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

 
2.2. Linguistic Features of Ancient Germanic Languages
 
The ancient Germanic languages were a group of related languages spoken 
in Europe before the rise of the Roman Empire. These languages were spoken by 
various Germanic tribes, including the Goths, Vandals, Saxons, Franks, and 
others. The most well-known of these languages are Old Norse, Old English, and 
Old High German. Despite their differences, these ancient Germanic languages 
shared a number of linguistic features that set them apart from other Indo-
European languages. Here are some of the most notable features: 
1. Grammatical Gender: Ancient Germanic languages had a system of 
grammatical gender that categorized nouns as masculine, feminine or neuter. For 
example, in Old English "man" (mæn) is masculine while "woman" (wifman) is 
feminine. 
14
The Vikings : A History By Robert Ferguson(2009 ,p-46 

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2. Inflection: Ancient Germanic languages were inflected languages in 
which the endings of words changed to indicate their grammatical function in a 
sentence. This is seen in Old Norse where each noun has four different cases: 
nominative (subject), accusative (direct object), dative (indirect object) and 
genitive (possessive). 
3. Strong and Weak Verbs: Ancient Germanic verbs were divided into 
strong and weak classes based on how they formed their past tense. Strong verbs 
changed the vowel sound in their stem to form the past tense while weak verbs 
added an -d or -t ending to the stem. 
4. Compound Words: Ancient Germanic languages frequently used 
compound words by combining two or more words to create a new word with a 
specific meaning. For example, "honeycomb" in Old English was hunigcamb. 
5. Vowel Harmony: Some ancient Germanic languages had a system of 
vowel harmony where certain vowels could only be used with specific consonants 
or other vowels. This is seen in Old High German where front vowels such as e 
and i could not occur with back vowels such as a and o. 
6. Umlaut: Umlaut is a sound change in which the vowel sound in a word 
is modified due to the influence of a nearby vowel or consonant. This is seen in 
Old Norse where the vowel in the plural form of some nouns was changed due to 
the influence of an -i ending. 
7. Runes: Ancient Germanic languages were written using runes, which 
were a type of alphabet consisting of straight lines that could be easily carved into 
wood or stone. The most famous runic alphabet is the Elder Futhark, which was 
used by Germanic peoples before the adoption of Latin script. 
Overall, these linguistic features give us insight into the complex and varied 
nature of ancient Germanic languages, and help to explain why they have had 
such a profound impact on modern European languages. 
Languages can be classified according to different principles. The historical 
or genealogical classification groups languages in accordance with their origin 
from a common linguistic ancestor. 

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Genetically, English belongs to the Germanic or Teutonic group of 
languages, which is one of the twelve groups of the IE linguistic family. Most of 
the area of Europe and large parts of other continents are occupied today by the 
IE languages, Germanic being one of their major groups. 
The Germanic languages in the modern world are as follows: 
English — in Great Britain, Ireland, the USA, Canada, Australia, New 
Zealand, the South African Republic, and many other former British colonies and 
dominions; German — in the German Democratic Republic, the Federal Republic 
of 
Germany, 
Austria, 
Luxemburg, 
Liechtenstein, 
part 
of 
Switzerland; Netherlandish — in the Netherlands and Flanders (Belgium) (known 
also as Dutch and Flemish respectively); Afrikaans — in the South African 
Republic; Danish — in Denmark; Swedish — in Sweden and 
Finland; Norwegian — in Norway; Icelandic — in Iceland; Frisian — in some 
regions of the Netherlands and the Federal Republic of Germany; Faroese — in 
the Faroe Islands; Yiddish — in different countries. 
All the Germanic languages are related through their common origin and 
joint development at the early stages of history. The survey of their external 
history will show where and when the Germanic languages arose and acquired 
their common features and also how they have developed into modern 
independent tongues.
15
The history of the Germanic group begins with the appearance of what is 
known as the Proto-Germanic (PG) language. PG is the linguistic ancestor or the 
parent-language of the Germanic group. It is supposed to have split from related 
IE tongues sometime between the 15th and 10th c. BC. 
As the Indo-Europeans extended over a larger territory, the ancient 
Germans or Teutons moved further north than other tribes and settled on the 
southern coast of the Baltic-Sea in the region of the Elbe. This place is regarded 
as the most probable original home of the Teutons. 
15
Tacitus' Germania translated by J.B Rives (1999, p-20

