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. 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. 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. In German linguistics, the Benrath line (German: Benrather Linie), jokingly also called the Weißwurstäquator, is an isogloss, or bundle of isoglosses, marking the border between the Northern Low German dialects and the High and Central German dialects in the south. ... An extinct language (also called a dead language) is a language which no longer has any native speakers. ... Middle High German (MHG, German Mittelhochdeutsch) is the term used for the period in the history of the German language between 1050 and 1350. ... As a means of recording the passage of time, the 11th century was that century which lasted from 1001 to 1100. ... Current distribution of Human Language Families Most languages are known to belong to language families. ... The Indo-European languages comprise a family of several hundred languages and dialects (443 according to the SIL estimate), including most of the major languages of Europe, as well as many in Southwest Asia, Central Asia and Southern Asia. ... West Germanic is the largest branch of the Germanic family of languages, including such languages as German, English and Dutch. ... ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. ... ISO 639-2:1998 Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 2: Alpha-3 code Twenty-two of the languages have two three-letter codes: a code for bibliographic use (ISO 639-2/B) a code for terminological use (ISO 639-2/T). ... ISO 639-3 is in process of development as an international standard for language codes. ... The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system of phonetic notation devised by linguists to accurately and uniquely represent each of the wide variety of sounds (phones or phonemes) used in spoken human language. ... Phonetics (from the Greek word φωνή, phone = sound/voice) is the study of sounds (voice). ... Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... This is a concise version of the International Phonetic Alphabet for English sounds. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... 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. ... (7th century — 8th century — 9th century — other centuries) Events The Iberian peninsula is taken by Arab and Berber Muslims, thus ending the Visigothic rule, and starting almost 8 centuries of Muslim presence there. ... The 24 runes of the Elder Futhark The Elder Futhark (or Elder Fuþark, Older Futhark, Old Futhark) are the oldest form of the runic alphabet, used by Germanic tribes for Proto-Norse and other Migration period Germanic dialects of the 2nd to 8th centuries for inscriptions on artefacts (jewellery... The Pforzen buckle is a silver belt buckle found in Pforzen, Ostallgäu. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ...

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. This is generally dated very approximately to the late 5th and early 6th centuries - hence dating the start of OHG 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. Grammatically, however, Old High German remained very similar to Old English and Old Saxon. West Germanic is the largest branch of the Germanic family of languages, including such languages as German, English and Dutch. ... 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... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Low German (also called Plattdeutsch, Plattdüütsch or Low Saxon) is a name for the regional language varieties of the Low Germanic languages spoken mainly in northern Germany, southern Denmark and eastern Netherlands. ... Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon) is an early form of the English language that was spoken in parts of what is now England and southern Scotland between the mid-fifth century and the mid-twelfth century. ... Old Saxon, also known as Old Low German, is a Germanic language. ...

By the mid 11th century the many different vowels found in unstressed syllables had all been reduced to 'e'. 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 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. Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ... A noun, or noun substantive, is a word or phrase that refers to a person, place, thing, event, substance or quality. ... A verb is a part of speech that usually denotes action (bring, read), occurrence (to decompose (itself), to glitter), or a state of being (exist, live, soak, stand). Depending on the language, a verb may vary in form according to many factors, possibly including its tense, aspect, mood and voice. ... Inflection or inflexion refers to a modification or marking of a word (or more precisely lexeme) so that it reflects grammatical (i. ... 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:

(The Modern German forms of these words are broadly the same as in Middle High German.)

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. For this reason the OHG dialects may be termed monastery dialects. A manuscript (Latin manu scriptus, written by hand), strictly speaking, is any written document that is put down by hand, in contrast to being printed or reproduced some other way. ... Isoglosses on the Faroe Islands An isogloss is the geographical boundary of a certain linguistic feature, e. ...

The main OHG dialects, with their bishoprics and monasteries: In some Christian churches, the diocese is an administrative territorial unit governed by a bishop, sometimes also referred to as a bishopric or episcopal see, though more often the term episcopal see means the office held by the bishop. ... Buddhist monastery near Tibet A monastery is the habitation of monks. ...

