In preparation for the Thousand Years Fair, here’s a timeline of major events, stages, and somewhat randomly selected works in the various branches of Germanic languages. The branches are color coded thus:
You may notice the overall preponderance of reds and oranges toward the beginning, and of blues towards the end. The various "old" and "middle" stages are not the same for each language. In fact, the younger languages (Frisian, Norse) begin their "old" stages (or at least get their literature going) when some of their linguistic siblings (English, German) are already in their "middle" stages. Gothic, of course, is by far the eldest brother, dying out even before our first extant texts of Old Frisian, Old Norse, and Old Low Franconian.
This timeline is, of course, woefully incomplete, and the quantity of entries are not necessary proportional to the influence of the speakers of each group of languages. But it should give you a rough idea of the development of the Germanic languages in relation to each other and to the major events of european history. As a group admin, I will continue to add links to Group discussions or external pages as I stumble upon them. In addition, if anyone else has information that should be on this list (or better information), I’ll be happy to add it.
| 12 BC | first mention of Frisian tribe in Latin texts |
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| 300’s | The story of Beowulf is set in Denmark roughly during this time |
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| 400 | Old Low Franconian period begins |
| 400’s | Gothic [KR] Bible translation by Bishop Wulfila; Biblical commentary (Skeireins) |
| 400’s | Advent of Germanic tribes from continental Saxony and Jutland |
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| 555 | Ostrogoths defeated |
| 600 | Old English [KR] period begins |
| 600 | Old Scandinavian [KR] period begins |
| 700 | Old High German [KR] period begins with Old High German Consonant Shift |
| 700 | Old Saxon [KR] period begins |
| 711 | Visigoths defeated |
| 750-80 | Abrogans [image] (Alemannic dialect), the first German book |
| 770-90 | Wessobrunner Gebet [text] |
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| 800 | Gothic essentially extinct |
| 800 | Hildebrandslied [text], the only major OHG document treating a topic from Germanic legend; Benedictine Rule (Benediktinerregel) (Alemannic dialect) |
| 800? | Hávamál composed, though only manuscript is from 13th cent. |
| 800-900? | Beowulf (MS written in West Saxon dialect but with some Northumbrian forms) |
| 814-840 | Heliand [text] |
| 830-840 | Old Saxon Genesis [text] |
| 840 | Old English Genesis [text] |
| 842 | Straßburg Oaths [text] (Rhenish Franconian dialect), also includes the oldest extant sample of Old French (as distinct from Late Latin) |
| 870 | Muspilli [text] (Bavarian dialect) |
| 881-2 | Ludwigslied [text] (Rhenish Franconian dialect) |
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| 900 | Himmel & Hölle [text] |
| 937 | Battle of Brunanburh poem inspired by English victory [text & English] |
| 950-1000 | Völuspa [texts, English] |
| 971-98 | Blickling Homilies, Catholic Homilies, and Ćlfric’s Homilies |
| 991 | Battle of Maldon poem fragment inspired by English defeat in Essex [link, text, English] |
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| 1000 | Notker Labeo of St. Gall standardizes the German orthography |
| 1000 | Middle High German [KR] period begins with reduction of final unstressed vowels (OHG tagâ, namo > MHG tage, name) |
| 1023 | Death of Wulfstan of York, whose Homilies also are preserved |
| 1066 | Middle English period begins with Norman Invasion |
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| 1100 | Middle Saxon / Low German period begins |
| 1125 | Íslendingabók [text] (Book of the Icelanders), first historical work in Old Norse, by Ari Ţorgilsson |
| 1150 | Middle High German becomes more standardized |
| 1150-1220 | Gesta Danorum, sixteen-volume Latin history of the Danes by Saxo Grammaticus |
| 1154 | Last entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles |
| 1170-1250 | "Classic" or "High Medieval" period of Middle High German |
| 1170 | Middle Dutch period begins |
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| 1200 | Nibelungenlied [text, map] |
| 1200 | First Danish law texts |
| 1225-41 | Prose or Younger Edda by Snorri Sturluson |
| 1230 | Heimskringla [English] by Snorri Sturluson |
| 1275-1475 | Classical Old Frisian period (all extant texts from this period are in East Frisian dialect) |
| 1280? | Codex Regius of the Poetic or Elder Edda first written down (though the poems originate much earlier) |
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| 1300 | Völsungasaga [English] |
| 1350-1600 | Early New High German period |
| 1350 | Middle period of Scandinavian languages begins |
| 1350-75 | Sir Gawain & the Green Knight (West Midland dialect) |
| 1370 | Middle Low German the official language of the northern European trade organization, the Hanseatic League |
| 1372-1400 | The Canterbury Tales (Southern dialect) |
| 1389-1814 | Norway & Denmark enter political union; Danish exerts great influence on Norwegian dialects |
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| 1400’s | Thet Freske Riim poem |
| 1445 | Basel Confessional Oaths |
| 1475-1600 | Post-Classical Old Frisian period (all extant texts from this period are in West Frisian dialect) |
| 1490-1517 | Sneek Legal and Administrative Statutes |
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| 1500 | Modern Dutch [KR] period begins |
| 1500 | Modern English period begins with Great Vowel Shift |
| 1500 | Modern period of Scandinavian languages [KR] begins |
| 1562 | Discovery of near-extinct Crimean Gothic dialect by Flemish nobleman Oghier Ghislain de Busbecq |
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| 1600 | New High German period begins |
| 1683 | First Germans arrive in Pennsylvania colony, called "Pennsylvania Dutch" from deutsch |
| 1600 | Modern Saxon / Low German period begins |
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| 1731 | Fire at house of Robert Cotton damages only existing manuscript of Beowulf, Judith, and other OE works |
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