The acient germanics tribes and thier language content introduction chapter I. History of the germanic tribes

The practical value of the course paper. More conservatively, Johannes 
Schmidt/EN8/ represented the relationship of the Indo-European languages in the 
form of intersecting circles, indicating that any two neighboring groups possess 
certain common characteristics the diagram is slightly modified; Schmidt could not 
include Tocharian and Hittite 
The structure of the course paper consists of introduction, two chapter, 
involving four sub parts, the conclusion, bibliography 

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CHAPTER I. HISTORY OF THE GERMANIC TRIBES 
1.1. Major tribes and their settlements 
Linguistic Substrata(Both racially and linguistically the Indo-European group 
constitutes a complicated blend in which the proportions of the common elements 
vary greatly from branch to branch. In addition to the common stock, every one of 
them had absorbed a great deal from the languages that had formed in the course of 
earlier migration all along the Indo-European belt. In many instances we have 
archeological, or even historical, evidence of aboriginal elements; thus the Celts 
largely represent an Indo-European expansion over Iberian (Basque) territory; the 
Slavs expanded over wide stretches of Finnish soil; the Hindus overwhelmed and 
partly absorbed Tibet-Burmese, Dravidian, and Austro-Asiatic populations. The 
assumed aboriginal stock in a language is commonly termed the 'linguistic 
substratum'
2
.
The existence of such elements has been established with some probability in 
many instances, but the task is very elusive, and little certainty has as yet been 
attained. As to the Germanic languages, it has frequently been assumed that in the 
Baltic basin Indo-European speech was super-imposed over a pre-historic 
population of northern Europe, of whose speech, race, or culture nothing whatever 
is known. So far, all attempts to define it or to identify it with any known stock, for 
instance the Finns, have failed. Nevertheless, the existence of some 'Pre-Germanic 
Substratum' is probable, although for geographical and other reasons the common 
Indo-European element seems to predominate more definitely in the Germanic 
group than any where else. Some authorities, indeed, attach great importance to the 
hypothetical substratum.
Their weightiest argument rests on the assumption that a very large proportion 
(one third or more) of the Germanic vocabulary has no cognates in other Indo-
European languages, a claim based chiefly on the concluding table in Bruno 
Liebisch’s Westfalen der deutschemark Sprecher roots of Indo-European, or at least 
2
Goths in Medieval Spain By E.A Thompson(1970 ,p-211

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'European', origin. But this table merely sums up the ultra-conservative etymologies 
in Heine’s Deutsch’s Waterbuck. Since then, further etymological analysis has 
reduced the supposedly non-Indo-European element to a negligible quantity. 
The assumption of an Indo-European zone of migration presupposes very 
early expansions, but we cannot define the center of radiation. By the second 
millennium B.C. the natural limits of the 'Eurasian Tract' had doubtless been 
extended, and the more or less homogeneous ethnic and linguistic stock had dis-
integrated into numerous smaller units. In the course of time, many to them re-
integrated, being absorbed by leading groups, and these new, larger units in turn 
again split up into sub-divisions-a process which is illustrated most clearly by the 
Romance group: The Italic group was absorbed by one of its members, namely Latin. 
This formed a number of dialects, in France, in Italy, in Spain, in Rumania. The rise 
of the dialect of the Isle de France as 'Standard French' superimposed a new standard 
upon the numerous sub-languages of French--and the process still continues. 
The earlier phases of the expansion that led to the formation of the Indo-
European languages seem to have been these
3
: 
The Prairie Group of Southern Russia spread partly towards the southeast, 
forming various Indo-European languages in western Asia (Phrygian, Armenian) 
and eventually branching out into the important Indo-Iranian group; to this belong 
the Hindu languages, of which Sanskrit is an early representative, and the "languages 
of the plateau of Iran (Avesyan, Persian), Ossetic, Scythian, and others. Another part 
of the Prairie Group expanded to the north and west, forming the Balto-Slavic branch 
(Baltic = Lithuanian, Lettish, Old Prussian; Slavic = Russian, Polish, Czech, 
Sorbian, Slovenian, Serbo-Croatian, Bulgarian). A third branch spread to the south-
east, into Asia Minor (Phrygians), and later a part of them migrated to the Balkan 
Peninsula, where they appear under the name of Thracians. The Illyrians, who 
occupied the northwestern part of the peninsula, may also have belonged to this 
branch. We know very little of their language. The Albanians, who at present inhabit 
3
The Vikings : A History By Robert Ferguson(2009 ,p-46 

