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Language

German

DOYCH
Also Known As Deutsch
Germanic Languages

German is a West Germanic language, the official language of Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein and one of the official languages of Switzerland and Belgium. It is written in the Latin alphabet, distinguished among major European languages by its retained grammatical case system, its practice of capitalizing all nouns, and its capacity for long compound words. Standard German descends from a chancery variety codified in the early modern period, and it remains one of the most widely studied second languages in Europe.

Facts
ISO 639-3 Code
deu 6
Speaker Count
135,000,000 6
Status
Living 6
Attested From (Year)
from 765 3
The Old High German period is conventionally dated from the Abrogans, a Latin-German glossary written c. 765-775, though isolated Elder Futhark runic evidence is older still.
Region
Majority and official language of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein; mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe 3
Browse and compare
Word Order
Other 3
Tone
Not Tonal 4
Difficulty for an English Speaker
Category II 5
Classification
Language Kind
Safe 1
Official Status
Official Language 2
German
Filter Results1 entry

Latin Script

German
Connections

Ancestor Of

Austrian German, Dialects and Varieties
Source Wikipedia: Austrian German
Bavarian German, Dialects and Varieties
Source Wikipedia: Bavarian German
Swabian German, Dialects and Varieties
Source Wikipedia: Swabian German
Swiss German, Dialects and Varieties
Source Wikipedia: Swiss German
Upper Saxon German, Dialects and Varieties
Source Wikipedia: Upper Saxon German

Associated With

Edward Sapir, Linguists

This source names German directly: "Edward Sapir was a German-born American linguist and anthropologist, trained under Franz Boas, who became one of the most influential figures in early American structural linguistics."

Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Georg von der Gabelentz, Linguists

Wrote Die Sprachwissenschaft (1891), a foundational general-linguistics text composed in German that anticipated later structuralist ideas.

Jacob Grimm, Linguists
Source Deutsche GrammatikJacob Grimm
Karl Verner, Linguists

Verner's Law explains exceptions to Grimm's Law in the Germanic consonant shift ancestral to German and the other Germanic languages.

Source Wikipedia: Karl Verner
Wilhelm Grimm, Linguists
Source Deutsches WorterbuchJacob Grimm And Wilhelm Grimm

In Family

Germanic, Language Families
Source Wikipedia: Germanic Languages
Indo-European, Language Families
Source Ethnologue: Languages of the World

Written In

Latin Script, Scripts
In the Other Atlases

Cases Where Used

Central Europe

Also in Divinity Atlas: used in this subject.

Mit Brennender Sorge

Also in Divinity Atlas: used in this subject.

Rhineland

Also in Divinity Atlas: used in this subject.

The Reichskonkordat

Also in Divinity Atlas: used in this subject.

Anti-Comintern Pact

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Source Anti-Comintern Pact - WikipediaArticle text
Quote, Article text
The full text was considered in its original form in both the German and Japanese versions, and the date was specified in both countries' versions as 25 November 1936 as well as 25 November in the 11th year of the Shōwa period.
Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Source Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (Wikipedia)Lead
Quote, Lead
(German: Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany
Frankfurt Constitution

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Source Wikipedia: Frankfurt ConstitutionLead
Quote, Lead
The Frankfurt Constitution (German: Frankfurter Reichsverfassung)
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Prussian Constitution of 1848

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Source Wikipedia: Constitution of Prussia (1848)Lead
Quote, Lead
Text of the Constitution (in German)
Reichskonkordat

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Source Wikipedia: ReichskonkordatArticle text
Quote, Article text
Article 34 This Concordat, whose German and Italian texts shall have equal binding force, shall be ratified and the certificates of ratification shall be exchanged as soon as possible.
The Communist Manifesto

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Treaty of Utrecht

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Weimar Constitution

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Source Weimar Constitution (Wikipedia)Lead
Quote, Lead
The Constitution of the German Reich (German: Die Verfassung des Deutschen Reichs)
Zimmermann Telegram

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Amish

Also in Society and Culture Atlas: used in this subject.

Hutterites

Also in Society and Culture Atlas: used in this subject.

