West Germanic Languages

The West Germanic tribes lived between the Oder and the Elbe and they never left the mainland. They were:

· the Franconians (Low, Middle and High Franconians) – settled the lower basin of the Rhine and with time began to speak the language of the Romanised Celts, apart from Low Franconians who spoke Old Low Franconian that later developed into à Dutch;

· the Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes and the Frisians – settled the coastal territories of the Netherlands, Germany, the south of Denmark and the British Isles. The languages they spoke were:

– Old English – later developed into à English (national language – 16^th c.; first written records – 7^th c.);

– Old Saxon – later developed into a territorial dialect in Germany;

– Old Frisian – later developed into à Frisian

· High Germans – settled the southern mountainous areas of Germany and spoke Old High German that later developed into two distinctive languages:

à German:

– is known for great dialectal diversity;

– first written records – 8^th – 9^th c.;

– 12^th c. – literary form of the language appears.

à Yiddish (see classification of the Germanic Languages, Lecture 1.)

H/w:

1. Ex. 2, 6; p. 48, 49 in “История английского языка” by Т.А. Расторгуева (copies) (see also lectures on the history on the British Isles (The British Cultural Studies)).

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