Editing German language (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of German}}

=== Old High German ===
{{Main|Old High German}}

The [[History of German|history of the German language]] begins with the [[High German consonant shift]] during the [[Migration Period]], which separated Old High German dialects from [[Old Saxon]]. This [[Sound change|sound shift]] involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both [[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]] and voiceless [[stop consonant]]s (''b'', ''d'', ''g'', and ''p'', ''t'', ''k'', respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below.
* Voiceless stops became long ([[Gemination|geminated]]) voiceless [[fricative]]s following a vowel;
* Voiceless stops became [[affricate]]s in word-initial position, or following certain consonants;
* Voiced stops became voiceless in certain phonetic settings.{{sfn|Robinson|1992|pp=239–42}}
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Voiceless stop<br />following a vowel
!Word-initial<br />voiceless stop
!Voiced stop
|-
|/p/→/ff/
|/p/→/pf/
|/b/→/p/
|-
|/t/→/ss/
|/t/→/ts/
|/d/→/t/
|-
|/k/→/xx/
|/k/→/kx/
|/g/→/k/
|}

[[File:Old norse, ca 900.PNG|thumb|The approximate extent of Germanic languages in the early 10th century:
{{legend|#ff0000|'''[[w:Old West Norse|Old West Norse]]'''}}
{{legend|#FF8040|'''[[w:Old East Norse|Old East Norse]]'''}}
{{legend|#ff00ff|'''[[w:Old Gutnish|Old Gutnish]]'''}}
{{legend|#ffff00|'''[[w:Old English|Old English]]''' ([[w:West Germanic languages|West Germanic]])}}
{{legend|#00ff00|Continental West Germanic languages ([[Old Frisian]], [[Old Saxon]], [[Old Dutch]], [[Old High German]]).}}
{{legend|#0000ff|'''[[w:Crimean Gothic|Crimean Gothic]]''' ([[w:East Germanic|East Germanic]])}}]]

While there is written evidence of the [[Old High German]] language in several [[Elder Futhark]] inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the [[Pforzen buckle]]), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the ''[[Abrogans]]'' (written {{Circa|765–775}}), a Latin-German [[glossary]] supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their [[Latin]] equivalents. After the ''Abrogans'', the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in the ninth century, chief among them being the ''[[Muspilli]]'', [[Merseburg Charms|Merseburg charms]], and ''{{Lang|de|[[Hildebrandslied]]}}'', and other religious texts (the ''[[Georgslied]]'', ''[[Ludwigslied]]'', ''Evangelienbuch'', and translated hymns and prayers).<ref>{{harvnb|Robinson|1992|pp=239–42}}, {{harvnb|Thomas|1992|pp=5–6}}</ref> The ''Muspilli'' is a Christian poem written in a [[Bavarian dialects|Bavarian]] dialect offering an account of the soul after the [[Last Judgment]], and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from the [[Paganism|pagan]] Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the ''{{Lang|de|Hildebrandslied}}'', a secular [[Epic poetry|epic poem]] telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of [[Old Saxon]] and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from the [[Alemanni|Alamanni]], Bavarian, and [[Thuringian dialect|Thuringian]] groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group ([[Irminones]]), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and [[Austria]] between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration.{{sfn|Robinson|1992|pp=239–42}}

In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of [[dialect]]al diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through [[Monastery|monasteries]] and [[Scriptorium|scriptoria]] as local translations of Latin originals; as a result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary.{{sfn|Robinson|1992|pp=239–42}} At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing.

===Middle High German===
{{Main|Middle High German}}

While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the [[Middle High German]] (MHG) period, it is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350.{{sfn|Waterman|1976|p=83}} This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the [[Elbe]] and [[Saale]] rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into [[Slavs|Slavic]] territory (known as the ''{{Lang|de|[[Ostsiedlung]]}}''). With the increasing wealth and geographic spread of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature.{{sfn|Waterman|1976|p=83}} <!--The following citation needs to be checked, if this source can be used otherwise. Check me: <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://linguistics.byu.edu/classes/Ling450ch/reports/german.html|title=A Brief History of the German Language|last=Alder|first=Aaron D.|website=linguistics.byu.edu|access-date=13 July 2017}}</ref> --> A clear example of this is the ''{{Lang|de|mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache}}'' employed in the [[Hohenstaufen]] court in [[Swabia]] as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes, leading to a greater need for regularity in written conventions.