• Central German
  • Middle Franconian: Trier, Echternach, Cologne
  • Rhine Franconian: Lorsch, Speyer, Worms, Mainz, Frankfurt
  • South Rhine Franconian: Weissenburg im Elsaß
  • East Franconian: Fulda, Bamberg, Würzburg
  • Thuringian: (no texts)
  • West Franconian: conjectural dialect of the Franks in Northern Gaul

• Upper German
  • Alemannic: Murbach, Reichenau, Sankt Gallen. Strasbourg
  • Bavarian: Freising, Passau, Regensburg, Augsburg, Ebersberg, Wessobrunn, Tegernsee, Salzburg, Mondsee
  • Langobardic: (fragmentary, classification as OHG uncertain)

There are some important differences between the geographical spread of the Old High German dialects and that of Modern German: 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. ... Trier (French: Trèves, Spanish: Treveris, Italian: Treviri) is Germanys oldest city. ... Basilica in Echternach Echternach is a town and a commune in the canton of Echternach, which is part of the district of Grevenmacher, in Luxembourg. ... Cologne (German: ; Kölsch: Kölle) is Germanys fourth-largest city after Berlin, Hamburg and Munich and is the largest city both in the German Federal District of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the largest European metropolitan areas with over 12 million... Rhenish Franconian (in German: Rheinfränkisch) is a dialect family of West Central German. ... Lorsch is a small town in southwest germany ( 60 kilometers in the south of frankfurt). ... Speyer (English formerly Spires) is a city in Germany (Rhineland-Palatinate) with approx. ... // Worms (pronounced ) is a city in the southwest of Germany. ... Mainz is a city in Germany and the capital of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. ... Skyline of Frankfurt at night is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany. ... Wissembourg (German: Weißenburg) is a small town and commune situated on the border between France and Germany, in the Alsace région, approximately 60 km north of Strasbourg. ... East Franconian (Mainfränkisch) is a dialect which is spoken in Bavaria and other areas in Germany around Bamberg, Würzburg and Bayreuth. ... Fulda is a city in Hessen, Germany; it is located on the Fulda River and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district. ... Bamberg is a town in Bavaria, Germany. ... Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. ... 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. ... West Middle German is a High German dialect family in the German language. ... Map of Gaul circa 58 BC Gaul (Latin Gallia, Greek Galatia) was the region of Western Europe occupied by present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine river. ... 