protoGermaanse

ProtoGermaanse, or Proto-Germanic, is the reconstructed ancestor of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is not directly attested but is inferred through the comparative method from its descendant languages.

It was spoken in parts of northern Europe during the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age, roughly from the 1st millennium BCE to the early centuries CE. Its homeland is usually described as a region spanning southern Scandinavia, Jutland, and the northern part of present-day Germany.

ProtoGermaanse is reconstructed by linguists who study regular sound correspondences among descendant languages. Two central innovations are associated with its development: Grimm's Law, a set of consonant shifts that distinguish Germanic from other Indo-European branches, and Verner's Law, which accounts for certain alternations conditioned by stress. The language had three grammatical genders, a robust noun declension system with four cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative) and three numbers, as well as complex verb conjugations with strong and weak classes.

Because there are no direct inscriptions, reconstruction relies on evidence from descendant languages such as Gothic, Old English, Old High German, Old Norse, and Old Dutch, as well as runic inscriptions and later phonological correspondences.

ProtoGermaanse gave rise to three main branches: East Germanic (Gothic), West Germanic (German, Dutch, English, Frisian, and others), and North Germanic (the Scandinavian languages).

It provides the basis for understanding regular sound changes and vocabulary across Germanic languages.