While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, High German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. [[Vowel breaking|diphthongization]] of certain vowel sounds: ''{{Lang|goh|hus}}'' (OHG & MHG "house")''→{{Lang|gmh|haus}} (regionally in later MHG)→{{Lang|de|Haus}}'' (NHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to [[schwa]] [ə]: ''{{Lang|goh|taga}}'' (OHG "days")→''{{Lang|gmh|tage}}'' (MHG)).{{sfn|Salmons|2012|p=195}}

A great wealth of texts survives from the MHG period. Significantly, these texts include a number of impressive secular works, such as the {{lang|de|[[Nibelungenlied]]}}, an [[Epic poetry|epic poem]] telling the story of the [[dragon]]-slayer [[Sigurd|Siegfried]] ({{circa|thirteenth century}}), and the ''[[Iwein]]'', an [[King Arthur|Arthurian]] verse poem by [[Hartmann von Aue]] ({{Circa|1203}}), [[Lyric poetry|lyric poems]], and courtly romances such as ''[[Parzival]]'' and ''[[Tristan]]''. Also noteworthy is the ''{{Lang|de|[[Sachsenspiegel]]}}'', the first book of laws written in [[Middle Low German|Middle ''Low'' German]] ({{Circa|1220}}). The abundance and especially the secular character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms.

The Middle High German period is generally seen as ending when the 1346–53 [[Black Death]] decimated Europe's population.{{sfn|Scherer|Jankowsky|1995|p=11}}

===Early New High German===
{{Main|Early New High German}}
[[File:German dialect continuum in 1900 (according to Wiesinger & König).png|thumb|upright=1.36|left|German language area and major dialectal divisions around [[1900]]<ref>{{harvnb|Goossens|1977|p=48}}, {{harvnb|Wiesinger|1982|pp=807–900}}, {{harvnb|Heeringa|2004|pp=232–34}}, {{harvnb|Giesbers|2008|p=233}}, {{harvnb|König|Paul|2019|p=230}}</ref>]]

Modern High German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which [[Wilhelm Scherer]] dates 1350{{ndash}}1650, terminating with the end of the [[Thirty Years' War]].{{sfn|Scherer|Jankowsky|1995|p=11}} This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in the [[List of states in the Holy Roman Empire|German states]]. While these states were still part of the [[Holy Roman Empire]], and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking [[Principality|principalities]] and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible [[German dialects|regional dialects]] being spoken throughout the German states; the invention of the [[printing press]] {{circa|1440}} and the publication of [[Luther Bible|Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible]] in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language.

The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of [[Chancery (medieval office)|chancery]] German, one being ''{{Lang|de|gemeine tiutsch}}'', used in the court of the [[Holy Roman Emperor]] [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian I]], and the other being ''{{Lang|de|Meißner Deutsch}}'', used in the [[Electorate of Saxony]] in the [[Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg]].{{sfn|Keller|1978|pp=365–68}}

Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages (''{{Lang|de|Druckersprachen}}'') aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible.{{sfn|Bach|1965|p=254}} The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardisation in the written form of German.
[[Image:Lutherbibel.jpg|thumb|right|[[Modern High German]] translation of the [[Christian Bible]] by the Protestant reformer [[Martin Luther]] (1534).<ref name="Lobenstein-Reichmann">{{cite book |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.382 |chapter=Martin Luther, Bible Translation, and the German Language |title=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion |date=2017 |last1=Lobenstein-Reichmann |first1=Anja |isbn=978-0-19-934037-8 }}</ref> The widespread popularity of the [[Luther Bible|Bible translated into High German by Luther]] helped establish modern Standard German.<ref name="Lobenstein-Reichmann"/>]]
One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of [[Luther Bible|Luther's translation of the Bible into High German]] (the [[New Testament]] was published in 1522; the [[Old Testament]] was published in parts and completed in 1534).<ref name="Lobenstein-Reichmann"/> Luther based his translation primarily on the ''{{Lang|de|Meißner Deutsch}}'' of [[Saxony]], spending much time among the population of Saxony researching the dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of [[Gloss (annotation)|glosses]] for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Luther said the following concerning his translation method:{{blockquote|One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in the home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says '{{Lang|la|ex abundantia cordis os loquitur|italic=no}},' I would translate, if I followed the papists, ''{{Lang|de|aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund}}''. But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No, the mother in the home and the plain man would say, ''{{Lang|de|Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über}}''.{{sfn|Super|1893|p=81}}}} [[Luther Bible|Luther's translation of the Bible into High German]] was also decisive for the German language and its evolution from [[Early New High German]] to modern Standard German.<ref name="Lobenstein-Reichmann"/> The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the [[History of Germany#Culture and literacy|spread of literacy in early modern Germany]],<ref name="Lobenstein-Reichmann"/> and promoted the development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area.<ref>Birgit Stolt, "Luther's Translation of the Bible." ''[[Lutheran Quarterly]]'' 28.4 (2014): 373–400.</ref> With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy.{{sfn|Dickens|1974|p=134}} Nevertheless, even with the influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century.{{sfn|Scherer|1868|p=?}}