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. ... The term Alemannic can have several meanings. ... Alternate uses: Reichenau island Reichenau is a village in the municipality of Tamins in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland, where the two Rhine tributaries Vorderrhein and Hinterrhein meet. ... The view on the city from the nearby hills. ... City flag City coat of arms Coordinates : , Time Zone : CET (GMT +1) Administration Département Bas-Rhin (67) Région Alsace Mayor Fabienne Keller (UMP) (since 2001) Intercommunality Urban Community of Strasbourg City (commune) Characteristics Land Area 78. ... Á á É é Í í Ó ó Ú ú À à È è ÃŒ ì Ã’ ò Ù ù  â Ê ê ÃŽ î Ô ô Û û Ä ä Ë ë Ï ï Ö ö Ãœ ü ß Ã ã Ñ ñ Õ õ Ç ç Ä¢ Ä£ Ķ Ä· Ä» ļ Å… ņ Å– Å— Åž ÅŸ Å¢ Å£ Ć ć Ĺ ĺ Ń Å„ Å” Å• Åš Å› Ý ý Ź ź Đ Ä‘ Å® ů ÄŒ č ÄŽ ď Ľ ľ Ň ň Ř Å™ Å  Å¡ Ť Å¥ Ž ž Ǎ ÇŽ Äš Ä› Ǐ ǐ Ç‘ Ç’ Ç“ Ç” Ä€ ā Ä’ Ä“ Ī Ä« ÅŒ ō Ū Å« Ç– ǘ Çš Çœ Ĉ ĉ Äœ ĝ Ĥ Ä¥ Ä´ ĵ Åœ ŝ Å´ ŵ Ŷ Å· Ä‚ ă Äž ÄŸ Ŭ Å­ ÄŠ Ä‹ Ä– Ä— Ä  Ä¡ Ä° ı Å» ż Ä„ Ä… Ę Ä™ Ä® į Ų ų Ł Å‚ Ő Å‘ Å° ű Ä¿ Å€ Ħ ħ Ð ð Þ þ Å’ Å“ Æ æ Ø ø Ã… Ã¥ Ə É™ – — … [] [[]] {{}} ~ | ° § → # ≈ ± − × ¹ ² ³ ‘ “ ’ ” ¢ £ € Â¥ Α α Î’ β Γ γ Δ δ Ε ε Ζ ζ Η η Θ θ Ι ι Κ κ Λ λ Îœ μ Ν ν Ξ ξ Ο ο Π Ï€ Ρ ρ Σ σ Ï‚ Τ Ï„ Î¥ Ï… Φ φ Χ χ Ψ ψ Ω ω ʈ É– ÉŸ É¡ É¢ Ê¡ Ê” ɸ ʃ Ê’ É• Ê‘ Ê‚ ʐ ʝ É£ ʁ Ê• Êœ Ê¢ ɦ ɱ ɳ ɲ Å‹ É´ Ê‹ ɹ É» É° Ê™ Ê€ ɾ ɽ É« ɬ É® ɺ É­ ÊŽ ÊŸ É¥ ʍ ɧ É“ É— Ê„ É  Ê› ʘ Ç€ ǃ Ç‚ ǁ ɨ ʉ ɯ ɪ ʏ ÊŠ ɘ ɵ ɤ Éš É› Éœ ɝ Éž ÊŒ É” ɐ ɶ É‘ É’ Ê° Ê· ʲ Ë  ˤ ⁿ Ë¡ ˈ ËŒ ː Ë‘ ... Freising is a city in Bavaria, Germany, capital of the district Freising. ... Old Town of Passau Passau (Latin: Batavia) is a town in Niederbayern, Eastern Bavaria, Germany, known also as Dreiflüssestadt (the City of three rivers), because the Danube River is joined there by the Inn River from the South, and the Ilz River coming out of the Bavarian Forest to the... Regensburg (English formerly Ratisbon, Latin Ratisbona) is a city (population 129,175 in 2005) in Bavaria, south-east Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. ... Augsburg is a city in south-central Germany. ... Ebersberg is a town in Bavaria, Germany, capital of the district Ebersberg. ... Wessobrunn Monastery or Wessobrunn Abbey (Kloster Wessobrunn) was a Benedictine house situated at Wessobrunn in Bavaria. ... Tegernsee is a lake and spa town in Bavaria, Germany. ... Flag of Salzburg Salzburg (population 145,000 in 2005) is a city in western Austria and the capital of the federal state of Salzburg (population 520,000 in 2003). ... This article is about Mondsee, the lake. ... The Lombards (Latin Langobardi, from which the alternative name Longobards found in older English texts), were a Germanic people originally from Scandinavia that entered the late Roman Empire. ...

• no German dialects were spoken east of the Rivers Elbe and Saale - in the OHG period this area was occupied by Slavic peoples and was not settled by German speakers until the 12th century
• the Langobardic dialect of the Lombards who invaded Northern Italy in the 6th century is assumed to have been an Upper German dialect, though little evidence of it remains apart from names and individual words in Latin texts, and a a few inscriptions
• 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.

