'Cuz, you know, it just seemed like it should be here. Coming shortly: a post, with sound files, for each old Germanic language.
| 12 BC | first mention of Frisian tribe in Latin texts |
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| 300’s | The story of Beowulf is set in Denmark roughly during this time |
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| 400 | Old Low Franconian period begins |
| 400’s | Gothic [KR] Bible translation by Bishop Wulfila; Biblical commentary (Skeireins) |
| 400’s | Advent of Germanic tribes from continental Saxony and Jutland |
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| 555 | Ostrogoths defeated |
| 600 | Old English [KR] period begins |
| 600 | Old Scandinavian [KR] period begins |
| 700 | Old High German [KR] period begins with Old High German Consonant Shift |
| 700 | Old Saxon [KR] period begins |
| 711 | Visigoths defeated |
| 750-80 | Abrogans [image] (Alemannic dialect), the first German book |
| 770-90 | Wessobrunner Gebet [text] |
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| 800 | Gothic essentially extinct |
| 800 | Hildebrandslied [text], the only major OHG document treating a topic from Germanic legend; Benedictine Rule (Benediktinerregel) (Alemannic dialect) |
| 800? | Hávamál composed, though only manuscript is from 13th cent. |
| 800-900? | Beowulf (MS written in West Saxon dialect but with some Northumbrian forms) |
| 814-840 | Heliand [text] |
| 830-840 | Old Saxon Genesis [text] |
| 840 | Old English Genesis [text] |
| 842 | Straßburg Oaths [text] (Rhenish Franconian dialect), also includes the oldest extant sample of Old French (as distinct from Late Latin) |
| 870 | Muspilli [text] (Bavarian dialect) |
| 881-2 | Ludwigslied [text] (Rhenish Franconian dialect) |
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| 900 | Himmel & Hölle [text] |
| 937 | Battle of Brunanburh poem inspired by English victory [text & English] |
| 950-1000 | Völuspa [texts, English] |
| 971-98 | Blickling Homilies, Catholic Homilies, and Ćlfric’s Homilies |
| 991 | Battle of Maldon poem fragment inspired by English defeat in Essex [link, text, English] |
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| 1000 | Notker Labeo of St. Gall standardizes the German orthography |
| 1000 | Middle High German [KR] period begins with reduction of final unstressed vowels (OHG tagâ, namo > MHG tage, name) |
| 1023 | Death of Wulfstan of York, whose Homilies also are preserved |
| 1066 | Middle English period begins with Norman Invasion |
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| 1100 | Middle Saxon / Low German period begins |
| 1125 | Íslendingabók [text] (Book of the Icelanders), first historical work in Old Norse, by Ari Ţorgilsson |
| 1150 | Middle High German becomes more standardized |
| 1150-1220 | Gesta Danorum, sixteen-volume Latin history of the Danes by Saxo Grammaticus |
| 1154 | Last entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles |
| 1170-1250 | "Classic" or "High Medieval" period of Middle High German |
| 1170 | Middle Dutch period begins |
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| 1200 | Nibelungenlied [text, map] |
| 1200 | First Danish law texts |
| 1225-41 | Prose or Younger Edda by Snorri Sturluson |
| 1230 | Heimskringla [English] by Snorri Sturluson |
| 1275-1475 | Classical Old Frisian period (all extant texts from this period are in East Frisian dialect) |
| 1280? | Codex Regius of the Poetic or Elder Edda first written down (though the poems originate much earlier) |
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| 1300 | Völsungasaga [English] |
| 1350-1600 | Early New High German period |
| 1350 | Middle period of Scandinavian languages begins |
| 1350-75 | Sir Gawain & the Green Knight (West Midland dialect) |
| 1370 | Middle Low German the official language of the northern European trade organization, the Hanseatic League |
| 1372-1400 | The Canterbury Tales (Southern dialect) |
| 1389-1814 | Norway & Denmark enter political union; Danish exerts great influence on Norwegian dialects |
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| 1400’s | Thet Freske Riim poem |
| 1445 | Basel Confessional Oaths |
| 1475-1600 | Post-Classical Old Frisian period (all extant texts from this period are in West Frisian dialect) |
| 1490-1517 | Sneek Legal and Administrative Statutes |
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| 1500 | Modern Dutch [KR] period begins |
| 1500 | Modern English period begins with Great Vowel Shift |
| 1500 | Modern period of Scandinavian languages [KR] begins |
| 1562 | Discovery of near-extinct Crimean Gothic dialect by Flemish nobleman Oghier Ghislain de Busbecq |
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| 1600 | New High German period begins |
| 1683 | First Germans arrive in Pennsylvania colony, called "Pennsylvania Dutch" from deutsch |
| 1600 | Modern Saxon / Low German period begins |
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| 1731 | Fire at house of Robert Cotton damages only existing manuscript of Beowulf, Judith, and other OE works |
Germanic Languages Timeline repost
The 2006 Thousand Years Faire, June 8th-13th, 2006
(- threads, 841 posts)
The Gallery of Germanic Languages
(44 posts)
Gothic
