West Germanic group of languages

North Germanic groups of languages

East Germanic group of languages

The East Germanic subgroup was formed by the tribes who returned from Scandinavia at around 200 A.D. and settled in the east of Europe. The most numerous and powerful of them were the Goths. They were among the first Teutons to leave the coast of the Baltic Sea and start on their great migrations. The Goths were the first Germans to become Christians.

They spoke Gothic language. It is the only well-documented member of the extinct eastern branch. It had the oldest written records – 4th – 6th c. A.D. The Gothic, having the earliest written records among the Germanic Languages, is considered to be very close to the PG Language.

In the 4th c. A.D Ulfilas, a Gothic bishop, translated the Gospel from Greek into Gothic by using a modified form of the Greek Alphabet. “Ulfilas’ Gospels” is a manuscript of about 200 pages and are kept now in Sweden. It is written on red parchment with silver and golden letters and is known as the Silver Codex.

The Teutons who stayed in Scandinavia after the departure of the Goths gave rise to the North Germanic subgroup of languages. They lived on the southern coast of the Scandinavian peninsula and in Northern Denmark (since the 4th c. A.D.).

They lived relatively isolated and showed little dialectal variation at that time. There existed one common language – Old Norse/Old Scandinavian, later Old Danish, Old Swedish and Icelandic. Division of Old Norse into separate dialects and languages began after the 9^th c., when the Scandinavians started out on their sea voyages.

Old Norse was the common Scandinavian language. Its earliest runic inscriptions date from the 3^rd century. Among the most important monuments is Old Icelandic ‘ Older Edda ’, a collection of epic songs dating from the 10th or 11th century.

The West Germanic tribes lived between the Oder and the Elbe and they never left the mainland. On the eve of their “great migrations” of the 4^th and 5^th c. the West Germans included several tribes. The Franconians occupied the lower basin of the Rhine. The Angles and the Frisians, the Jutes and the Saxons inhabited the coastal area of the modern Netherlands, Germany and the southern part of Denmark. The languages they spoke were Old English, Old Saxon, Old Frisian and Old German.

At the later stage of the great migrations period – in the 5^th c. – a group of West Germanic tribes started out on their invasion of the British Isles. The invaders came from the lowlands near the North Sea: the Angles, the Saxons, Frisians and the Jutes. Their dialects in the British Isles developed into the English language.

The most important work of literature in Old English (or Anglo-Saxon) is an epic poem ‘ Beowulf’ (was written in the late 10th century on the basis of an 8th century poem).

4. Germanic tribes used three alphabets. The earliest known was the runic alphabet, the letters of which were called runes (separate words written/carved on objects made of wood, stone, metal). The first runic inscriptions appear about the 2nd or 3rd century A.D.

The second Germanic alphabet was Ulfilas’ Gothic (4th century; based on the Greek alphabet with mixture of Latin and runic letters).

With the spread of Christianity (7th century) the Germanic tribes borrowed the Latin alphabet. It superseded both the Runic and Gothic alphabet when a new technique of writing was introduced, namely that of spreading some colour or paint on a surface instead of cutting or engraving the letters.

Names:

Teutons – Тевтоны (тевтонцы)

Pytheas – Пифей

Julius Caesar – Юлий Цезарь

“Commentaries on the Gallic War” – “Записки о Галльской войне”

Pliny the Elder – Плиний

Tacitus – Тацит

The Rhine - Рейн

The Vindili – Виндилы

The Ingvaeons – Ингвеоны

The Istkveoni – Иствеоны

The Pekvini or Bastarni – Певкины и бастарны

The Germioni – Герминоны

The Gellivioni – Гиллевионы

Ulfilas – Вульфила (Ульфила)

Glossary:

Ancestor – ['ænsəstə] – прародитель, предок

Bishop – ['bɪʃəp] – епископ

Branch – [brɑːnʧ] – ветвь, отрасль

Extinct – [ɪk'stɪŋkt ] – вымерший

Flock – [flɔk] – стадо, стая

Gospel – Евангелие

Inscription – [ɪn'skrɪpʃ(ə)n] – надпись

Nomad – ['nəumæd] – кочевник

Scattered – ['skætəd] –редкий, расположенный на расстоянии друг от друга

Testimony – ['testɪmənɪ] – доказательство, свидетельство

To supersede – [ˌs(j)uːpə'siːd] – заменять, смещать, вытеснять

Questions for discussion:

1. Who gave us the testimonies of old Germanic tribes?

2. Why did Caesar write several chapters about the Germanic tribes in his “Commentaries on the war in Gall”?

3. How did Tacitus describe the Germanic tribes?

4. Who was the first to classify the Germanic tribes?

5. Where did the Vindili live?

6. What tribes were formed from the Ingvaeons?

7. What tribes inhabited Scandinavia?

8. What were the branches of Germanic groups of languages?

9. What do you know about East Germanic subgroup?

10. Who did Ulfilas do?

11. What do you know about North Germanic subgroup?

12. What do you know about West Germanic subgroup?

13. How many alphabets did Germanic tribes use? What were they?

Additional sources:

1. “Введение в германскую филологию” М.Г. Арсеньева; стр. 7-28.

2. “The English language. A historical introduction” Charles Barber: стр. 85-91.

3. “История английского языка” Б.А. Ильиш; стр. 18-24

4. “A history of the English language” Р.В. Резник; стр. 17-21

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