With Charlemagne's defeat of the Lombards in 776, all High German speaking peoples had been incorporated into the Frankish Empire. The Saxons and the Frisians were also conquered by Charlemagne, bringing all continental West Germanic speakers under Frankish rule. 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. 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 Slavic peoples are defined by their usage of the Slavic languages. ... The Lombards (Latin Langobardi, from which the alternative name Longobards found in older English texts), were a Germanic people originally from Scandinavia that entered the late Roman Empire. ... The Lombards (Latin Langobardi, from which the alternative name Longobards found in older English texts), were a Germanic people originally from Northern Europe that entered the late Roman Empire. ... Northern Italy encompasses nine of the countrys 20 autonomous regions: Emilia-Romagna Friuli-Venezia Giulia Liguria Lombardia Piemonte Toscana Trentino-Alto Adige Valle dAosta Veneto Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino-Alto Adige and Valle dAosta are regions with a special statute. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Inscriptions are words or letters written, engraved, painted, or otherwise traced on a surface and can appear in contexts both small and monumental. ... For other uses, see Franks (disambiguation). ... Map of Gaul circa 58 BC Gaul (Latin Gallia, Greek Galatia) was the region of Western Europe occupied by present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine river. ... Loire is a département in the east-central part of France occupying the Loire Rivers upper reaches. ... The Meuse(Maas) at Maastricht Length 925 km Elevation of the source 409 m Average discharge 230 m³/s Area watershed 36 000 km² Origin France Mouth Hollands Diep Basin countries France - Belgium - Netherlands The Meuse (Dutch Maas) is a large European river rising in France, flowing through Belgium and... Moselle is a département in the northeast of France named after the Moselle River. ... Charlemagne (742 or 747 – 28 January 814) (also Charles the Great[1]; from Latin, Carolus Magnus or Karolus Magnus), son of King Pippin the Short and Bertrada of Laon, was the king of the Franks from 768 to 814 and king of the Lombards from 774 to 814. ... The Lombards (Latin Langobardi, from which the alternative name Longobards found in older English texts), were a Germanic people originally from Northern Europe that entered the late Roman Empire. ... The Frankish Empire was the territory of the Franks, from the 5th to the 10th centuries, from 481 ruled by Clovis I of the Merovingian Dynasty, the first king of all the Franks. ... Map showing the Saxons homeland in traditional region bounded by the three rivers: Weser, Eider, and Elbe Src: Freemans Historical Geographys. The Saxons or Saxon people are (nowadays) part of the German people with its main areas of settlements in the German Federal States of Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony... The Frisians are an ethnic group of northwestern Europe, inhabiting an area known as Frisia. ... West Germanic is the largest branch of the Germanic family of languages, including such languages as English, Dutch, and German. ...

Texts

The early part of the period saw considerable missionary activity, and by 800 the whole of the Frankish Empire had, in principle, been Christianised. All the manuscripts which contain Old High German texts were written in ecclesiatical scriptoria by scribes whose main task was writing in Latin rather than German. Consequently, the majority of Old High German texts are religious in nature and show strong influence of ecclesiastical Latin on the vocabulary. 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 Frankish Empire was the territory of the Franks, from the 5th to the 10th centuries, from 481 ruled by Clovis I of the Merovingian Dynasty, the first king of all the Franks. ... A Scriptorium was a room or building, usually within a Christian monastery where, during medieval times, manuscripts were written. ... Illustration of a 15th century scribe This is about scribe, the profession. ... The term Ecclesiastical Latin (sometimes called Church Latin) refers to the Latin language as used in documents of the Roman Catholic Church and in its Latin liturgies. ... The Lay of Hildebrand (Das Hildebrandslied), is a unique example of Old German alliterative poetry, written about the year 800 on the first and last pages of a theological manuscript by two monks of the monastery of Fulda. ... first page of the Codex Argenteus A codex (Latin for block of wood, book; plural codices) is a handwritten book, in general one produced from Late Antiquity through the Middle Ages. ...

