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Frankishspeaking

Frankishspeaking refers to communities in the early medieval Frankish realms whose vernacular speech was Frankish, a West Germanic language spoken by the Franks from roughly the 5th to the 9th centuries. While Latin served as the language of administration, law, and culture, Frankish functioned as the everyday language of many Frankish people, especially in core settlements and among the ruling class.

The Franks occupied substantial parts of modern-day France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and western Germany. Linguists distinguish

Evidence for Frankish consists mainly of toponyms, personal names, and a small corpus of glosses in Latin

Today, the term “Frankishspeaking” is primarily of historical and comparative interest. It describes the linguistic landscape

two
main
branches
of
Frankish:
East
Frankish
and
West
Frankish.
East
Frankish
evolved
into
the
various
East
Franconian
and
related
Old
High
German
varieties,
while
West
Frankish
dialects
contributed
to
the
development
of
later
Low
Franconian
languages,
including
Old
Dutch
and
its
descendants.
Over
time,
Frankish
declined
in
the
face
of
Romance-language
dominance
in
West
Francia
and
the
diversification
of
Germanic
dialects
in
the
east,
with
Frankish
influence
gradually
absorbed
into
regional
speech
forms.
texts;
direct
literary
texts
in
Old
Frankish
are
scarce.
As
a
result,
many
details
of
its
phonology
and
grammar
are
reconstructed
from
related
West
Germanic
languages
and
from
linguistic
remnants
such
as
place
names
and
corpus
data.
of
the
early
medieval
Frankish
world
and
helps
explain
the
origins
of
Dutch
and
Germanic
dialects,
as
well
as
the
layered
linguistic
identity
of
medieval
western
Europe.