Middle German
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The phrase Middle German can mean two things, both of which may be more precisely expressed with different terms.
Used to indicate a historical period, it refers to the German language of the 11th-15th centuries. However in this sense it is usually heard in one of the following two collocations:
- Middle High German (Mittelhochdeutsch), comprising the southern dialects
- Middle Low German (Mittelniederdeutsch), comprising the northern dialects
Middle German is sometimes confusingly heard used (in imitation of German usage) to make a geographical distinction. For this, however, English-speaking linguists more usually speak of:
- Central German (Mitteldeutsch; rarely Zentraldeutsch), referring to the northernmost of the High German dialects.
In this respect, English terminology is less ambiguous than German, and this should be preserved.
 |
This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. |