The earliest OHG text is generally taken to be the Abrogans, a Latin-Old High German glossary variously dated between 750 and 780, probably from Reichenau. The 8th century Merseburg Incantations are the only remnant of pre-Christian German literature. 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. First page of Codex Abrogans The Abrogans, or Codex Abrogans, is probably the oldest book in the German language. ... 15th-century towers on the Romanesque church of Sts Peter and Paul in Reichenau-Niederzell Reichenau Island lies in Lake Constance in southern Germany, at approximately . ... The Merseburg Incantations The Merseburg Incantations (German: die Merseburger Zaubersprüche) are two medieval magic formulae or incantations, written in Old High German. ... Germanic paganism refers to the religion and mythology of the Germanic nations preceding Christianization, including Norse, Anglo-Saxon mythology, information obtained from archaeological finds and remnants of pre-Christian beliefs in the folklore of medieval and modern Germanic peoples. ... The Lay of Hildebrand (Das Hildebrandslied), is a unique example of Old German alliterative poetry, written about the year 800 on the first and last pages of a theological manuscript by two monks of the monastery of Fulda. ... The Wessobrunn Prayer (or Wessobrunner Gebet in German), sometimes called the Wessobrunn Creation Poem (Wessobrunner Schöpfungsgedicht), believed to date from c790, is among the earliest known poetic works in Old High German. ... As a means of recording the passage of time the 9th century was that century that lasted from 801 to 900. ...

The Bavarian Muspilli is the sole survivor of what must have been a vast oral tradition. Other important works are the Evangelienbuch (Gospel harmony) of Otfried von Weissenburg, the short but splendid Ludwigslied and the 9th century Georgslied. 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 Muspilli is one of the sole two substantial surviving fragments of Old High German epic poetry (the other being the Hildebrandslied), dating to ca. ... Tatians Diatessaron was one of a number of harmonies of the four Gospels, that is, the material of the four distinct Gospels rewritten as a continuous narrative resolving all conflicting statements. ... Otfrid memorial in Wissembourg Otfrid of Weissenburg (German: Otfrid von Weißenburg) (c. ... The Ludwigslied (in English, Lay or Song of Ludwig) is an Old High German short poem written within a year of the Battle of Saucourt of 881, which its celebrates. ... Georgslied () ca. ... The Annolied (Song of Anno) was composed in about 1100 in Early Middle High German rhyming couplets by a monk of Siegburg Abbey. ...

Example texts

The Lord's Prayer in three OHG dialects. 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. Wikisource has original text related to this article: The Lords Prayer The Lords Prayer, sometimes also known amongst English speakers as the Paternoster, a term derived from the first two words in Latin versions, is probably the best-known prayer in Christianity. ...

Source: Braune/Ebbinghaus, Althochdeutsches Lesebuch, 15th edn (Niemeyer,1969)

See also

• Middle High German
• Medieval German Literature

Middle High German (MHG, German Mittelhochdeutsch) is the term used for the period in the history of the German language between 1050 and 1350. ... German literature begins in the Carolingian period, first in Latin and then in Old High German. ...

External links

• Chronological list of the main Old High German texts
• Joseph Wright, An Old High German Primer - complete text of 1906 work
• A Brief Collection of Old High German
• Althochdeutsche Texte im Internet (8.–10. Jahrhundert) - links to a range of online texts
• Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch des 8. Jh. - OHG dictionary, based on 8th century texts.
• LiTLiNks: althochdeutche Texte - comprehensive listing of OHG texts with links to online versions.

Sources

• Althochdeutches Lesebuch, ed. W.Braune, K.Helm, E.A.Ebbinghaus, 17th edn, Tübingen 1994. ISBN 3484107073
• J. Knight Bostock, A Handbook on Old High German Literature, 2nd edn, revised by K.C.King and D.R.McLintock, Oxford 1976. ISBN 0198153929
• R.E.Keller, The German Language, London 1978. ISBN 0571111599
• Lexikon der Germanistischen Linguistik, ed. Hans Peter Althaus, Helmut Henne, Herbert Ernst Weigand, 2nd revised edition, Tübingen 1980. ISBN 3484103965
• S.Sonderegger, Althochdeutsche Sprache und Literatur, de Gruyter 1974 ISBN3110045591
• C.J.Wells, German. A Linguistic History to 1945, Oxford 1987. ISBN 0198158092