Middle Low German
Sign in to saveAlso known as MLG, gml, Middle Saxon
developmental stage of Low German that has evolved from the Old Saxon language in the High Middle Ages
Key facts
- Region
- Northern Central Europe , viz. Northern Germany (roughly the Northern lowlands ), Northeastern Netherlands , Northwestern/North-central (modern) Poland , modern Kaliningrad Oblast , also sporadically in Denmark , Sweden , Norway , Latvia , Estonia (confined to cities)
- Era
- 13th to 16th centuries; evolved into Modern Low German ; gradually superseded as an official language by High German and (in the far West) Dutch
- Language family
- Indo-European Germanic West Germanic North Sea Germanic Middle Low German
- Early form
- Old Saxon
- Dialects
- Westphalian Eastphalian North Low Saxon , incl. East Frisian —Oldenburgish , Nordalbingian , East Elbian Brandenburgish
- Writing system
- Latin ( Fraktur )
- Iso 639 3
- gml
- Glottolog
- midd1318
- Linguasphere
- 52-ACB-ca
via Wikipedia infobox
~29 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Extent of Middle Low German in red and as literary language (black lines tilted right) Middle Low German is a developmental stage of Low German. It developed from the Old Saxon language in the Middle Ages and has been documented in writing since about 1225–34 (Sachsenspiegel). During the Hanseatic period (from about 1300 to about 1600), Middle Low German was the leading written language in the north of Central Europe and served as a lingua franca in the northern half of Europe. It was used parallel to medieval Latin also for purposes of diplomacy and for deeds.
Terminology
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Middle Low German” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
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