Middle High German

 

Middle High German diutsch, tiutsch
Spoken in:	southern Germany (south of the Benrath line), parts of Austria and Switzerland
Language extinction:	developed into Early New High German from the 14th century
Language family:	Indo-European  Germanic   West Germanic    High German     Middle High German
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	none
ISO 639-2:	gmh
ISO 639-3:	gmh
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Middle High German (MHG, German Mittelhochdeutsch) is the term used for the period in the history of the German language between 1050 and 1350. It is preceded by Old High German and followed by Early New High German. In some uses, the term covers a longer period, going up to 1500.^[1]

Varieties

Middle High German is not a unified written language and the term covers two main dialect areas:^[2]

• Upper German (Oberdeutsch)
  • Alemannic (Alemannisch = Westoberdeutsch)
  • Bavarian (Bairisch = Ostoberdeutsch)
  • East Franconian (Ostfränkisch = Nordoberdeutsch)
  • South Franconian (Südfränkisch = Nordoberdeutsch)
• Central German or Middle German (Mitteldeutsch)
  • Franconian (Westmitteldeutsch)
    • Rhine Franconian (Rheinfränkisch)
    • Middle Franconian (Mittelfränkisch)
    • Hessian (Hessisch)
  • East Central German (Ostmitteldeutsch)
    • Thuringian (Thüringisch)
    • Upper Saxon (Obersächsisch)
    • Silesian (Schlesisch)
    • High Prussian (Hochpreußisch)

While there is no standard MHG, the prestige of the Hohenstaufen court gave rise in the late 12th century to a supra-regional literary language (mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache) based on Swabian, an Alemannic dialect. However, the picture is complicated by the fact that modern editions of MHG texts have a tendency to use normalised spellings based on this variety (usually called "Classical MHG"), which make the written language appear more consistent than is actually the case in the manuscripts. It is uncertain whether the literary language reflected a supra-regional spoken language of the courts.

An important development in this period was the eastward expansion of German settlement beyond the Elbe-Saale line which marked the limit of Old High German. This process started in the 11th century, and all the East Central German dialects are a result of this expansion.

"Judeo-German" is the precursor of the Yiddish language which is attested in the 13th-14th centuries as a variety of Middle High German written in Hebrew characters.

Writing System

Middle High German texts are written in the Latin alphabet, in Gothic minuscules that evolved into the Fraktur typefaces of the Early Modern period. Vowel length may be marked diacritically, with a circumflex.

a, â (æ), b, d, e, ê, f, g, h, i, î (y), k (c, ch), l, m, n, o, ô, p, qu (=kw), r, s, t, u, û, v (f), w, z (c, cz, ʒ)

z also appears as c before e and i. After vowels it is weakened to ʒ ("weak z", or "sharp s", written as geschwänztes z "tailed z"; also transcribed as ȥ "z with hook"), after short vowels geminating to ʒʒ (haʒ, genitive haʒʒes "hate"). This group from early times begins merging with ss, ultimately the origin of the ß of Modern German orthography.

There is also emerging use of j in Nuremberg, often in place of g.

The full development of the Germanic umlaut was only completed in the course of the MHG period, and notation of umlauted vowels (Modern German ä, ö, ü) and their notation emerges in the period after 1300, e.g. uohse "armpit" vs. üehse (Wolkenstein 49.1.11). Note that the umlaut diacritic (the two dots) appear only in Early Modern German (around 1500). What in standard transliteration appears as üe in the manuscripts is usually written with a diacritic e, viz. the transliteration güete ("goodness") renders guͤte.

Grammar

Pronouns

Middle High German pronouns of the first person refer to the speaker; those of the second person refer to an addressed person. The pronouns of the third person may be used to replace nominal phrases. These have the same gender, number and case as the original nominal phrase. This goes for other pronouns, too.

