Oudnederlandse

Oudnederlandse, or Old Dutch, is the historical stage of the Dutch language spoken and written in the Low Franconian-speaking areas of the present-day Netherlands and parts of Belgium during the early Middle Ages. It is generally dated from around the 6th century to the 12th or 13th century, with the oldest surviving texts from the 8th–9th centuries. It forms part of the West Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family and developed from Old Low Franconian alongside related languages such as Old Frisian and Old Saxon. The written record is fragmentary and dialectal, reflecting regional varieties rather than a single standard form.

Old Dutch was not standardized; texts come from monasteries and urban centers across the region, and they show a variety of orthographic practices. Notable early texts include religious glosses, legal charters, and translations such as the Wachtendonese Psalms, which illustrate the emergence of a Dutch lexicon within Latin contexts.

Grammatically, Oudnederlandse preserved more inflection than later Dutch, including noun gender and a range of verb forms, though regional differences are large. The phonology shows typical West Germanic traits and regional sound shifts; spellings vary by manuscript.

By the 12th or 13th century, Oudnederlandse began to merge into Middelnederlands (Middle Dutch), as dialects converged under urban and commercial contact. The Old Dutch period established core vocabulary and some grammatical patterns that would shape Middle Dutch and, later, Modern Dutch.