althochdeutsche

Althochdeutsch, or Old High German, is the earliest stage of the German language for which substantial written records survive. It was spoken roughly from the 6th to the early 11th centuries in the southern and central regions of the German-speaking world and represents the first branch of the West Germanic development that would culminate in Middle High German and Modern Standard German.

Dialects and geography: OHG comprised several regional varieties, with three major groups traditionally cited: Alemannic in the southwest, Bavarian in the southeast, and East Franconian across central Germany. Texts show regional variation in phonology, morphology, and vocabulary, and there was no single standard form.

Literary and documentary evidence: The Old High German corpus includes religious and legal texts, glossaries, and a number of verse and prose pieces. Notable texts include the Abrogans, a Latin–OHG dictionary compiled in the 8th–9th centuries; the Hildebrandslied, a heroic fragment; the Wessobrunner Prayer; and various biblical translations from the 9th to 11th centuries. These works provide linguistic data and illuminate the society of the time.

Language features: Old High German preserves the inflectional system of Proto-Germanic with four cases in nouns, adjectives, and determiners, and noun genders (masculine, feminine, neuter). Verbs were organized into strong and weak classes with preterite and participle forms; the word order and use of endings reflect the case system. The period also shows the early stages of the High German consonant shift, which differentiates High German from other West Germanic languages and would be completed in later centuries.

Legacy: OHG is the ancestor of Middle High German and, in turn, Modern Standard German. It provides essential data for the reconstruction of Proto-Germanic and for understanding the history of German orthography, phonology, and morphology. The transition to Middle High German around the 11th century marks a major shift in phonology and syntax, setting the path toward the modern language.