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the southern section of the former Illyrian territory, may be Illyrians, or they may be 
Thracians who had to abandon their more eastern home in consequence of the 
Turkish invasion. 
The spread of the Prairie Group over Asia Minor had been preceded by that 
of a people that spoke a sister language of Indo-European, the Hillites./EN1/ In 
eastern Turkestan linguistic vestiges of a later Indo-European immigration have 
been found, the
II. The Park Land Group inhabited the forest and meadow districts of central 
Europe; a more accurate demarcation of its home is hardly possible. Apparently it 
separated during the second millennium before our era into an eastern and a western 
branch. The former migrated south and south-east, forming several Balkan 
languages, notably Hellenic (Greek), possibly also Illyric. The remainder of this 
group probably lived in the territory between the middle Danube and the Hercynian 
Mountains, that is, chiefly in present Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, and perhaps parts 
of southern Germany. They expanded to the north as far as geographical and climatic 
conditions made the land inhabitable after the ice cap of the last glacial epoch had 
receded--a process that occupied thousands of years. 
One branch of this group either skirted or traversed the eastern Alps and 
drifted into Italy from the northeast. These formed the Italic languages, of which 
Latin became the most important. Another branch spread over southern and western 
Germany and later over France, the British Isles, and parts of Spain and northern 
Italy: these were the Celts. 
The northern expansion gradually extended over northern Germany between 
the Elbe and Oder or Vistula, and southern Scandinavia. This is the Germanic group 
of the Indo-Europeans. 
The distinction between the eastern and western spheres of expansion (the 
'Prairie' and 'Park Land' groups) is not merely geographical, but linguistic as well. 
In sounds, vocabulary, and certain features of declension and conjugation, the 
languages of either group are closer to one another than to those of the other group. 
Thus Greek has probably more features in common with Italic than with any of the 

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Eastern languages, although there is no foundation for the frequent assumption of an 
especially close connection between the two 'classical' languages; in fact, Latin is 
more closely related to Celtic and Germanic than to Greek. It has become customary 
to designate the eastern group as sate languages, the western group 
as centum languages While this distinction in itself is of minor importance, it offers 
a convenient nomenclature for the two branches. 
Even at present a part of Europe remains non-Indo-European. The Lapps and 
Finns (of many tribes) in northern Scandinavia, Finland, Russia, together with the 
Hungarians, belong to the Finno-Ugrian branch of the Ural-Altaic family of 
languages, which covers the larger part of northern and a good deal of central Asia. 
The Turks, who now occupy but a very small part of Europe, also belong to this 
family. In the western Pyrenees there still lives a remnant of the Basques who 
formerly must have occupied a very large part of France, since the Vosges 
Mountains still bear their name. Many other languages of early Europe are extinct. 
Of these, perhaps the most important was Etruscan, which, like Basque, is of 
unknown origin. The meaning of very few Etruscan words is definitely known, 
although it was still a living language in late Roman times. 
It is a moot question whether the Indo-European languages are related to other 
groups. Arguments for relationship between Indo-European and Finno-Ugrian, or 
Semitic, or some languages of the Caucasus, have frequently been offered, but no 
proof has as yet been furnished.
4
The Germanic Languages represent, on the whole, that branch of the Indo-
European group that remained longest in or near the original home of the Indo-
Europeans. Aside from their gradual expansion towards the uninhabited or sparsely 
settled north, they remained there during the pre-Christian era. The land between the 
Elbe and the Oder, north of the Hercynian Mountains and extending into southern 
Scandinavia, was the 'Urheimat' of the Germanic group in the sense that it was there 
that they developed those linguistic, cultural, and physical characteristics that made 
4
The World of the Gauls By Simon James(2010 ,p-20 

