Editing German language (section)

=== Old High German ===
{{Main|Old High German}}

The [[History of German|history of the German language]] begins with the [[High German consonant shift]] during the [[Migration Period]], which separated Old High German dialects from [[Old Saxon]]. This [[Sound change|sound shift]] involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both [[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]] and voiceless [[stop consonant]]s (''b'', ''d'', ''g'', and ''p'', ''t'', ''k'', respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below.
* Voiceless stops became long ([[Gemination|geminated]]) voiceless [[fricative]]s following a vowel;
* Voiceless stops became [[affricate]]s in word-initial position, or following certain consonants;
* Voiced stops became voiceless in certain phonetic settings.{{sfn|Robinson|1992|pp=239–42}}
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Voiceless stop<br />following a vowel
!Word-initial<br />voiceless stop
!Voiced stop
|-
|/p/→/ff/
|/p/→/pf/
|/b/→/p/
|-
|/t/→/ss/
|/t/→/ts/
|/d/→/t/
|-
|/k/→/xx/
|/k/→/kx/
|/g/→/k/
|}

[[File:Old norse, ca 900.PNG|thumb|The approximate extent of Germanic languages in the early 10th century:
{{legend|#ff0000|'''[[w:Old West Norse|Old West Norse]]'''}}
{{legend|#FF8040|'''[[w:Old East Norse|Old East Norse]]'''}}
{{legend|#ff00ff|'''[[w:Old Gutnish|Old Gutnish]]'''}}
{{legend|#ffff00|'''[[w:Old English|Old English]]''' ([[w:West Germanic languages|West Germanic]])}}
{{legend|#00ff00|Continental West Germanic languages ([[Old Frisian]], [[Old Saxon]], [[Old Dutch]], [[Old High German]]).}}
{{legend|#0000ff|'''[[w:Crimean Gothic|Crimean Gothic]]''' ([[w:East Germanic|East Germanic]])}}]]

While there is written evidence of the [[Old High German]] language in several [[Elder Futhark]] inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the [[Pforzen buckle]]), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the ''[[Abrogans]]'' (written {{Circa|765–775}}), a Latin-German [[glossary]] supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their [[Latin]] equivalents. After the ''Abrogans'', the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in the ninth century, chief among them being the ''[[Muspilli]]'', [[Merseburg Charms|Merseburg charms]], and ''{{Lang|de|[[Hildebrandslied]]}}'', and other religious texts (the ''[[Georgslied]]'', ''[[Ludwigslied]]'', ''Evangelienbuch'', and translated hymns and prayers).<ref>{{harvnb|Robinson|1992|pp=239–42}}, {{harvnb|Thomas|1992|pp=5–6}}</ref> The ''Muspilli'' is a Christian poem written in a [[Bavarian dialects|Bavarian]] dialect offering an account of the soul after the [[Last Judgment]], and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from the [[Paganism|pagan]] Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the ''{{Lang|de|Hildebrandslied}}'', a secular [[Epic poetry|epic poem]] telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of [[Old Saxon]] and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from the [[Alemanni|Alamanni]], Bavarian, and [[Thuringian dialect|Thuringian]] groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group ([[Irminones]]), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and [[Austria]] between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration.{{sfn|Robinson|1992|pp=239–42}}

In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of [[dialect]]al diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through [[Monastery|monasteries]] and [[Scriptorium|scriptoria]] as local translations of Latin originals; as a result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary.{{sfn|Robinson|1992|pp=239–42}} At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing.