Old Frankish - Predecessor of Old Dutch

Predecessor of Old Dutch

The language from which Old Dutch arose is not known with certainty, but it is thought to be Old Frankish, the language spoken by the Salian Franks. Philologists often refer to Old Dutch as Old West Low Franconian. (This is similar to referring to Old English as Anglo-Saxon.) In general, they prefer the term Franconian to Frankish when referring to the language of the Franks. They essentially consider the names "Old Frankish" (when used to refer to the language spoken by the Salian Franks), "Old West Low Franconian" and "Old Dutch" to refer to the same language (or set of dialects). There was also a close relationship between Old Frankish, Old Saxon, Old English and Old Frisian. Because Old Frankish texts are almost non-existent and Old Dutch texts scarce and fragmentary, it is difficult to determine when the transition from Old Frankish to Old Dutch occurred, but it is thought to have happened by the end of the 9th century. and perhaps occurred before then. Old Dutch made the transition to Middle Dutch around 1150.