The Old Frankish language

Old Frankish (also Old Franconian or Old Frankish) was the West Germanic
language spoken by the Franks between the 4th and 8th century. The language itself is poorly
attested, but it gave rise to numerous loanwords in Old French. Old Dutch is the term for the
Old Franconian dialects spoken in the Low Countries until about the 12th century.
During the Merovingian period, Frankish had significant influence on the Romance languages
spoken in Gaul. As a result, many modern French words and placenames (including the
country name "France") have a Germanic origin. France itself is still known in German as
"Frankreich" and in Dutch as "Frankrijk", i.e. the "Frankish Realm". Between the 5th and 9th
centuries, the languages spoken by the Salian Franks in Belgium and the Netherlands evolved
into Old Dutch (Old Low Franconian), while in Picardyand le-de-France it was eventually
eclipsed by Old French as the dominant language.
The Frankish language as spoken before the Carolingian period is mostly reconstructed from
Old French loanwords and from the Old Dutch language as recorded in the 11th to 12th
centuries. A notable exception is the Bergakker inscription, which may represent a primary
record of 5th-century Frankish.

Nomenclature
In a modern linguistic context, the language is variously called (in English) Old Frankish or Old
Franconian, and referred to in Dutch as Oudfrankisch and in German as Altfrnkisch.
In philology, the language spoken by the Salian Franks from around the 5th to the 10th century
was called Old Dutch or, sometimes, Old Low Franconian, and regarded as a variety of Old
Franconian (more broadly defined in that discipline). Compare the somewhat analogous usage,
in philological versus linguistic contexts, of Old English vs. Anglo-Saxon.
The English term Old Frankish is, for historical reasons, usually not used in the context of the
Ripuarian Franks and their language It is more often used in the Salian Frank and Dutch
contexts. The language spoken by the Salian Franks has sometimes been referred to as Old
West Low Franconian, as distinguishable from Old Low Franconian more broadly ]

History[
Origins

The distribution of the primary Germanic dialect groups in Europe in around AD 1:

North Germanic
North Sea Germanic, or Ingvaeonic
Weser-Rhine Germanic, or Istvaeonic
Elbe Germanic, or Irminonic
East Germanic

The Germanic languages are traditionally divided into three groups: West, East and
North Germanic. Their exact relation is difficult to determine, and they remained mutually
intelligible throughout the Migration Period, so that some individual varieties are difficult to
classify.
The language spoken by the Franks was part of the West Germanic language group, which
had features from Proto-Germanic in the late Jastorf culture (ca. 1st century BC). The West
Germanic group is characterized by a number of phonological andmorphological innovations
not found in North and East Germanic. The West Germanic varieties of the time are generally
split into three dialect groups: Ingvaeonic(North Sea Germanic), Istvaeonic (Weser-Rhine
Germanic) and Irminonic (Elbe Germanic). While each had its own distinct characteristics,
there certainly must have still been a high degree of mutual intelligibility between these
dialects. In fact, it is unclear whether the West Germanic continuum of this time period, or
indeed Franconian itself, should still be considered a single language or that it should be
considered a collection of similar dialects.
In any case, it appears that the Frankish tribes, or the later Franks, fit primarily into the
Istvaeonic dialect group, with certain Ingvaeonic influences towards the northwest (still seen in
modern Dutch), and more Irminonic (High German) influences towards the southeast.

Salian and Ripuarian Franks (210500)

Scholarly consensus concerning the Migration Period is in agreement that the Frankish identity
emerged at the first half of the 3rd century out of various earlier, smaller Germanic groups,
including
the Salii, Sicambri, Chamavi, Bructeri, Chatti, Chattuarii, Ampsivarii, Tencteri, Ubii,Batavi and
the Tungri. It is speculated that these tribes originally spoke a range of

relatedIstvaeonic dialects in the West Germanic branch of Proto-Germanic. Sometime in the

4th or 5th centuries, it becomes appropriate to speak of Old Franconian rather than
an Istvaeonic dialect of Proto-Germanic.

Bergakker inscription

Very little is known about what the language was like during this period. One older runic
sentence (dating from around 425450 AD) is on the sword sheath of Bergakker. Another early
sentence from the early 6th century AD is found in the Lex Salica. This phrase was used to
free a serf:
"Maltho thi afrio lito"
(I say, I free you, half-free.)
These are the earliest sentences yet found of Old Franconian.

The location of the Franks around 475 "Les Francs rhnans" is the French term for
"Ripuarian Franks".