===Habsburg Empire===
[[File:HRR 1648.png|thumb|upright=1.4|Map of [[Central Europe]] in 1648:
{{legend|#DEB200|Territories under the [[Holy Roman Empire]], comprising the [[Alps|Alpine]] heartland (''[[Erblande]]'') of the [[Habsburg monarchy]].}}]]
[[File:Austria Hungary ethnic.svg|thumb|upright=1.4|Ethnolinguistic map comprising the territories of [[Austria-Hungary]] (1910), with German-speaking areas shown in red]]

German was the language of commerce and government in the [[Habsburg monarchy|Habsburg Empire]], which encompassed a large area of [[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Eastern Europe]]. Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality.

[[Prague]] ({{langx|de|Prag|links=no}}) and [[Budapest]] ([[Buda]], {{langx|de|Ofen|links=no}}), to name two examples, were gradually [[Germanization|Germanized]] in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain. However, Prague had a large German-speaking population since the Middle Ages, as had Pressburg (Pozsony, now Bratislava), which was settled by Germans in the 10th century. Significant portions of Bohemia and Moravia, now part of the [[Czech Republic]], had become German-speaking during [[Ostsiedlung]]. During the Habsburg time, Budapest and cities like [[Zagreb]] ({{langx|de|Agram|links=no}}) or [[Ljubljana]] ({{langx|de|Laibach|links=no}}), contained significant German minorities.

In the eastern provinces of [[Banat]], [[Bukovina]], and [[Transylvania]] ({{langx|de|Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen|links=no}}), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like {{lang|de|Temeschburg}} ([[Timișoara]]), {{lang|de|Hermannstadt}} ([[Sibiu]]), and {{lang|de|Kronstadt}} ([[Brașov]])—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas.{{sfn|Rothaug|1910|p=}}

=== Standardization ===
In 1901, the [[German Orthographic Conference of 1901|Second Orthographic Conference]] ended with a (nearly) complete [[standardization]] of the [[Standard German]] language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition.{{sfn|Nerius|2000|pp=30–54}} Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardized in the process.

[[File:Meetings of German-speaking countries, participants.png|thumb|Participants of Meetings of German-speaking countries (2004–present)]]
The {{lang|de|Deutsche Bühnensprache}} ({{lit|German stage language}}) by [[Theodor Siebs]] had established [[Bühnendeutsch|conventions for German pronunciation in theatres]],{{sfn|Siebs|2000|p=20}} three years earlier; however, this was an artificial standard that did not correspond to any traditional spoken dialect. Rather, it was based on the pronunciation of German in Northern Germany, although it was subsequently regarded often as a general prescriptive norm, despite differing pronunciation traditions especially in the Upper-German-speaking regions that still characterise the dialect of the area today{{snd}}especially the pronunciation of the ending {{lang|de|-ig}} as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]. In Northern Germany, High German was a foreign language to most inhabitants, whose native dialects were subsets of Low German. It was usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in fact, most of High German was a written language, not identical to any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until well into the 19th century. However, wider [[Standard German phonology|standardization of pronunciation]] was established on the basis of public speaking in theatres and the media during the 20th century and documented in pronouncing dictionaries.

Official revisions of some of the rules from 1901 were not issued until the controversial [[German orthography reform of 1996]] was made the official standard by governments of all German-speaking countries.{{sfn|Upward|1997|pp=22–24, 36}} Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German which is understood in all areas where German is spoken.