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Germanic Language Definition:
Any language which may trace its lineage to a Proto-Germanic as evidenced by certain phonological markers shared by all Germanic Languages.
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Northern Branch
- Remained in Scandinavia
- Wrote using the Elder and Younger Futhark
- Derived from Old Italic Script
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Western Branch
- Expanded early into Central Europe
- Maintained prolonged contact with the Northern Branch
- Wrote using the Elder Futhark and the Anglo-Frisian Futhorc
- Derived from Old Italic Script
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Eastern Branch
- First expanded into Gotland
- Expanded late into Eastern Europe
- Wrote using the Gothic Alphabet
- Derived from the Greek Alphabet
- Earliest Germanic texts were written in Gothic
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- Proto-Language for the Germanic Family is
- Proto-Germanic
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- Grimm’s Law
- PIE plosives shifted pronunciation as they developed into Proto-Germanic
- voiceless stops → voiceless fricatives
- voiced stops → voiceless stops
- aspirated, voiced stops → voiced stops
- Jakob Grimm 1822 (Germany)
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- Verner’s Law
- PIE voiceless stops become voiced fricatives after an unstressed syllable
- PIE /s/ also followed this pattern
- Karl Verner 1877 (Netherlands)
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Major Germanic Branches: (know all 3 branches and 1 language each)
- North Germanic
- Norwegian
- Icelandic
- Danish
- Swedish
- East Germanic
- Gothic
- West Germanic
- English
- German
- Dutch
- Frisian
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- Bronze Age c. 2800 - 2300 BCE
- Battleaxe Culture developed from Corded Ware in southern Scandinavia
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- Nordic Bronze Age c. 1700 - 500 BCE
Pre-Proto-Germanic developed from PIE
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- Pre-Roman Iron Age c. 500 - 1 BCE
- Proto-Germanic spoken
- Jastorf Culture appears in Central Europe
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- Roman Iron Age c. 1 - 400 CE
- Western Germanic group takes over Germania
- Tacitus, a Roman historian, studies the Germanic tribes
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- Germanic Iron Age c. 300 - c. 10000 CE
- (Eastern Germanic) Goths toppled the Roman Empire
- They were pushed out of Eastern Europe by Atilla and the Huns
- Ostrogoths and Visigoths established kingdoms in Italy & Spain
- (West Germanic) Franks make the Carolingian Empire in Central Europe
- (West Germanic) Angles, Saxons, Frisians, and Jutes invade Britain
- They established the Heptarchy or Seven Kingdoms
- Spoke Anglo-Saxon/Old English
- (North Germanic) Norse expanded and raided England and much of Europe during the “viking age” 793-1066 CE
- Began with the sack of Lindisfarne Abbey 793 CE
- Established the Danelaw in England 865-954 CE