During this early period, the Franks were divided politically and geographically into two
groups: the Salian Franks and theRipuarian Franks. The language (or set of dialects)
spoken by the Salian Franksduring this period is sometimes referred to as early "Old
Low Franconian", and consisted of two groups: "Old West Low Franconian" and "Old
East Low Franconian". The language (or set of dialects) spoken by the Ripuarian
Franksare referred to just as Old Franconian dialects (or, by some, as Old Frankish
dialects).
However, as already stated above, it may be more accurate to think of these dialects
not as early Old Franconian but as Istvaeonic dialects in the West Germanic branch
of Proto-Germanic.

Frankish Empire (500900)

The Frankish conquests between 481 and 814.

At around 500 AD the Franks probably still spoke a range of related dialects and
languages rather than a single uniform dialect or language. [5] The language of both
government and the Church was Latin.

Areal
Austrasia
During the expansion into France and Germany, many Frankish people remained in
the original core Frankish territories in the north (i.e. southern Netherlands, Flanders, a
small part of northern France and the adjoining area in Germany centred on Cologne).
The Franks united as a single group under Salian Frank leadership around 500 AD.
Politically, the Ripuarian Franks existed as a separate group only until about 500 AD.
After that they were subsumed under the Salic Franks. The Franks were united, but
the various Frankish groupings must have continued to live in the same areas, and
speak the same dialects, although as a part of the growing Frankish Empire.
There must have been a close relationship between the various Franconian dialects.
There was also a close relationship between Old Low Franconian (i.e. Old Dutch) and
its neighbouring Saxon-based languages and dialects to the north and northeast,
i.e. Old Saxon and the related Anglo-Saxon dialects called Old English and Old
Frisian.
A widening cultural divide grew between the Franks remaining in the north and the
rulers far to the south.[6] Franks continued to reside in their original territories and to
speak their original dialects and languages. It is not known what they called their
language, but it is possible that they always called it "Diets" (i.e. "the people's
language"), or something similar.
Philologists think of Old Dutch and Old West Low Franconian as being the same
language. However, sometimes reference is made to a transition from the language
spoken by the Salian Franks to Old Dutch. The language spoken by the Salian Franks
must have developed significantly during the seven centuries from 200 to 900 AD. At
some point the language spoken by the Franks must have become identifiably Dutch.
Because Franconian texts are almost non-existent and Old Dutch texts scarce and
fragmentary, it is difficult to determine when such a transition occurred, but it is thought
to have happened by the end of the 9th century and perhaps earlier. By 900 AD the
language spoken was recognisably an early form of Dutch, but that might also have
been the case earlier. Old Dutch made the transition to Middle Dutch around 1150. A

Dutch-French language boundary came into existence (but this was originally south of
where it is today). Even though living in the original territory of the Franks, these
Franks seem to have broken with the endonym "Frank" around the 9th century. By this
time the Frankish identity had changed from an ethnic identity to a national identity,
becoming localized and confined to the modern Franconia in Germany and principally
to the French province of le-de-France.

Gaul
The Franks expanded south into Gaul. Although the Franks would eventually conquer
all of Gaul, speakers of Old Franconian apparently expanded in sufficient numbers
only into northern Gaul to have a linguistic effect. For several centuries, northern Gaul
was a bilingual territory (Vulgar Latin and Franconian). The language used in writing, in
government and by the Church was Latin. Eventually, the Franks who had settled
more to the south of this area in northern Gaul started adopting the Vulgar Latin of the
local population. This Vulgar Latin language acquired the name of the people who
came to speak it (Frankish or Franais); north of the French-Dutch language boundary,
the language was no longer referred to as "Frankish" (if it ever was referred to as
such) but rather came to be referred to as "Diets", i.e. the "people's language" Urban
T. Holmes has proposed that a Germanic language continued to be spoken as a
second tongue by public officials in western Austrasia and Neustria as late as the
850s, and that it completely disappeared as a spoken language from these regions
only during the 10th century.

German Franconia
The Franks also expanded their rule southeast into parts of Germany. Their language
had some influence on local dialects, especially for terms relating to warfare. However,
since the language of both the administration and the Church was Latin, this unification
did not lead to the development of a supra-regional variety of Franconian nor a
standardized German language. At the same time that the Franks were expanding
southeast into Germany, there were linguistic changes in Germany. The High German
consonant shift (or second Germanic consonant shift) was a phonological
development (sound change) that took place in the southern parts of the West
Germanic dialect continuum in several phases, probably beginning between the 3rd
and 5th centuries AD, and was almost complete before the earliest written records in
the High German language were made in the 9th century. The resulting language, Old
High German, can be neatly contrasted with Low Franconian, which for the most part
did not experience the shift.

Franconian languages
The set of dialects of the Franks who continued to live in their original territory in the
Low Countries eventually developed in three different ways.

