West Germanic languages
West Germanic is a branch of the Germanic language family that includes English, German, Dutch, Frisian, and their historical relatives.
Germanic languages: A branch of the Indo-European language family that includes German, English, Dutch, and the Scandinavian languages. West Germanic is one of the three principal branches of this larger family.
Grimm's law: A set of regular sound changes that transformed consonants from Proto-Indo-European into Proto-Germanic. It establishes inherited Germanic consonant patterns that West Germanic later reshaped.
Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain: The migration and settlement of Germanic-speaking groups in Britain beginning in the fifth century. It carried early West Germanic speech across the North Sea and laid foundations for English.
English language: A West Germanic language that developed in England and became a global lingua franca. English is the branch’s most widely used language and has undergone extensive contact-driven change.
North Germanic languages: The Germanic branch containing Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese. Its languages share Germanic ancestry but developed separately from West Germanic.
Proto-Germanic: The reconstructed common ancestor of the Germanic languages, spoken before their written records. Its sound system and vocabulary provide the starting point for reconstructing West Germanic.
Verner's law: A sound change in Proto-Germanic that voiced certain fricatives when the preceding syllable lacked stress. Its effects complicate comparisons of inherited consonants across West Germanic words.
Old Saxon: A medieval West Germanic language spoken in northern Germany and recorded especially in the Heliand. It preserves evidence of the continental speech related to early English and Frisian.
German language: A West Germanic language spoken chiefly in central Europe, with standard and regional varieties. German illustrates the branch’s High German history and substantial dialect diversity.
East Germanic languages: An extinct Germanic branch that includes Gothic, Vandalic, and Burgundian. Its separation from West Germanic helps distinguish genealogical branches from later similarities.