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them a separate branch of the Indo-European family. Apparently, this is not in 
agreement with numerous reports of historians, from the Goth Jordans it must have 
meant something like 'Perilous Shores', Schade Nau. Kirsten (Die Germanene has 
made it extremely probable that Scandinavia denoted the lands around the southern 
Baltic--at least, southern Sweden, the Danish Isles, and Jutland, but probably also 
northern Germany around the Elbe (according to the Historia Langobard, the 
Langobard’s came from Scavenge on the lower It is possible that the name merely 
referred to the dangers of navigation in the southern Baltic, with its sudden squalls 
and rocky cliffs, or it may have been due to the inundation of parts of that territory 
during the last millennium B.C., through which Scandinavia and the Danish Isles 
became separated from the European main land. 
In this territory of scanty natural resources, overpopulation was a chronically 
recurrent condition, leading to frequent emigrations and expansions. Shortly before 
the beginning of our era, the Germanic group appears to have been a fairly 
homogeneous linguistic and cultural unit. This is the period that is 
termed Germanics, Primitive Germanic. For that period we may speak of an incipient 
division into a North Germanic, Central Germanic, and South Germanic branch. The 
first of these occupied most of southern Sweden and a fringe of Norway; the second 
originally extended over the southernmost part of Sweden, Jutland, the Danish Isles, 
and the zone of inundation that gradually became Kattegat, Belt, Send (and Lim 
fjord, in northern Jutland): the third belonged to northern Germany, between the 
Elbe and the Oder. 
5
When the larger part of the central group had emigrated to the southeast and 
east (see below) and its remainder had been absorbed by the converging expansion 
of the other two groups, we find a new grouping--approximately since the beginning 
of the Christian era--, which we term North Germanic, East Germanic, and, in 
contrast to the latter, West Germanic. The eastern group, as is to be expected, shows 
linguistic contacts with both groups, due to its former location be tween them. 
5
Anglo-Saxon England edited by Peter Hunter Blair et al.(1982-2007) multiple volumes. p-90 

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Note: 'Germanics' and are different linguistic con cents, although for the 
purpose of this book the distinction is of little importance. The former refers to the 
Germanic language in that pre-historic period when the division into dialects was 
not yet clearly apparent; the latter is applied to linguistic developments that took 
place in all Germanic languages, but independently of each other. Thus, the first 
consonant shift is termed 'Primitive Germanic' 'Germanics', for which this book uses 
the term 'Germanic'; the development of the definite article is termed 'General 
Germanic',. 
North Germanic (Norse) is the language 'of the Scandinavian North, including 
Iceland, Greenland, and the Fär-öer' (Noreen, Aislm To what extent the Danish Isles 
had been Norse in pre historic times, is unknown. Jutland became North Germanic 
(Danish) after a large part of its Anglian (West Germanic) population had emigrated 
to England, during the fifth and sixth centuries. The Norse occupation of Iceland 
began in 875; later, Icelandic-Norwegian settlements were founded in Greenland, 
the Fär-öer, the Orkn-öer, the Shetland Islands, and northern Ireland. The Norse 
settlements in Greenland disappeared during the sixteenth century, those "in the 
British Isles about two centuries later; in the Fär-öer (Danish), Norse is still spoken. 
'Primitive Norse' ('Urnordisch') covers the period from the earliest (Runic) 
inscriptions (end of the third century A.D.) to the beginning of the Viking Age (about 
800). These inscriptions, of which we have more than a hundred, show hardly a trace 
of dialect variations, but during the Viking Age the division into Norwegian, 
Swedish (including Gutnic), and Danish became more and more marked. Norwegian 
and its offspring, Icelandic (and the closely related dialect of the Fär-öer) are 
generally termed West Norse, Swedish and Danish, East Norse. 'Danish' (dons 
tunga) was the general name for the Norse languages during the Viking Age and 
even later. Swedish, Danish, and Icelandic developed independent literary 
languages, but Norwegian had since the end of the Middle Ages been greatly 
influenced by Swedish and later still more by Danish, and finally Danish became the 
literary and city language of the country.

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This was partly due to the political union of the three countries (1397: Union 
of Calmar; 1597: Norway became a part of the Danish kingdom), and partly to the 
Reformation, through which the Danish Bible and other religious writings in Danish 
were introduced into Norway. During the nineteenth century, however, the Danish 
standard language in Norway was more and more influenced by the home dialects; 
writers such as Ibsen and Björnsen developed a new, classical Dano-Norwegian 
standard, but the success of efforts to create a purely Norwegian literary language 
on the basis of local dialects and Old Norse-the landsmål-is still in doubt, although 
they were sponsored by important scholars such as Ivar Åsen and writers such as 
Arne Garborg. 

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