Personal pronouns

Personal Pronouns

	1st sg	2nd sg	3rd sg			1st pl	2nd pl	3rd pl
Nominative	ich	du	ër	sie	ëz	wir	ir	sie
Accusative	mich	dich	in	sie	ëz	uns	iuch	sie
Dative	mir	dir	im	ir	im	uns	iu	in
Genitive*	mîn	dîn	sîn	ir	sîn	unser	iuwer	ir

• Note: the genitive form is used as an adjective and hence takes on adjective endings following the normal rules. This includes 'unser' and 'iuwer', despite the fact that they already end in -er.

Nouns

Middle High German nouns were declined according to four cases (Nominative, genitive, dative, accusative), two numbers (singular and plural) and three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter), much like Modern High German, though there are several important differences.

Strong nouns

	dër tac day m.		diu zît time f.		daʒ wort word n.
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	dër tac	die tage	diu zît	die zîte	daʒ wort	diu wort
Genitive	dës tages	dër tage	dër zît	dër zîte	dës wortes	dër worte
Dative	dëm tage	dën tagen	dër zît	dën zîten	dëm worte	dën worten
Accusative	dën tac	die tage	die zît	dër zîten	daʒ wort	diu wort

Weak nouns

	dër veter (male) cousin m.		diu zunge tongue f.		daʒ herze heart n.
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	dër veter	die veteren	diu zunge	die zungen	daʒ herze	diu herzen
Genitive	dës veteren	dër veteren	dër zungen	dër zungen	dës herzen	dër herzen
Dative	dëm veteren	dën veteren	dër zungen	dën zungen	dëm herzen	dën herzen
Accusative	dën veteren	die veteren	die zungen	die zungen	daʒ herze	diu herzen

Note that ë is a short, open /e/, so so MHG dër /dɛr/ as opposed to modern /de:r/.

Articles

Middle High German articles have a feature called "strength", which influences the declension of the adjectives. There are strong articles, weak articles, and articles that have strong and weak cases. Sometimes this feature is not constant in literature.

The inflected forms depend on the number, the case and the gender of the corresponding noun. Articles have the same plural forms for all three genders.

Definite article (strong)

	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	dër	daʒ	diu	die/diu
Genitive	dës	dës	dër	dër
Dative	dëm	dëm	dër	dën
Accusative	dën	daʒ	die	die/diu
Instrumental		diu

The instrumental case, only existing in the neuter singular, is used only with prepositions: von diu, ze diu, etc. In all the other genders and in the plural it is substituted with the dative: von dëm, von dër, von dën.

Verbs

Verbs were conjugated according to three moods (indicative, subjunctive and imperative), three persons, two numbers (singular and plural) and two tenses (present tense and preterite tense) There was a present participle, a past participle and a verbal noun that somewhat resembles the Latin gerund, but that only existed in the genitive and dative cases.

An important distinction was made between strong verbs (that exhibited ablaut) and weak verbs (that didn't).

Furthermore, there were also some irregular verbs.

Strong verbs

The present tense conjugation went as follows:

	nëmen to take
	Indicative	Subjunctive
1. sg.	ich nime	ich nëme
2. sg.	du nim(e)st	du nëmest
3. sg.	ër nim(e)t	er nëme
1. pl.	wir nëmen	wir nëmen
2. sg.	ir nëm(e)t	ir nëmet
3. sg.	sie nëment	sie nëmen

Imperative: 2.sg: nim, 2.pl: nëmet Present participle: nëmente Infinitive: nëmen Verbal noun: Genitive: nëmennes, dative: ze nëmenne

The bold vowels demonstrate ablaut; the vowels in brackets were dropped in rapid speech.

