lengthening of short vowels, giving a vowel system effectively identical to that of Modern German - MHG hûs > NHG Haus ("house"); MHG sagen > NHG sagen /saːgen/ ("say")
• The loss of unstressed vowels in many circumstances - MHG vrouwe > NHG Frau ("lady")

The centres of culture in the ENHG period are no longer the courts but the towns. Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ...

Phonology

The charts show the vowel and consonant systems of classical MHG. The spellings indicated are the standard spellings used in modern editions - there is much more variation in the manuscripts.

Vowels

Notes: Vowels Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... Exolabial and endolabial [ʏ] in Swedish. ... Exolabial and endolabial [ʏ] in Swedish. ... In linguistics, vowel length is the duration of a vowel sound. ... In linguistics, vowel length is the duration of a vowel sound. ... A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. ... A close-mid vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... A mid vowel is a vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... The open-mid vowels make a class of vowel sounds used in some spoken languages. ... An open vowel is a vowel sound of a type used in most spoken languages. ...

1. Not all dialects distinguish the four mid front vowels.
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. The <e> found in unstressed syllables may indicate [ɛ] or schwa [ə].

Vowels Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ...

Diphthongs

MHG diphthongs are indicated by the spellings: <ei>, <ie>, <ou>, <öu> and <eu>, <üe>, <uo>.

Consonants

1. Precise information about the articulation of consonants is impossible to establish, and will have varied between dialects.
2. In the plosive and fricative series, where there are two consonants in a cell, the first is fortis the second lenis. The voicing of lenis consonants varied between dialects.
3. MHG 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, zz, mm, nn, ll, rr.
4. It is reasonable to assume that /x/ had an allophone [χ] before back vowels, as in Modern German.

In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. ... In phonetics, labiodentals are consonants articulated with the lower lips and the upper teeth, or viceversa. ... 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) of the superior teeth. ... Postalveolar (or palato-alveolar) consonants are consonants articulated with the tip of the tongue between the alveolar ridge (the place of articulation for alveolar consonants) and the palate (the place of articulation for palatal consonants). ... 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). ... Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum). ... Glottal consonants are consonants articulated with the glottis. ... A stop or plosive or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. ... Affricate consonants begin like stops (most often an alveolar, such as or ), but release as a fricative such as or (or, a couple languages, into a fricative trill) rather than directly into the following vowel. ... A nasal consonant is produced when the velum—that fleshy part of the palate near the back—is lowered, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. ... Fricatives (or spirants) are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. ... Approximants are speech sounds that could be regarded as intermediate between vowels and typical consonants. ... Liquid consonants, or liquids, are approximant consonants that are not classified as semivowels (glides) because they do not correspond phonetically to specific vowels (in the way that, for example, the initial in English yes corresponds to ). The class of liquids can be divided into lateral liquids and rhotics. ... Fortis may refer to a Canadian company, see Fortis Inc. ... Fortis (from Latin fortis strong) and lenis (from Latin lenis weak) are linguistics terms. ...

Example text

From the prologue of Hartmann von Aue's Iwein (circa 1200) Portrait of Hartmann von Aue from the Codex Manesse (folio 184v). ...

Literature

See also Medieval German literature.

• Minnesang
  • Codex Manesse
  • Walther von der Vogelweide
  • Heinrich Frauenlob
  • Oswald von Wolkenstein

• Epics
  • Hartmann von Aue
  • Wolfram von Eschenbach
  • Gottfried von Strassburg
  • Nibelungenlied
  • Kudrun
  • Ulrich von Türheim
  • Rudolf von Ems
  • Konrad von Würzburg

• Nonfiction writings
  • Annolied (Early Middle High German)
  • Jans der Enikel
  • Kaiserchronik
  • Sachsenspiegel

German literature begins in the Carolingian period, first in Latin and then in Old High German. ... Minnesang was the tradition of lyric and song writing in Germany which flourished in the 12th century and continued into the 14th century. ... Folio 371r shows Johannes Hadlaub Folio 149v shows a portrait of Wolfram von Eschenbach The Manesse Codex or Grosse Heidelberger Liederhandschrift (Heidelberg, University of Heidelberg Library, Cod. ... Portrait of Walther von der Vogelweide. ... Meister Heinrich Frauenlob of Meißen, was a Middle High German poet. ... Portrait of Hartmann von Aue from the Codex Manesse (folio 184v). ... Portrait of Wolfram from the Codex Manesse. ... Gottfried von Strassburg, was one of the chief German poets of the middle ages. ... First page from Manuscript C of the Nibelungenlied (ca. ... Kudrun (sometimes known as Gudrun Lied), is a Middle High German epic, written probably in the early years of the 13th century, not long after the Nibelungenlied, the influence of which may be traced upon it. ... Ulrich von Türheim A German writer from the Augsburg area writing during the first half of the thirteenth century. ... Rudolf von Ems (b. ... Portrait of Konrad von Würzburg from the Codex Manesse (folio 383r). ... The Annolied (Song of Anno) was composed in about 1100 in Early Middle High German rhyming couplets by a monk of Siegburg Abbey. ... Jans der Enikel, i. ... leaf of a Kaiserchronik manuscript The Kaiserchronik (Der Keiser und der Kunige buoch, the book of emperors and kings) is a 12th century German epic poem. ... // Introduction The Sachsenspiegel (alt: Sassenspegel) is the most important law book and legal code of the German medieval age. ...

See also

• High German consonant shift

In historical linguistics, the High German consonant shift or Second Germanic consonant shift (German: hochdeutsche or zweite germanische Lautverschiebung) was a phonological development (sound change) which took place in the southern dialects of German in several phases, probably beginning between the 3rd and 5th centuries AD, and was almost complete...

External links

• Wright's Middle High German Primer
• Middle High German conceptual database
• Mediaevum.de's MHG Texts:
  • 11th Century (Early MHG)
  • 12th Century
  • 13th Century
  • 14th Century

Sources

• Hermann Paul, Mittelhochdeutsche Grammatik, 23rd edn, edited by Peter Wiehl and Sigfried Grosse (Niemeyer, 1989) ISBN 3484102330
• M.O'C. Walshe, A Middle High German Reader: With Grammar, Notes and Glossary (Oxford University Press, 1974) ISBN 0198720823
• Joseph Wright, Middle High German Primer, 5th edn revised by M.O'C. Walshe (Oxford University Press, 1955)