Original Language Of

Rainald Goetz

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Source Rainald Goetz (Wikipedia)Infobox: language
Quote, Infobox: language
German
Rainer Maria Rilke

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Rudolf Erich Raspe

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Source Wikipedia: Rudolf Erich Raspe
Siddhartha

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Sigmund Freud

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Simplicius Simplicissimus

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Sonnets to Orpheus

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Stefan George

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Source Stefan George (Wikipedia)Making of a poet, language
Quote, Making of a poet, language
the first collection of his poems in German
Steppenwolf

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

The Center of the World

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

The Glass Bead Game

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Source The Glass Bead Game (Wikipedia)Lead, original title
Quote, Lead, original title
The Glass Bead Game (German: Das Glasperlenspiel
The Last of the Just

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

The Magic Mountain

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

The Metamorphosis

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

The Sorrows of Young Werther

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

The Threepenny Opera

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

The Tin Drum

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

The Trial

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Thea von Harbou

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Thomas Bernhard

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Source Thomas Bernhard (Wikipedia)Lead paragraph, sentence naming the language
Quote, Lead paragraph, sentence naming the language
Nicolaas Thomas Bernhard (German: [ˈtoːmas ˈbɛʁnhaʁt]; 9 February 1931 – 12 February 1989) was an Austrian novelist, playwright, poet and polemicist who is considered one of the most important German-language authors of the postwar era.
Thomas Carlyle

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Thomas Mann

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Wilhelm Grimm

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

William Tell

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Woyzeck

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Showing 101 to 126 of 126 in Original Language Of, page 3 of 3.

Found In

Central Europe

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Source Wikipedia: German LanguageLead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia articletier 2
Quote, Lead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia article
German (Deutsch, pronounced [dɔɪ̯tʃ] ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe.
Europe

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Source Wikipedia: German LanguageLead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia articletier 2
Quote, Lead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia article
German (Deutsch, pronounced [dɔɪ̯tʃ] ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe.
Sources
1. Glottolog: German (Glottolog languoid stan1295)
GlottologEndangerment, AES status
Quote, Endangerment, AES status
AES status: not endangered
View the Source
2. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language
David Crystal (editor), Cambridge University Press, 2010Official status, German entity page
Quote, Official status, German entity page
German is a West Germanic language, the official language of Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein and one of the official languages of Switzerland and Belgium.
3. Wikipedia: German Language
Wikimedia Foundation
  • infobox
    Deutsch
  • lead section
    mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe
  • Category: Verb-second languages
    The Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c. 765-775)
View the Source
4. WALS Online (World Atlas of Language Structures): WALS Online feature 13A: Tone
WALS Online (World Atlas of Language Structures)Feature 13A: Tone
Quote, Feature 13A: Tone
"value_name": "No tones" ... "ascii_name": "german"
View the Source
5. Effective Language Learning: Language Difficulty Ranking
Effective Language LearningForeign Service Institute categories list
Quote, Foreign Service Institute categories list
Category II: 30 weeks (750 hours) Languages similar to English German
View the Source
6. Ethnologue: Languages of the World
SIL International, 2024
  • ISO 639-3 Code: deu
  • Speaker Count: 135,000,000
  • Status: Living
View the Source
Deutsche Grammatik
Jacob Grimm, 1822Associated With: Jacob Grimm
Deutsches Worterbuch
Jacob Grimm And Wilhelm Grimm, 1838Associated With: Wilhelm Grimm
Wikipedia: Karl Verner
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Karl Verner, IntroductionView the Source
Wikipedia: Germanic Languages
Wikimedia FoundationIn Family: Germanic, Major branches sectionView the Source
Wikipedia: Swiss German
Wikimedia FoundationAncestor Of: Swiss German, Use section
Quote, Ancestor Of: Swiss German, Use section
Unlike most regional languages in modern Europe, Swiss German is the everyday spoken language for the majority of the population, in all social strata, from urban centres to the countryside.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Bavarian German
Wikimedia FoundationAncestor Of: Bavarian German, Opening section, speaker demographics paragraph
Quote, Ancestor Of: Bavarian German, Opening section, speaker demographics paragraph
Bavarian is spoken by approximately 12 million people in an area of around 125,000 square kilometres (48,000 sq mi), making it the largest of all German dialects.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Austrian German
Wikimedia FoundationAncestor Of: Austrian German, Lead section
Quote, Ancestor Of: Austrian German, Lead section
Austrian German (German: Österreichisches Deutsch), Austrian Standard German (ASG), Standard Austrian German (Österreichisches Standarddeutsch), Austrian High German (Österreichisches Hochdeutsch), or simply just Austrian (Österreichisch), is the variety of Standard German written and spoken in Austria and South Tyrol.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Swabian German
Wikimedia FoundationAncestor Of: Swabian German, Lead sentence
Quote, Ancestor Of: Swabian German, Lead sentence
an: Schwäbisch [ˈʃvɛːbɪʃ] ) is one of the dialect groups of Upper German, sometimes one of the dialect grou
View the Source
Wikipedia: Upper Saxon German
Wikimedia FoundationAncestor Of: Upper Saxon German, Lead sentence
Quote, Ancestor Of: Upper Saxon German, Lead sentence
an East Central German dialect spoken in much of the modern German state of Saxony and in adjacent pa
View the Source
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