Germanic languages

A branch of the Indo-European language family whose living members include English, German, Dutch, and the Scandinavian languages, alongside extinct languages such as Gothic.

Indo-European languages: A language family comprising hundreds of languages descended from a prehistoric common ancestor. Germanic languages form one of its major branches.
Gothic language: An extinct East Germanic language preserved chiefly in a fourth-century Bible translation. Its early written record offers an unusually detailed view of an ancient Germanic language.
English language: A West Germanic language that developed in England and became a global lingua franca. English shows how a Germanic language can acquire extensive vocabulary from other language families.
Romance languages: A branch of Indo-European descended from Latin, including French, Spanish, and Italian. Their shared Latin ancestry contrasts with the Proto-Germanic inheritance of Germanic languages.
Germanic substrate hypothesis: The hypothesis that a non-Indo-European language influenced early Germanic before Proto-Germanic emerged. It proposes an explanation for features not easily derived from inherited Indo-European forms.
Proto-Germanic: The reconstructed common ancestor of the Germanic languages, spoken before their historical diversification. Its reconstructed vocabulary and sound system establish the branch’s shared inheritance.
Wulfila: A fourth-century bishop who translated much of the Bible into Gothic. His translation is the principal source for the Gothic language.
German language: A West Germanic language spoken chiefly in central Europe. German preserves grammatical and sound patterns that illuminate the branch’s internal diversity.
Celtic languages: A branch of Indo-European including Irish, Welsh, and Breton. Celtic languages are another European branch with a distinct history from Germanic.
Germanic sound shifts: Historical sound changes that distinguish Germanic languages from other Indo-European branches and from one another. Their chronology and conditioning help constrain competing reconstructions of early Germanic.

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