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Phonetic :while in IE languages the stress was free and tonic, in GL the 
stress became fixed and dynamic. The stress was fixed on the first rout syllable 
(except believe, forget). This phonetic feature had very far-reaching 
consequences, as all the syllables of the word became weakened and finally 
brought about the reduction of endings. 
Vowels displayed a strong tendency to change. They underwent different 
kinds of alterations: Qualitative changes affect the quality of the sound, e.g.: IE(a) 
became (o): latin “mater”>OE “modor”. 
Grammatical: 1) All IE distinctions of tense and aspects were lost in the 
verb, except to the present and preterit tenses (bind – bound(English), binden – 
band(Germ)) 
2) Germ developed a preterit tense form with a dental suffix (d \ t).Thus, 
all GL have 2 types of verbs: strong and weak(regular-irregular). 
3) 2 ways of declining adjectives: weak(with an –n- steam) (when precede 
by a pronominal adjective including the demonstrative pronoun, that developed 
later into the definite article) and strong (in other cases). ME has lost declension 
of adjectives. 
The order of words in the OE sentence was relatively free.The position of 
words in the sentence was often determined by logical and stylistic factors rather 
than by grammatical constraints. The word order depends on the order of 
presentation and emphasis laid by the author on different parts of communication. 
The order of words could depend on the communicative type of the sentence – 
question versus statement, on the type of clause, on the presence and place of 
some secondary parts of the sentence. Inversion was used for grammatical 
purposes in questions; full inversion with simple predicates and partial – with 
compound predicates, containing link-verbs and modal verbs. 
A peculiar type of word order is found in many subordinate and in some 
coordinate clauses: the clause begins with the subject following the connective, 
and ends with the predicate or its finite part, all the secondary parts being enclosed 
between them. Those were the main tendencies in OE word order. In many 

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respects OE syntax was characterized by a wide range of variation and by the co-
existence of various, sometimes even opposing, tendencies. 
The changes have been interpreted as starting at one end of each set of 
vowels—front and back—the initial change stimulating the movement of the 
other sounds. If the changes started at the more open vowels, and every step 
"pushed" the adjoining vowel away to avoid coincidence, so that finally the 
closest vowels, which could not possibly become narrower were "pushed" out of 
the set of monophthongs into diphthongsand This interpretation of the shift is 
known as the "push-chain"
OE pronouns fell under the same main classes as modern pronouns: 
personal, demonstrative, interrogative and indefinite. The grammatical categories 
of the pronouns were either similar to those of nouns or corresponded to those of 
adjectives. Some features of pronouns were peculiar to them alone. 
OE personal pronouns had 3 persons, 3 numbers in the 1
st
and 2
nd
p. (2 
numbers – in the 3rd) and 3 genders in the 3
rd
person. The pronouns of the 1
st
and 
2
nd
persons had suppletive forms like their parallels in other Indo-European lang. 
In OE personal pronouns began to lose some of their case distinctions: the forms 
of the Dat. Case of the pronouns of the 1
st
and 2
nd
persons were frequently used 
instead of the Acc.
16
The Gen.case of personal pronouns had 2 main applications: like other 
oblique (косвенный) cases of noun-pronouns it could be an object, but far more 
frequently it was used as an attribute or a noun determiner, like a possessive 
pronoun (his fæder). The forms of the 2
nd
and 1
st
were declined like adjectives to 
show agreement with the nouns they modified, while the forms of the 3d person 
behaved like nouns: they remained uninflected and did not agree with the nouns 
they modified. The oblique cases of personal pronouns in combination with the 
adjective self could also serve as reflexive pronouns. 
16
The Ancient Germans: Their History, Language, and Culture by Franz Altheim (1952, p-40

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Languages can be classified according to different principles. The 
historical or genealogical classification groups languages in accordance with their 
origin from a common linguistic ancestor. Genetically, English belongs to the 
Germanic or Teutonic group of languages, which is one of the twelve groups of 
the IE linguistic family. Most of the area of Europe and large parts of other 
continents are occupied today by the IE languages, Germanic being one of their 
major groups. 
English — in Great Britain, Ireland, the USA, Canada, Australia, New 
Zealand, the South African Republic, and many other former British colonies and 
dominions; German — in the German Democratic Republic, the Federal Republic 
of 
Germany, 
Austria, 
Luxemburg, 
Liechtenstein, 
part 
of 
Switzerland; Netherlandish — in the Netherlands and Flanders (Belgium) (known 
also as Dutch and Flemish respectively); Afrikaans — in the South African 
Republic; Danish — in Denmark; Swedish — in Sweden and 
Finland; Norwegian — in Norway; Icelandic — in Iceland; Frisian — in some 
regions of the Netherlands and the Federal Republic of Germany; Faroese — in 
the Faroe Islands; Yiddish — in different countries. 
All the Germanic languages are related through their common origin and 
joint development at the early stages of history. The survey of their external 
history will show where and when the Germanic languages arose and acquired 
their common features and also how they have developed into modern 
independent tongues. 
The history of the Germanic group begins with the appearance of what is 
known as the Proto-Germanic (PG) language. PG is the linguistic ancestor or the 
parent-language of the Germanic group. It is supposed to have split from related 
IE tongues sometime between the 15th and 10th c. BC. 
As the Indo-Europeans extended over a larger territory, the ancient 
Germans or Teutons moved further north than other tribes and settled on the 
southern coast of the Baltic-Sea in the region of the Elbe. This place is regarded 
as the most probable original home of the Teut 

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