Middle High German (MHG; or ; , shortened as Mhdt. or Mhd.) is the term for the form of High German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German (OHG) into Early New High German (ENHG). High German is defined as those varieties of German which were affected by the Second Sound Shift; the Middle Low German (MLG) and Middle Dutch languages spoken to the North and North West, which did not participate in this sound change, are not part of MHG.
While there is no standard MHG, the prestige of the Hohenstaufen court gave rise in the late 12th century to a supra-regional literary language () based on Swabian, an Alemannic dialect. This historical interpretation is complicated by the tendency of modern editions of MHG texts to use normalised spellings based on this variety (usually called "Classical MHG"), which make the written language appear more consistent than it actually is in the manuscripts. Scholars are uncertain as to whether the literary language reflected a supra-regional spoken language of the courts.
An important development in this period was the , the eastward expansion of German settlement beyond the line which marked the limit of Old High German. This process started in the 11th century, and all the East Central German dialects are a result of this expansion.
"Judeo-German", the precursor of the Yiddish language, is attested in the 12th–13th centuries, as a variety of Middle High German written in Hebrew characters.
Periodisation
The Middle High German period is generally dated from 1050 to 1350. An older view puts the boundary with (Early) New High German around 1500.
There are several phonological criteria which separate MHG from the preceding Old High German period: the weakening of unstressed vowels to : OHG , MHG ("days") the full development of umlaut and its use to mark a number of morphological categories the devoicing of final stops: OHG > MHG ("day")
Culturally, the two periods are distinguished by the transition from a predominantly clerical written culture, in which the dominant language was Latin, to one centred on the courts of the great nobles, with German gradually expanding its range of use. The rise of the Hohenstaufen dynasty in Swabia makes the South West the dominant region in both political and cultural terms.
Demographically, the MHG period is characterised by a massive rise in population, terminated by the demographic catastrophe of the Black Death (1348). Along with the rise in population comes a territorial expansion eastwards (), which saw German-speaking settlers colonise land previously under Slavic control.
Linguistically, the transition to Early New High German is marked by four vowel changes which together produce the phonemic system of modern German, though not all dialects participated equally in these changes: Diphthongisation of the long high vowels > : MHG > NHG ("skin") Monophthongisation of the high centering diphthongs > : MHG > NHG ("hat") lengthening of stressed short vowels in open syllables: MHG > NHG ("say") The loss of unstressed vowels in many circumstances: MHG > NHG ("lady")
The centres of culture in the ENHG period are no longer the courts but the towns.
Dialects
The dialect map of Germany by the end of the Middle High German period was much the same as that at the start of the 20th century, though the boundary with Low German was further south than it now is:
Central German (Mitteldeutsch) West Central German (Westmitteldeutsch) Central Franconian (Mittelfränkisch) Ripuarian (Ripuarisch) Moselle Franconian (Moselfränkisch) Rhine Franconian (Rheinfränkisch) Hessian (Hessisch) East Central German (Ostmitteldeutsch) Thuringian (Thüringisch) Upper Saxon (Obersächsisch) Silesian (Schlesisch) High Prussian (Hochpreußisch) Upper German (Oberdeutsch) East Franconian (Ostfränkisch) South Rhine Franconian (Süd(rhein)fränkisch) Alemannic (Alemannisch) North Alemannic (Nordalemannisch) Swabian (Schwäbisch) Low Alemannic (Niederalemannisch/Oberrheinisch) High Alemannic/South Alemannic (Hochalemannisch/Südalemannisch) ) Bavarian (Bairisch) Northern Bavarian (Nordbairisch) Central Bavarian (Mittelbairisch) Southern Bavarian (Südbairisch) With the exception of Thuringian, the East Central German dialects are new dialects resulting from the and arise towards the end of the period.
Writing system
Middle High German texts are written in the Latin alphabet. There was no standardised spelling, but modern editions generally standardise according to a set of conventions established by Karl Lachmann in the 19th century. There are several important features in this standardised orthography which are not characteristics of the original manuscripts: the marking of vowel length is almost entirely absent from MHG manuscripts. the marking of umlauted vowels is often absent or inconsistent in the manuscripts. a curly-tailed z ( or ) is used in modern handbooks and grammars to indicate the or -like sound which arose from Germanic in the High German consonant shift. This character has no counterpart in the original manuscripts, which typically use or to indicate this sound. the original texts often use and for the semi-vowels and .
A particular problem is that many manuscripts are of much later date than the works they contain; as a result, they bear the signs of later scribes having modified the spellings, with greater or lesser consistency, in accord with conventions of their time. In addition, there is considerable regional variation in the spellings that appear in the original texts, which modern editions largely conceal.
Vowels
The standardised orthography of MHG editions uses the following vowel spellings: Short vowels: and the umlauted vowels Long vowels: and the umlauted vowels Diphthongs: ; and the umlauted diphthongs
Grammars (as opposed to textual editions) often distinguish between and , the former indicating the mid-open which derived from Germanic , the latter (often with a dot beneath it) indicating the mid-close which results from primary umlaut of short . No such orthographic distinction is made in MHG manuscripts.
