Frankish language
| Frankish / Old Franconian | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Austrasia, Frankish Empire |
| Era | 5th to the 9th century |
|
Indo-European
|
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | fran1264 |
Frankish (reconstructed Frankish: *Frenkisk), Old Franconian, or Old Frankish was the West Germanic language spoken by the Franks between the 4th and 8th century. The language itself is poorly attested, but it gave rise to numerous loanwords in Old French. Old Dutch is the term for the Old Franconian dialects spoken in the Low Countries until about the 12th century.
During the Merovingian period, Frankish had significant influence on the Romance languages spoken in Gaul. As a result, many modern French words and placenames (including the country name "France") have a Germanic origin. France itself is still known in German as "Frankreich" and in Dutch as "Frankrijk", i.e. the "Frankish Realm". Between the 5th and 9th centuries, the languages spoken by the Salian Franks in Belgium and the Netherlands evolved into Old Dutch (Old Low Franconian), while in Picardy and Île-de-France it was eventually eclipsed by Old French as the dominant language.
The Frankish language as spoken before the Carolingian period is mostly reconstructed from Old French loanwords and from the Old Dutch language as recorded in the 11th to 12th centuries. A notable exception is the Bergakker inscription, which may represent a primary record of 5th-century Frankish.
In a modern linguistic context, the language is variously called (in English) Old Frankish or Old Franconian, and referred to in Dutch as Oudfrankisch and in German as Altfränkisch.
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