Editing Languages of Europe (section)

=== Germanic ===
[[File:Germanic languages in Europe.png|300px|thumb|right|
The present-day distribution of the Germanic languages in Europe:{{parabreak}}
North Germanic languages
{{legend|#02FDFF|[[Icelandic language|Icelandic]]}}
{{legend|#1FC5FC|[[Faroese language|Faroese]]}}
{{legend|#0080FF|[[Norwegian language|Norwegian]]}}
{{legend|#003F80|[[Swedish language|Swedish]]}}
{{legend|#0433FF|[[Danish language|Danish]]}}
West Germanic Languages
{{legend|#FCA502|[[English language|English]]}}
{{legend|#FD7B24|[[Scots language|Scots]]}}
{{legend|#E2BD00|[[Frisian languages|Frisian]]}}
{{legend|#FFF435|[[Dutch language|Dutch]]}}
{{legend|#ADFF2F|[[Low German]]}}
{{legend|#018000|[[High German]]}}
Dots indicate areas where [[multilingualism]] is common.]]

The [[Germanic languages]] make up the predominant language family in Western, [[Northern Europe|Northern]] and [[Central Europe]]. It is estimated that over 500 million Europeans are speakers of Germanic languages,<ref>{{Citation |title=Germanic languages |date=2025-01-03 |work=Wikipedia |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_languages#CITEREFK%C3%B6nigvan_der_Auwera1994 |access-date=2025-01-13 |language=en}}</ref> the largest groups being [[German-speaking Europe|German]] ({{circa}} 95 million), [[English language in Europe|English]] ({{circa}} 400 million){{citation needed|date=January 2024}}, [[Dutch language|Dutch]] ({{circa}} 24 million), [[Swedish language|Swedish]] ({{circa}} 10 million), [[Danish language|Danish]] ({{circa}} 6 million), [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] ({{circa}} 5 million)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sipka |first=Danko |date=2022 |title=The Geography of Words |url=https://assets.cambridge.org/97811088/41658/index/9781108841658_index.pdf |access-date=December 23, 2023 |website=Cambridge University Press}}</ref> and [[Limburgish]] (c. 1.3 million).{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}

There are two extant major sub-divisions: ''[[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]]'' and ''[[North Germanic languages|North Germanic]]''. A third group, [[East Germanic languages|East Germanic]], is now extinct; the only known surviving East Germanic texts are written in the [[Gothic language]]. West Germanic is divided into [[Anglo-Frisian languages|Anglo-Frisian]] (including [[English language|English]]), [[Low German]], [[Low Franconian languages|Low Franconian]] (including [[Dutch language|Dutch]]) and [[High German]] (including [[Standard German]]).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Versloot |first1=Arjen |last2=Adamczyk |first2=Elzbieta |date=2017-01-01 |title=The Geography and Dialects of Old Saxon: River-basin communication networks and the distributional patterns of North Sea Germanic features in Old Saxon |url=https://www.academia.edu/19757571 |journal=Frisians and Their North Sea Neighbours |pages=125|doi=10.1515/9781787440630-014 }}</ref>

====Anglo-Frisian====
{{Main|Anglo-Frisian languages|English language in Europe}}

The [[Anglo-Frisian languages|Anglo-Frisian language family]] is now mostly represented by [[Anglic languages|English (Anglic)]], descended from the [[Old English language]] spoken by the [[Anglo-Saxons]]:

* [[English language|English]], the main language of the [[United Kingdom]] and the most widespread language in the [[Republic of Ireland]], also spoken as a [[European English|second or third language by many Europeans]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Evolution of English: Contribution of European Languages |url=https://www.98thpercentile.com/blog/the-evolution-of-english-contributions-of-european-languages/ |access-date=2023-12-16 |website=www.98thpercentile.com |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Scots language|Scots]], spoken in [[Scotland]] and [[Ulster]], recognized by some as a language and by others as a dialect of English<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-12-05 |title=Scots language {{!}} History, Examples, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Scots-language |access-date=2023-12-23 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> (not to be confused with [[Scottish Gaelic|Scots-Gaelic]] of the [[#Others|Celtic language family]]).
The [[Frisian languages]] are spoken by about 400,000 ({{as of|2015|lc=y}}) [[Frisians]],<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Kuipers-Zandberg |first1=Helga |last2=Kircher |first2=Ruth |date=2020-11-01 |title=The Objective and Subjective Ethnolinguistic Vitality of West Frisian: Promotion and Perception of a Minority Language in the Netherlands |journal=Sustainable Multilingualism |language=en |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=1–25 |doi=10.2478/sm-2020-0011|s2cid=227129146 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Winter |first=Christoph |title=Frisian |date=2022-12-21 |url=https://oxfordre.com/linguistics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.001.0001/acrefore-9780199384655-e-938 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics |access-date=2023-05-21 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.938 |isbn=978-0-19-938465-5|url-access=subscription }}</ref> who live on the southern coast of the [[North Sea]] in the [[Netherlands]] and [[Germany]]. These languages include [[West Frisian languages|West Frisian]], [[East Frisian language|East Frisian]] (of which the only surviving dialect is [[Saterlandic]]) and [[North Frisian language|North Frisian]].<ref name=":0" />

