Low Franconian languages

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Low Franconian
Low Frankish
Linguistic classification: Indo-European
Proto-language: Old Frankish
Glottolog: wese1235[1]
The distribution of the primary Germanic dialect groups in Europe in around AD 1:[disputed ]
  North Sea Germanic, or Ingvaeonic
  Weser-Rhine Germanic, or Istvaeonic
  Elbe Germanic, or Irminonic

Low Franconian, Low Frankish, sometimes equated with Istvaeonic, is a group of several West Germanic languages spoken in the Netherlands, northern Belgium (Flanders), in the northern department of France, in western Germany (Lower Rhine), as well as in Suriname, South Africa and Namibia that originally descended from Old Frankish.

Frankish language[edit]

Main article: Old Frankish

The Frankish language, also Old Frankish, was the language of the Franks. It is a West Germanic language and was spoken in Merovingian times, preceding the 7th century. Austrasia formed the northeastern portion of the Kingdom of the Merovingian Franks, comprising parts of the territory of present-day western Germany, eastern and northern France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The Franks first established themselves in the Netherlands and Flanders before they started to fight their way down south and east. The language had a significant impact on Old French. It evolved into Old Low Franconian in the north and it was replaced step by step by Langue d'oïl in the south.

Old Frankish is not directly attested except in glosses and small phrases. It has been reconstructed from loanwords in Old French and from Old Dutch (see also Comparative method). One known phrase in Old Frankish is found in the Salic law of the early sixth century, and is used to free a serf:

Maltho thi afrio lito.

Old Low Franconian (also Old Low Frankish) was a group of dialects spoken in the Low countries. It was a daughter language of the Old Frankish language.


Old Low Franconian is sometimes divided in two groups, Old Dutch (also Old West Low Franconian) and Old East Low Franconian. Because the two groups were so similar it is often very hard to determine whether a text is Old Dutch or Old East Low Franconian, and so most linguists will generally use Old Dutch synonymously with Old Low Franconian and most of the time do not differentiate.


Areas in Europe where the Franconian languages and dialects are currently spoken:
  Low Franconian in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany (Meuse-Rhenish) and France (French Flemish)
Frankish settlement areas by the 5th century:
Gaul in 481:
  The original Frankish Kingdom, later called Austrasia (Eastern Frankish Kingdom), is where Frankish was the dominating language.
  After the conquest of Gaul, for a time, it was also one of the languages spoken in modern Northern France, in what became Neustria (Western Frankish kingdom)

Development of Dutch[edit]

Main article: Dutch language

Dutch, like other Germanic languages, is conventionally divided into three phases. In the development of Dutch these phases were:

  • 600/650–1150: Old Dutch


Modern Low Franconian languages[edit]

Dialects of Dutch



The main dialects are:


Main article: Meuse-Rhenish



Main article: Afrikaans
Low Franconian (Dutch) in the world:
  Countries where Dutch is an official or recognized language
  Countries where Afrikaans is an official or recognized language
  Countries where Dutch is a former official or recognized language
  Countries with a considerable amount of Dutch or Afrikaans speaking immigrants


The South African Constitution of post 1994 considers Afrikaans as one of 11 official languages. However, Afrikaans does not enjoy equal status with English in business and in government. The majority of Afrikaans speakers in South Africa are of mixed European/Black African/Khoisan/Indonesian descent.


  1. ^ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Low Franconian (Weser–Rhine)". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. 

See also[edit]

Further reading[edit]