The preterite tense conjugation went as follows:

	genomen haben to have taken
	Indicative	Subjunctive
1. sg.	ich nam	ich næme
2. sg.	du næme	du næmest
3. sg.	ër nam	er næme
1. pl.	wir namen	wir n'æmen
2. sg.	ir namet	ir n'æmet
3. sg.	sie namen	sie n'æmen

Past participle: genomen

Weak verbs

The present tense conjugation went as follows:

	suochen to seek
	Indicative	Subjunctive
1. sg.	ich suoche	ich suoche
2. sg.	du suoch(e)st	du suochest
3. sg.	ër suoch(e)t	er suoche
1. pl.	wir suochen	wir suochen
2. sg.	ir suoch(e)t	ir suochet
3. sg.	sie suochent	sie suochen

Imperative: 2.sg: suoche, 2.pl: suochet Present participle: suochente Infinitive: suochen Verbal noun: Genitive: suochennes, dative: ze suochenne

The vowels in brackets were dropped in rapid speech.

The preterite tense conjugation went as follows:

	gesuocht haben to have sought
	Indicative	Subjunctive
1. sg.	ich suochete	ich suochete
2. sg.	du suochetest	du suochetest
3. sg.	ër suochete	er suochete
1. pl.	wir suocheten	wir suocheten
2. sg.	ir suochetet	ir suochetet
3. sg.	sie suochetent	sie suocheten

Past participle: gesuochet

Periodisation

There are several criteria which separate MHG from the preceding Old High German period:

• the weakening of unstressed vowels to /e/ - OHG taga > MHG tage ("days")
• the full development of Umlaut and its use to mark a number of morphological categories
• the devoicing of final stops - OHG tag > MHG tac ("day")

Culturally, the two periods are distinguished by the transition from a predominantly clerical written culture to one centred on the courts of the great nobles. The imperial court in Vienna and the rise of the Swabian Hohenstaufen and then the Habsburg dynasties make South Germany the dominant region in both political and cultural terms.

Linguistically, the transition to Early New High German is marked by four vowel changes which together produce the phonemic system of modern German:

• Monophthongisation of some of the MHG diphthongs: MHG huot> NHG Hut ("hat")
• Diphthongisation of long vowels MHG hût > NHG Haut ("skin").
• lengthening of short vowels MHG sagen /zagən/ > NHG sagen /zaːgən/ ("say")
• The loss of unstressed vowels in many circumstances - MHG vrouwe > NHG Frau ("lady")

The centres of culture in the ENHG period are no longer the courts but the towns.

Phonology

The charts show the vowel and consonant systems of classical MHG. The spellings indicated are the standard spellings used in modern editions - there is much more variation in the manuscripts.

Vowels

	front				central		back
	unrounded		rounded
	short	long	short	long	short	long	short	long
close	i	iː	y <ü>	yː <iu>			u	uː
close-mid	e
mid	ɛ	ɛː	ø <ö>	øː <œ>			o	oː
open-mid	æ <ä>	æː <æ>
open					a	aː

Notes:

1. Not all dialects distinguish the three unrounded mid front vowels.
2. It is probable that the short high and mid vowels are lower than their long equivalents, as in Modern German, but this is impossible to establish from the written sources.
3. The <e> found in unstressed syllables may indicate [ɛ] or schwa [ə].

Diphthongs

MHG diphthongs are indicated by the spellings: <ei>, <ie>, <ou>, <öu> and <eu>, <üe>, <uo>.

Consonants

	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	p  b		t  d			k <k, c>  g
Affricates	p͡f		ts <z>
Nasal	m		n			ŋ <ng>
Fricative		f v <f, v>	s  z	ʃ <sch>		x <ch, h>	h
Approximant	w				j
Liquid			r  l

1. Precise information about the articulation of consonants is impossible to establish, and will have varied between dialects.
2. In the plosive and fricative series, where there are two consonants in a cell, the first is fortis the second lenis. The voicing of lenis consonants varied between dialects.
3. MHG has long consonants, and the following double consonant spellings indicate not vowel length as in Modern German orthography, but rather genuine double consonants: pp, bb, tt, dd, ck (for /kk/), gg, ff, ss, zz, mm, nn, ll, rr.
4. It is reasonable to assume that /x/ had an allophone [χ] before back vowels, as in Modern German.

