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THE OLD HIGH GERMAN
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THE OLD HIGH See also:GERMAN See also:PERIOD The See also:language spoken during the Old High German period, that is to say, down to about the See also:year 1050, is remarkable for the fulness and richness of its vowel-sounds in word-stems as well as in inflections. Cf. elilenti, Elend; luginari, Liigner; karkari, Kerker; menniskono slahta, Menschengeschlecht; herzono, Herzen (gen. pl.); furisto, vorderste; hartost, (am) hartesten; sibunzug, siebzig; ziohemes,. (wir) ziehen; salbota, (er) saibte; gaworahtos, (du) wirktest, &c. Of the consonantal changes which took See also:place during this period that of the spirant th (preserved only in See also:English) to d (werthan, werdan; theob, deob) deserves mention. It spread from Upper See also:Germany, where it is noticeable as See also:early as the 8th See also:century to See also:Middle and finally, in the Ilth and 12th centuries, to See also:Low Germany. Further, the initial h in hl, hn, hr, hw (cf. hwer, wer; hreini See also:rein; hlahhan, lachen) and w in wr (wrecceo, Recke) disappeared, this See also:change also starting in Upper Germany and spreading slowly See also:north. The most important vowel-change is the so-called mutation (Umlaut) ,6 that is to say, the qualitative change of a vowel (except i) in a See also:stem-syllable, owing to the See also:influence of an i or j in the following syllable. This See also:process commenced in the north where it seems to have" been already fully See also:developed in Low German as early as the 8th century. It is to be found, it may be noted, in Anglo-Saxon, as early as the 6th century. It gradually worked its way southwards to Middle and Upper Germany where, however, certain consonants seem to have protected the stem syllable from the influence of i in a following syllable. Cf., for instance, See also:Modern High German drucken and driicken; glauben, kaufen, See also:Haupt, words which in Middle German dialects show mutation. Orthographically, however, this process is, during the first period, only to be seen in the change of a to e; from the loth century onwards there are, it is true, some traces of other changes, and vowels like u, o, ou must have already been affected, othezwise we could not See also:account for the mutation of these vowels at a period when the cause of it, the i or j, no longer existed. A no less important change, for it helped to differentiate High from Low German, was that of Germanic e2 (a closed e-See also:sound) and o diphthongs in Old High German, while they were retained in Old Low German. Cf. O.H.G. her, hear, hiar, O.L.G. her; O.H.G.fuoz, O.L.G. fot. The final result was that in the loth century ie (older forms, ia, See also:ea) and uo (older ua, oa in Alemannic, ua in See also:South Franconian) had asserted themselves throughout all the High German dialects. Again while in Old High German the older diphthongs ai and au were pre-served as ei and ou, unless they happened to stand at the end of a word or were followed by certain consonants (h, w, r in the one See also:case, and h, r, 1, n, th, d, t, z, See also:sin the other; cf. zeh from zihan, zoh from ziohan, verlods, &c.), the Old Low German shows throughout the monophthongs e (in Middle Low German a closed sound) and o (cf. O.L.G. sten, oga). These monophthongs are also to be heard in Rhenish Franconian, the greater See also:part of See also:East Franconian and the Upper Saxon and Silesian dialects of modern times (cf. See also:Stein: See also:Steen or Stan; laufen: to fen or lopen).
Of the dialects enumerated above, Bavarian and Alemannic, High and Rhenish Franconian as well as Old Saxon are more or less represented in the literature of the first period. But this literature, the See also:chief monuments of which are Otfrid's Evangelienbuch (in South Franconian), the Old Saxon See also:Heliand (a See also:life of See also:Christ in alliterative See also:verse), the See also:translation of See also:Tatian's See also:Gospel See also:Harmony (East Franconian) and that of a theological See also:tract by See also:Bishop Isidore of See also:Seville and of parts of the See also:Bible (Rhenish Franconian), is almost exclusively theological and didactic in See also:character. One is consequently inclined to attach more value to the scanty remains of the Hildebrandslied and some interesting and See also:ancient charms. The didactic spirit again pervades the See also:translations and commentaries of See also:Notker of St See also:Gall in the early part of the 11th century, as well as a See also:paraphrase of the See also:Song of Songs by an See also: Latin, however, reigned supreme throughout this period, it being the language. of the charters, the lawbooks (there is nothing in Germany to compare with the See also:laws of the Anglo-See also:Saxons), of See also:science, See also:medicine, and even See also:poetry. It is thus needless to say that there was no recognized See also:literary language (Schriftsprache) during this period, nor even any See also:attempt to See also:form one; at most, we might speak of See also:schools in the large monasteries, such as See also:Reichenau, St Gall, See also:Fulda, which contributed to the spread and See also:acceptance of certain orthographical rules. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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