German developed during the emigration of migrations within the Germanic family of languages.
The term "Deutsch" (German) meant „belonging to the people“ and defined itself against both Latin, as the language of the learned, and Welch, the Romanesque popular language. The first documentary evidence of German script dates from the end of its oldest development phase – about one thousand years ago with Old Saxon and Old High German (750 to 1050).
The middle phase, Middle High German - Middle Low German (1050 to 1500), is characterized by the weakening of unaccented vowels in middle and final syllables (“end” vowels), the beginning of diphthongization (double vowels: "au", "ei", "eu") as well as partial monophthongization. Eastward expansion (colonization) precipitated the first steps towards a common High German literary language.
The youngest phase, New Low German – New High German, took place in the East (Elbe and Eastern Elbe region). There a High German literary language developed, which spread across the entire German language area with the help of Luther’s translation of the Bible (Saxon Chambers German) and the printing and distribution of books. New Low German deteriorated during this process into a vernacular.
In general, German is divided into three main dialect groups: Low German, Middle German and Upper German. |
Industry, Commerce,
Economics, Science, Finance,...
Service information
