1. Introduction to Old High German
Old High German (Althochdeutsch) is the earliest attested stage of the High German dialects, roughly 750–1050 CE. It is defined by the High German consonant shift that separates it from the other West Germanic languages.1
It survives in a modest but important body of texts — the Hildebrandslied, the Muspilli, glosses and translations. Confidence: High for what is attested; the corpus is limited.
2. Historical context
Old High German is not one uniform language but a group of southern German dialects (Bavarian, Alemannic, Franconian) recorded by monastic scribes. It gives way to Middle High German around the 11th century.
3. Writing system
Written in the Latin alphabet by clerics, with spelling that varies by scribe and monastery.
4. A few words
A few attested words (cf. their modern German descendants):
| Old High German | Modern German | English |
|---|---|---|
| wazzar | Wasser | water |
| kuning | König | king |
| hūs | Haus | house |
| tag | Tag | day |
| ein, zwei, drī | eins, zwei, drei | one, two, three |
Confidence: High (per standard OHG primers and grammars).
5. Learning resources
A recommended starting stack:
- Joseph Wright, An Old High German PrimerBeginner — classic primer, free on the Internet Archive
- Old High German — overview — history, dialects and the consonant shift
Where this guide is going
This orientation covers what Old High German is, its history, script and a few words. A fuller course is planned and marked incomplete for now.
6. Honest limitations
- The surviving corpus is small; this limits how much can be taught.
- A reading language, spread across dialects with variable spelling.
- This guide is an orientation stub; the full course is not yet built.