====Dutch====
{{Main|Dutch language#Europe{{!}}Dutch-speaking Europe|Dutch language|Low Franconian}}

[[Dutch language|Dutch]] is spoken throughout the [[Netherlands]], the northern half of [[Belgium]], as well as the [[Nord-Pas de Calais]] region of [[France]]. The traditional dialects of the [[Lower Rhine region|Lower Rhine]] region of Germany are linguistically more closely related to Dutch than to modern German. In Belgian and French contexts, Dutch is sometimes referred to as [[Flemish dialects|Flemish]]. [[Dutch dialects]] are numerous and varied.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-12-15 |title=Dutch language {{!}} Definition, Origin, History, Countries, Examples, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Dutch-language |access-date=2023-12-23 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

====German====
{{Main|German language|Geographical distribution of German speakers}}

[[German language|German]] is spoken throughout [[Germany]], [[Austria]], [[Liechtenstein]], much of [[Switzerland]], northern [[Italy]] ([[South Tyrol]]), [[Luxembourg]], the [[East Cantons of Belgium]] and the [[Alsace]] and [[Lorraine]] regions of [[France]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=German, Standard {{!}} Ethnologue Free |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/deu/ |access-date=2023-12-23 |website=Ethnologue (Free All) |language=en}}</ref>

There are several groups of German dialects:

* [[High German]] includes several dialect families:
** [[Standard German]]
** [[Central German]] dialects, spoken in central Germany and including [[Luxembourgish]]
** [[High Franconian]], a family of transitional dialects between Central and Upper High German
** [[Upper German]], including [[Bavarian language|Bavarian]] and [[Swiss German]]
** [[Yiddish]] is a [[Jewish languages|Jewish language]] developed in Germany and Eastern Europe. It shares many features of High German dialects and [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Origins of Yiddish |url=https://sites.santafe.edu/~johnson/articles.yiddish.html |access-date=2023-12-23 |website=sites.santafe.edu}}</ref>


====[[Low German]]==== 
Low German is spoken in various regions throughout Northern Germany and the northern and eastern parts of the Netherlands.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-12-28 |title=All You Need To Know About The Official Languages Of Germany |url=https://gtelocalize.com/about-the-official-languages-of-germany/#Looking-for-a-reliable-German-Translation-Service |access-date=2025-01-13 |website=gtelocalize.com |language=en-US}}</ref> It may be separated into [[West Low German]] and [[East Low German]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Russ |first=Charles |date=2013-09-13 |title=The Dialects of Modern German |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315001777 |doi=10.4324/9781315001777|isbn=9781315001777 }}</ref>

====North Germanic (Scandinavian)====
The ''[[North Germanic languages]]'' are spoken in [[Nordic countries]] and include 
[[Swedish language|Swedish]] ([[Sweden]] and parts of [[Finland]]), 
[[Danish language|Danish]] ([[Denmark]]), 
[[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] ([[Norway]]), 
[[Icelandic language|Icelandic]] ([[Iceland]]),
[[Faroese language|Faroese]] ([[Faroe Islands]]), 
and [[Elfdalian]] (in a small part of central Sweden).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Louden |first1=Mark L. |title=The Cambridge Handbook of Germanic Linguistics |date=2020 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-42186-7 |pages=807–832 |url=https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108378291.035 |chapter=Minority Germanic Languages}}</ref>

English has a long history of contact with Scandinavian languages, given the immigration of Scandinavians early in the history of Britain, and shares various features with the Scandinavian languages.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121127094111.htm|title=Linguist makes sensational claim: English is a Scandinavian language|website=ScienceDaily|access-date=2016-03-06}}</ref> Even so, especially Dutch and Swedish, but also Danish and Norwegian, have strong vocabulary connections to the [[German language]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-02-21 |title=Linguistic variety in the Nordics |url=https://nordics.info/show/artikel/linguistic-variety-in-the-nordic-region |access-date=2023-11-06 |website=nordics.info |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gooskens |first1=Charlotte |last2=Kürschner |first2=Sebastian |last3=Heuven |first3=Vincent J. van |date=August 4, 2021 |title=The role of loanwords in the intelligibility of written Danish among Swedes |journal=[[Nordic Journal of Linguistics]] |language=en |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=4–29 |doi=10.1017/S0332586521000111 |issn=0332-5865|doi-access=free |hdl=1887/3205273 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gooskens |first1=Charlotte |last2=van Heuven |first2=Vincent J. |last3=Golubović |first3=Jelena |last4=Schüppert |first4=Anja |last5=Swarte |first5=Femke |last6=Voigt |first6=Stefanie |date=2018-04-03 |title=Mutual intelligibility between closely related languages in Europe |journal=International Journal of Multilingualism |language=en |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=169–193 |doi=10.1080/14790718.2017.1350185 |issn=1479-0718|doi-access=free |hdl=1887/79190 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>