Some resources of Historical High and Low German

[k1234567890y]

I have tried to create at least two West Germanic conlangs, to do this, I gathered some resources online and from others(like sewandere of DeviantART, thanks him for providing the Old Saxon dictionary of http://www.koeblergerhard.de/wikiling/? ... d=0&page=1 ), and now I am going to post them here, anyone who wants to create a valid continental West Germanic conlang can use them as references.

Below are links about some resources about Historical High and Low German dialects, it is almost certainly not a complete list:

Wright's Old High German Primer: http://www.alexmidd.co.uk/Marmaria/ohg/ ... ntents.htm

Wright's Middle High German Primer: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22636/22 ... 2636-h.htm

A word list of Old Saxon(aka Old Low German): http://www.koeblergerhard.de/wikiling/? ... d=0&page=1

A site for Middle Low German, with a brief introduction about the grammar of Middle Low German: http://www.chlg.ac.uk/

Wiktionary category about Old High German: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category: ... n_language

Wiktionary category about Old Saxon(aka Old Low German): http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category: ... n_language

Wikipedia page about High German Consonant shift: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Germa ... nant_shift

Wikipedia page about Open syllable lengthening: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_syllable_lengthening

Wikipedia page about Old High German: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_High_German

Wikipedia page about Middle High German: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_High_German

Wikipedia page about Old Saxon(aka Old Low German): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Saxon

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Below are some sound changes from Proto-Germanic to Old Saxon and Old High German respectively, the "ð > d" change is not listed below, besides this, the lists might still be incomplete, and there might be some errors.

From the sound changes listed below, it seems that Old Saxon was somewhat more conservative compared to Old High German.

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Sound Changes from Proto-Germanic to Old Saxon:

Spoiler:

consonants:

VnhV' > V:hV'

VnsV',VmfV',VnþV' > V:sV',V:fV',V:þV'(Ingvaeonic Spirant Law)(then the ā generated by this process becomes ō)

vowels:

Germanic a-mutation

changes of final vowels(there are some irregularities):
ą > Ø / _#
jō,jǭ,ijō,ijǭ > a~ia / C_#
ō,ǭ > a / _#
ô > o / _#
jô,ijô > io / C_#
az,z,uz,iz > Ø /_#
į̄,ijaz,jaz,iją,ją > i /C_#

V:[-stress] > V(not in infinitive forms of weak verbs?)

ai > ē
au > ō
eu > io
ijō > iu
ē > ā

i-umlaut: a > e / the following syllable contains an /i/ or /j/(probably also affected other back vowels but it does not shown in the orthography)

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Sound Changes from Proto-Germanic to Old High German, many parts of the contents are taken from Wikipedia:

Spoiler:

consonants:

- VnhV' > V:hV'

High German Consonant Shift

Strengthening of Proto Germanic voiced fricatives:

β > b
ð > d
ɣ > g

s > ʃ / #_C and r_

w h > Ø / #_C

vowels:

Germanic a-mutation

changes of final vowels:
- ą > Ø / _#
- jō,jǭ,ijō,ijǭ, ō,ǭ > a / _#
- ô, jô,ijô > o / C_#
- az,z,uz,iz > Ø /_#
- į̄,ijaz,jaz,iją,ją > i /C_#

V:[-stress] > V(not in infinitive forms of weak verbs?)

ja, ija > e / C_n(at least in class 1 weak verbs)

- ai > ē / _# or _{r, h,w}(happened before the High German Consonant Shift)
- ai > ei
- au > ō / _h or dental consonants(happened before the High German Consonant Shift)
- au > ou
- eu > iu / when the following syllable contains /i/ or /j/, happened before the change of final vowels.
- eu > io
- ijō > iu
- ē > ā(happened after ai > ē)
- ē² > ie

- ē > ei(happened after ē > ā)
- ō > uo(happened before au > ou and au > ō)

i-umlaut: a > e / the following syllable contains an /i/ or /j/(probably also affected other back vowels but it does not shown in the orthography)

[Wario Toad 32]

This would be helpful for Posterioris

[Creyeditor]

This should be added to the resources thread.