altdeutschen

Altdeutschen is a historical term that has two principal senses in scholarly usage, and one should not assume a single, fixed definition. In ethnography and history, Altdeutschen has been used to refer to the old Germanic-speaking peoples of Central Europe in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages—the groups that would later form the core of medieval German realms, such as the Franks, Alemanni, Bavarii (Bavarians), Saxons, and Thuringians. In this ethnographic sense the term is not a precise label but a broad descriptor that contrasts with later medieval or modern populations.

In linguistics and philology, Altdeutsch is encountered as an older designation for the early form of the German language. The term most often corresponds to what is now called Althochdeutsch, the stage of German that roughly spans the 6th to 8th centuries and is attested in texts such as the Heliand or the Abrogans. In modern scholarship the standard designation is Althochdeutsch; Altdeutsch is considered obsolete or nonstandard.

Modern usage tends to avoid the broad ethnolinguistic label in favor of specific terms like Althochdeutsch, Mittelhochdeutsch, Neuhochdeutsch, or the names of particular peoples or regions. The term appears mainly in historical discussions or older bibliographic sources rather than in contemporary linguistics or ethnography.

See also: Althochdeutsch; Old High German literature; Germanic peoples.