Consonants The standardised orthography of MHG editions uses the following consonant spellings: Stops: Affricates: Fricatives: Nasals: Liquids: Semivowels:
Phonology The charts show the vowel and consonant systems of classical MHG. The spellings indicated are the standard spellings used in modern editions; there is much more variation in the manuscripts.
Vowels Short and long vowels Front Back Unrounded Rounded short long short long short long close close-mid mid open Notes: Not all dialects distinguish the three unrounded mid front vowels. It is probable that the short high and mid vowels are lower than their long equivalents, as in Modern German, but that is impossible to establish from the written sources. The found in unstressed syllables may indicate or schwa .
Diphthongs Front Back Unrounded Rounded Closing Centering
Consonants Labial Coronal Dorsal Glottal Nasal Plosive Affricate Fricative Approximant
Precise information about the articulation of consonants is impossible to establish and must have varied between dialects. In the plosive and fricative series, if there are two consonants in a cell, the first is fortis and the second lenis. The voicing of lenis consonants varied between dialects. There are long consonants, and the following double consonant spellings indicate not vowel length, as they do in Modern German orthography, but rather genuine double consonants: pp, bb, tt, dd, ck (for ), gg, ff, ss, zz, mm, nn, ll, rr. It is reasonable to assume that has an allophone after back vowels, as in Modern German. The original Germanic fricative s was in writing usually clearly distinguished from the younger fricative z that evolved from the High German consonant shift. The sounds of both letters seem not to have merged before the 13th century. Since s later came to be pronounced before other consonants (as in Stein , Speer , Schmerz (original smerz) or the southwestern pronunciation of words like Ast ), it seems safe to assume that the actual pronunciation of Germanic s was somewhere between and , most likely about , in all Old High German until late Middle High German. A word like swaz, "whatever", would thus never have been but rather , later (13th century) , . Sequences of velar plus this older fricative also coalesced into a single long sound, as can be seen in modern German with a short vowel and a single consonant originating from Old High German .
Grammar
Pronouns Middle High German pronouns of the first person refer to the speaker; those of the second person refer to an addressed person; and those of the third person refer to a person or thing of which one speaks. The pronouns of the third person may be used to replace nominal phrases. These have the same genders, numbers and cases as the original nominal phrase.
Personal pronouns + Personal Pronouns 1st sg 2nd sg 3rd sg 1st pl 2nd pl 3rd pl Nominative / Accusative (ich) Dative Genitive
Possessive pronouns The possessive pronouns are used like adjectives and hence take on adjective endings following the normal rules.
Articles The inflected forms of the article depend on the number, the case and the gender of the corresponding noun. The definite article has the same plural forms for all three genders.
Definite article (strong) Case Masculine Neuter Feminine Plural Nominative / Accusative Dative Genitive Instrumental The instrumental case, only existing in the neuter singular, is used only with prepositions: , , etc. In all the other genders and in the plural it is substituted with the dative: , , .
Nouns Middle High German nouns were declined according to four cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative), two numbers (singular and plural) and three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter), much like Modern High German, though there are several important differences.
Strong nouns
day m. gift f. word n. Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Nominative Accusative Genitive Dative guest m. strength f. lamb n. Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Nominative Accusative Genitive Dative
Weak nouns
(male) cousin m. tongue f. heart n. Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Nominative Accusative Genitive Dative
Verbs
Verbs were conjugated according to three moods (indicative, subjunctive (conjunctive) and imperative), three persons, two numbers (singular and plural) and two tenses (present tense and preterite) There was a present participle, a past participle and a verbal noun that somewhat resembles the Latin gerund, but that only existed in the genitive and dative cases.
An important distinction is made between strong verbs (that exhibited ablaut) and weak verbs (that didn't).
Furthermore, there were also some irregular verbs.
Strong verbs
The present tense conjugation went as follows:
to take Indicative Subjunctive 1. sg. 2. sg. 3. sg. 1. pl. 2. pl. 3. pl. Imperative: 2.sg.: , 2.pl.: Present participle: Infinitive: Verbal noun: genitive: , dative:
The bold vowels demonstrate umlaut; the vowels in brackets were dropped in rapid speech.
The preterite conjugation went as follows:
to have taken Indicative Subjunctive 1. sg. 2. sg. 3. sg. 1. pl. 2. pl. 3. pl. Past participle:
Weak verbs
The present tense conjugation went as follows:
to seek Indicative Subjunctive 1. sg. 2. sg. 3. sg. 1. pl. 2. pl. 3. pl. Imperative: 2.sg: , 2.pl: Present participle: Infinitive: Verbal noun: genitive: , dative:
The vowels in brackets were dropped in rapid speech.
The preterite conjugation went as follows:
to have sought Indicative Subjunctive 1. sg. 2. sg. 3. sg. 1. pl. 2. pl. 3. pl. Past participle:
Vocabulary