Middle Low German (
ISO 639-3 code
gml) is a
language that is the descendant of
Old Saxon and is the ancestor of modern
Low German. It served as the international lingua franca of the
Hanseatic League. It was spoken from about 1100 to 1600.
Related languages
The neighbour languages within the
dialect continuum of the
West Germanic languages were
Middle Dutch in the West and
Middle High German in the South, later substituted by
Early Modern High German.
Middle Low German provided a large number of loanwords to the Nordic languages as a result of the activities of Hanseatic traders. It is considered the largest single source of loanwords in the continental
Scandinavian languages.
History
Northern Europe in 1400, showing the extent of the Hansa
Middle Low German was the
lingua franca of the
Hanseatic League, spoken all around the
North Sea and the
Baltic Sea. Based on the language of
Lübeck, a standardized written language was developing, though it was never codified.
Traces of the importance of Middle Low German can be seen by the many loans found in the
Scandinavian,
Finnic, and
Baltic languages, but also in
standard German or in
English.
In the late Middle Ages, Middle Low German lost its prestige to Early Modern High German which the elites began to use first as a written language and later as a spoken language. Reasons for the loss of prestige of Low German were the decline of the Hanseatic League that was followed by political heteronomy of Northern Germany, but also the cultural predominance of Middle and Southern Germany for instance through the
Protestant Reformation and
Luther's German translation of the Bible.
Literature
Category:Low GermanCategory:Hanseatic Leagueaf:Middelnederduitsde:Mittelniederdeutsche Spracheeo:Mezmalaltgermana lingvohu:Középalnémet nyelvnl:Middelnederduitsnds-nl:Middelnederduutsno:Middelnedertysknds:Middelsassisch
