The Germanic branch of
the Indo-European family of languages

The Germanic languages were spoken at one time from the Black Sea (where it was spoken in the early 1700s but is now extinct) to the North Sea where it is still spoken, and in North Africa on the Mediterranean where it has long been extinct; and now a West Germanic language called English is spoken in North America, Central America (Belize), South America (Guyana), Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and India.

• East Germanic languages, all now extinct:
  • Gothic: once spoken in eastern Europe, and on the shore of the Black Sea until the 1700s.
  • Lombard: once spoken in eastern Europe; and, in northern Italy, in Lombardy which was named after the Longobards who spoke Lombard.
  • Vandal: once spoken in eastern Europe, northern Italy, Spain, and in North Africa.
  • etc.

• North Germanic, or Norse (that is, the Scandinavian languages), all still spoken:
  • Icelandic
  • Danish
  • Norwegian
  • Swedish

• West Germanic, or Teutonic languages, all still spoken:
  • High Dutch ("German")
  • Low Dutch ("Dutch")
  • Faroese
  • Yiddish
  • Afrikaans
  • English

© 1998–2007 by Arden Schaeffer, 1932-2032?, author & webster
at URL http://www.nola.house.name/lang/en/i/idiom/germanic.html
Edition of 2005.10.31 || Links: | page-top | Indo-European | idioms | Hub | Portal ||