page_title: Frankish language
section_title: Origins
hierarchical_section_title: Frankish language / History / Origins
caption_attribution_description: English: The distribution of the primary Germanic dialect groups in Europe in around AD 0-100: &#160;&#160; North Germanic &#160;&#160; North Sea Germanic (Ingvaeonic) &#160;&#160; Weser-Rhine Germanic, (Istvaeonic) &#160;&#160; Elbe Germanic (Irminonic) &#160;&#160; East Germanic Note 1: The coloured areas denote culturallinguistic areas which would, in the following centuries, diversify and grow apart. However, 1 - 100 CE, mutual intellegibility would have still been very great between all groupings. Note 2: The black line denotes the Roman border at the time of the Flavian dynasty. Spots indicate areas made uninhabitable or extremly sparsely populated during the time portrayed due to the presence of heavy forestation, moors/swamps and/or mountain ranges. Note 3: Lighter color striped areas denote either an area of mixed settlement (such as that between East-Germanic and the Balto-Slavic peoples) or possible settlement, such as that of the Istvaeones within the Roman Empire or the Ingvaenes in Northern Denmark.
context_page_description: Frankish, also known as Old Franconian or Old Frankish, was the West Germanic language spoken by the Franks between the 4th and 8th century.
  After the Salian Franks settled in Roman Gaul, its speakers in Picardy and Île-de-France were outnumbered by the local populace who spoke Proto-Romance dialects, e.g. Old French. However, a number of modern French words and place names, including the country name "France", have a Frankish origin. France itself is still known by terms meaning the "Frankish Realm" in languages such as German, Dutch, the derived Afrikaans, and Danish as well as Swedish.
  Between the 5th and 9th centuries, Frankish spoken by the Salian Franks in present-day Belgium and the Netherlands evolved into Old Low Franconian, whereas Frankish spoken by the Ripuarian Franks evolved into the Franconian dialects of Old High German.
  The Old Frankish language is poorly attested and mostly reconstructed from Frankish loanwords in Old French, and from Old Dutch, as recorded in the 6th to 12th centuries. A notable exception is the Bergakker inscription, which may represent a primary record of 5th-century Frankish.
context_section_description: The Germanic languages are traditionally divided into three groups: West, East and North Germanic. Their exact relation is difficult to determine, and they remained mutually intelligible throughout the Migration Period, rendering some individual varieties difficult to classify.
  The language spoken by the Franks was part of the West Germanic language group, which had features from Proto-Germanic in the late Jastorf culture (ca. 1st century BC). The West Germanic group is characterized by a number of phonological and morphological innovations not found in North and East Germanic. The West Germanic varieties of the time are generally split into three dialect groups: Ingvaeonic (North Sea Germanic), Istvaeonic (Weser-Rhine Germanic) and Irminonic (Elbe Germanic). While each had its own distinct characteristics, there certainly must have still been a high degree of mutual intelligibility between these dialects. In fact, it is unclear whether the West Germanic continuum of this time period, or indeed Franconian itself, should still be considered a single language or if it should be considered a collection of similar dialects.
  In any case, it appears that the Frankish tribes, or the later Franks, fit primarily into the Istvaeonic dialect group, with certain Ingvaeonic influences towards the northwest (still seen in modern Dutch), and more Irminonic (High German) influences towards the southeast.
caption: A proposed distribution of five primary Proto-Germanic dialect groups in Europe around the turn of the millennia:   North Germanic (→Proto-Norse by 300 AD)   North Sea Germanic (Ingvaeonic)   Weser-Rhine Germanic (Istvaeonic)   Elbe Germanic (Irminonic)   East Germanic (→Gothic by 300 AD)
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