Sample text

From the prologue of Hartmann von Aue's Iwein (circa 1200; c.f. MS B (Giessen), mid 13th c.)

5 10 15 20

Swer an rehte güete wendet sîn gemüete, dem volget sælde und êre. des gît gewisse lêre künec Artûs der guote, der mit rîters muote nâch lobe kunde strîten. er hât bî sînen zîten gelebet alsô schône daz er der êren krône dô truoc und noch sîn name treit. des habent die wârheit sîne lantliute: sî jehent er lebe noch hiute: er hât den lop erworben, ist im der lîp erstorben, sô lebet doch iemer sîn name. er ist lasterlîcher schame iemer vil gar erwert, der noch nâch sînem site vert.

Whoever to true goodness Turns his mind He will meet with fortune and honour. We are taught this by the example of Good King Arthur who with knightly spirit knew how to strive for praise. In his day He lived so well That he wore the crown of honour And his name still does so. The truth of this is known To his countrymen: They affirm that he still lives today: He won such fame that Although his body died His name lives on. He will forever be free Of sinful shame Who follows his example.

This text shows many typical features of Middle High German poetic language. Most Middle High German words survive into modern German in some form or other: this passage contains only one word (jehen 'say' 14) which has since disappeared from the language. But many words have changed their meaning substantially. Muot (6) means 'state of mind', where modern German Mut means courage. Êre (3) can be translated with 'honour', but is quite a different concept of honour from modern German Ehre; the medieval term focusses on reputation and the respect accorded to status in society.

Literature

Main article: Medieval German literature

• Minnesang
  • Codex Manesse
  • Walther von der Vogelweide
  • Heinrich Frauenlob
  • Oswald von Wolkenstein

• Epics
  • Hartmann von Aue's Erec and Iwein
  • Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival
  • Gottfried von Strassburg's Tristan
  • Nibelungenlied
  • Kudrun
  • Ulrich von Türheim's Rennewart and Willehalm
  • Rudolf von Ems's works
  • Konrad von Würzburg's works
  • Eilhart von Oberge' Tristrant

• Nonfiction writings
  • Annolied (Early Middle High German)
  • Jans der Enikel's Weltchronik and Fürstenbuch
  • Kaiserchronik
  • Sachsenspiegel

See also

• High German consonant shift
• Matthias von Lexer

References

External links

• Wright's Middle High German Primer
• Middle High German conceptual database
• Online versions of the two main MHG dictionaries
• Mediaevum.de's MHG Texts:
  • 11th Century (Early MHG)
  • 12th Century
  • 13th Century
  • 14th Century

Sources

• Hermann Paul, Mittelhochdeutsche Grammatik, 23rd edn, edited by Peter Wiehl and Sigfried Grosse (Niemeyer, 1989) ISBN 3-484-10233-0
• M.O'C. Walshe, A Middle High German Reader: With Grammar, Notes and Glossary (Oxford University Press, 1974) ISBN 0-19-872082-3
• Joseph Wright, Middle High German Primer, 5th edn revised by M.O'C. Walshe (Oxford University Press, 1955)

Germanic Philology (History of the Germanic languages)
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Reconstructed languages	Proto-Germanic · Proto-Norse
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Modern languages	Afrikaans · Danish · Dutch · English · Faroese · Frisian · German · Icelandic · Norwegian · Scots · Swedish · Yiddish
Diachronic features	Grimm's law · Verner's law · Holtzmann's Law · Germanic substrate hypothesis · High German consonant shift · Germanic a-mutation · Germanic umlaut · Germanic spirant law · Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law · Great vowel shift
Synchronic features	Germanic verb · Germanic strong verb · Germanic weak verb · Preterite-present verb · Grammatischer Wechsel
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