South Germanic is a term used for a number of proposed groupings of the

Germanic tribes The Germanic peoples were tribal groups who lived in Northern Europe in Classical antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. In modern scholarship, they typically include not only the Roman-era ''Germani'' who lived in both ''Germania'' and parts ...

dialects A dialect is a variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standardized varieties as well as vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardized varieties, such as those used in developing countries or iso ...

. However, it is not widely used and has no agreed definition.

Uses

The following uses of the term "South Germanic" are found: * As a straightforward synonym for

West Germanic The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three branches of the Germanic languages, Germanic family of languages (the others being the North Germanic languages, North Germanic and the extinct East Germanic languages, East Germ ...

(generally excluding

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

). This usage is particularly found in the study of

Germanic mythology Germanic mythology consists of the body of myths native to the Germanic peoples, including Norse mythology, Anglo-Saxon paganism#Mythology, Anglo-Saxon mythology, and Continental Germanic mythology. It was a key element of Germanic paganism. O ...

and

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

, where it covers continental German sources in contrast to those from Scandinavia, which are termed North Germanic. However, this usage is also found occasionally in the work of linguists — for example, Stefan Sonderegger. (The

East Germanic East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that eas ...

are generally ignored because there are no pre-Christian texts.) * As a term in Ernst Schwarz's theory of the Germanic dialects. He divides Germanic into a North Germanic and a South Germanic (or Continental Germanic) group, with the Scandinavian (or Nordic) languages and the extinct

( Gothic and

Crimean Gothic Crimean Gothic was a Germanic languages, Germanic, probably East Germanic languages, East Germanic, language spoken by the Crimean Goths in some isolated locations in Crimea until the late 18th century. Crimea was inhabited by the Goths in Late ...

) languages in the former. A feature of his grouping is the intermediate position of two other groups,

Elbe Germanic Elbe Germanic, also called Irminonic or Erminonic, is a proposed subgrouping of West Germanic languages introduced by the German linguist Friedrich Maurer (1898–1984) in his book, ''Nordgermanen und Alemanen'', to describe the West Germanic d ...

and

North Sea Germanic North Sea Germanic, also known as Ingvaeonic ( ), is a subgrouping of West Germanic languages that consists of Old Frisian, Old English language, Old English, and Old Saxon, and their descendants. These languages share a number of commonalitie ...

( Anglo-Frisian and

Old Saxon Old Saxon (), also known as Old Low German (), was a Germanic language and the earliest recorded form of Low German (spoken nowadays in Northern Germany, the northeastern Netherlands, southern Denmark, the Americas and parts of Eastern Eur ...

), with the latter viewed "floating" being initially part of North Germanic (in the 2nd century BC), but moving closer to the more southerly dialects in the subsequent five centuries. This view has received some support, although a number of those who share Schwarz's view, such as Lehmann, use instead the terms Northeast Germanic (for Schwarz's North Germanic) and Southwest Germanic (for Schwarz's South Germanic). * As a synonym for

High German The High German languages (, i.e. ''High German dialects''), or simply High German ( ) – not to be confused with Standard High German which is commonly also called "High German" – comprise the varieties of German spoken south of the Ben ...

. This usage seems to be exclusive to Claus Jürgen Hutterer, who groups North Sea Germanic separately from the Weser-Rhine Germanic and

groups which give rise to (among others) the High German varieties. Although it can be seen as a development of Schwarz's theory, it implies that North Sea Germanic and South Germanic did not form any sort of larger West Germanic grouping. The German term ''Binnengermanisch'' (''Inland Germanic'') is also used informally in a similar sense to distinguish between the coastal West Germanic dialects and the rest, though it does not imply that they are not all part of West Germanic.

References

Bibliography

* *H.L. Kufner, "The grouping and separation of the Germanic languages" in F. van Coetsem & H.L. Kufner (eds.), ''Toward a Grammar of Proto Germanic'' (Niemeyer, 1972) *H. Kuhn, "Zur Gliedering der germanischen Sprachen", in ''Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum'' 86 (1955), 1-47. * * * * * * {{Germanic languages Germanic languages

Uses

See also

References

Bibliography