The dialects spoken by the Salian Franks in the Low Countries (Old Dutch, also
referred to as Old West Low Franconian) developed into the Dutch language,
which itself has a number of dialects. Afrikaans branched off Dutch.
The Old East Low Franconian dialects are represented today in Limburgish, which
is by some (especially Germans) referred to as Low Rhenish or MeuseRhenish. Limburgish itself has a number of dialects. It is by some considered to be
a separate language and by others simply a dialect of Dutch or German.
It is speculated that the dialects originally spoken by the Ripuarian Franks in
Germany possibly developed into, or were subsumed under, the German dialects
called
the Central
Franconian
dialects (Ripuarian
Franconian, Moselle

Franconian and Rhenish Franconian). These languages and dialects were later
affected by serious language changes (such as the High German consonant shift),
which resulted in the emergence of dialects that are now considered German
dialects. Today, the Central Franconian dialects are spoken in the core territory of
the Ripuarian Franks. Although there may not be definite proof to say that the
dialects of the Ripuarian Franks (about which very little is known) developed into
the Central Franconian dialects, there areapart from mere probabilitysome
pieces of evidence, most importantly the development -hs ss and the loss
of n before spirants, which is found throughout Central Franconian but nowhere
else in High German. Compare LuxembourgishUess ("ox"), Dutch os,
German Ochse; and (dated) Luxembourgish Gaus ("goose"), Old Dutch gs,
German Gans. The language spoken by Charlemagne was probably the dialect
that later developed into the Ripuarian Franconian dialect.
Because of the geographical correspondence, it is particularly tempting to think that the
languages and dialects spoken by the early Franks are represented today by the
languages and dialects of the Rhenish fan.
The Frankish Empire later extended throughout neighbouring France and Germany.
The language of the Franks had some influence on the local languages (especially in
France), but never took hold as a standard language because Latin was the
international language at the time. Ironically, the language of the Franks did not
develop into the lingua franca.
Franconian is the historic basis of the Central Franconian and Low Franconian dialects
spoken today in western Germany (largely the states of RhinelandPalatinate and Saarland, as well as the south-western half of North Rhine-Westphalia).
These dialects have, however, had little impact in the emergence of modern Standard
German.
The Franks conquered adjoining territories of Germany (including the territory of
the Allemanni). The Frankish legacy survives in these areas, for example, in the
names of the city of Frankfurt and the area of Franconia. The Franks brought their
language with them from their original territory and, as in France; it must have had an
effect on the local dialects and languages. However, it is relatively difficult for linguists
today to determine what features of these dialects are due to Frankish influence,
because the latter was in large parts obscured, or even overwhelmed, by later
developments.

Influence on Old French and Middle Latin

Most French words of Germanic origin came from Frankish (some others are English
loanwords[), often replacing the Latin word which would have been used. It is
estimated that modern French took approximately 1000 stem words from Old
Franconian Many
of
these
words
were
concerned
with
agriculture
(e.g. French: jardin "garden"), war (e.g. French: guerre"war") or social organization
(e.g. French: baron "baron"). Old Franconian has introduced the modern French word
for the nation, France (Francia), meaning "land of the Franks", as well as possibly the
name for the Paris region, le-de-France from Lidle Franken or "Little Franconia".
The influence of Franconian on French is decisive for the birth of the early langue
d'olcompared to the other Romance languages, that appeared later such as langue
d'oc,Romanian, Portuguese and Catalan, Italian, etc., because its influence was
greater than the respective influence of Visigothic and Lombardic (both Germanic
languages) on the langue d'oc, the Romance languages of Iberia, and Italian. Not all of

these loanwords have been retained in modern French. French has also passed on
words of Franconian origin to other Romance languages, and to English.
Old Franconian has also left many etyma in the different Northern Langues d'ols such
as Picard, Champenois, Bas-Lorrain and Walloon, more than in Common French, and
not always the same ones
See below a non-exhaustive list of French words of Frankish origin. An asterisk
prefixing a term indicates a reconstructed form of the Frankish word. Most Franconian
words with the phoneme changed it to gu when entering Old French and
other Romance languages; however, the northern langue d'ol dialects such as Picard,
Northern Norman, Walloon, Burgundian, Champenois and Bas-Lorrain retained the [w]
or turned it into [v]. Perhaps the best known example is the Franconian *werra ("war" <
Old Northern French werre, compare Old High German werre "quarrel"), which entered
modern
French
as guerre and guerra in Italian, Occitan,Catalan, Spanish and Portuguese.
Other
examples include "gant" ("gauntlet", from *want) and "garder" ("to guard", from
wardn). Franconian words starting with s before another consonant developed it
into es- (e.g. Franconian skirm and Old French escremie > Old Italian scrimia >
Modern French escrime)