Middle High German

Middle High German, often called MHG, was the form of High German spoken during the High Middle Ages from about 1050 to 1350. It came from Old High German and later changed into Early New High German. This language was special because of a change in sounds known as the Second Sound Shift.

Even though there was no single standard form of Middle High German, a special kind of writing appeared in the late 1100s. This style was based on the Swabian dialect and was used by writers and poets, especially at the Hohenstaufen court. Because of this, many books and poems from that time look quite similar today.

During this time, German-speaking people moved east across the Elbe and Saale rivers. This movement, called the Ostsiedlung, began in the 1100s and helped create new dialects in areas farther east. A special version of Middle High German called Judeo-German also appeared in the 1200s and 1300s. This version was written with Hebrew letters and later became the base for the Yiddish language.

Periodisation

The Middle High German period is usually considered to be from 1050 to 1350. Before that was Old High German, and after came Early New High German.

During this time, German culture changed. It was no longer just written by clergy using Latin. German became more common in the courts of noble families and in everyday writing and speaking.

The number of people speaking German grew a lot. However, in 1348, a terrible sickness spread, causing many deaths. As the German-speaking world grew, people moved eastward into areas that had been controlled by Slavic peoples.

Dialects

The dialects of Germany at the end of the Middle High German period were similar to those in the early 1900s. The area where Low German was spoken reached further south.

The main dialect groups were Central German and Upper German. Central German included dialects such as West Central German, which had Central Franconian (including Ripuarian and Moselle Franconian), Rhine Franconian, and Hessian. It also included East Central German with dialects like Thuringian, Upper Saxon, Silesian, and High Prussian. Upper German included East Franconian, South Rhine Franconian, Alemannic (with Swabian and Low Alemannic), and Bavarian (with Northern Bavarian, Central Bavarian, and Southern Bavarian). Most East Central German dialects, except Thuringian, developed later during a movement known as the Ostsiedlung.

Writing system

Middle High German texts were written using the Latin alphabet. At that time, there were no fixed spelling rules, so words were spelled differently in various books.

Today, scholars often use rules created by Karl Lachmann from the 1800s to help make these old books easier for us to read.

Some things were missing in those old papers, like special marks to show how long vowels were pronounced. Also, vowel marks called umlauts were not always used properly. To show a special “s” sound that changed from an older “t” sound, books now use a special curly-tailed z (⟨ȥ⟩ or ⟨ʒ⟩), even though the old papers just used a normal “s” or “z”. Sometimes, writers also used “i” and “uu” instead of “j” and “w”.

The spellings in old papers changed depending on where and when they were written, which makes it a bit hard for us to read them today!

Phonology

The charts show how sounds were used in Middle High German. The spellings in the charts are used in modern books, but old writings had many ways to write the same sounds.

Vowels

Short and long vowels

Not every version of Middle High German used all the same vowels. Short vowels were probably said at a lower pitch than long vowels, but we can’t be sure from old writings. The letter “e” in quiet parts of words might have been said as a short “eh” sound or a very short, weak “uh” sound.

Diphthongs

Consonants

We don’t know exactly how consonants were said because they likely changed in different places. Some consonants could be said in a hard or soft way, depending on where you were from. There were also long versions of some consonants, shown with double letters like “pp” or “bb”, which meant a longer sound and not a longer vowel like today. The old “s” sound was different from a later “z” sound and was probably said somewhere between the modern “s” and “sh” sounds.

Grammar

Middle High German pronouns showed who was talking, who was being talked to, or what was being talked about. They matched the gender, number, and case of the nouns they stood for.

Verbs in Middle High German changed form depending on mood, person, number, and time. There were strong verbs, which changed vowels, and weak verbs, which did not. Each type followed its own rules for present tense and past participle forms.

Vocabulary

During the Middle High German period, new ideas and ways of living added many new words to the language. Because these changes began in France, many new words came from French. These words were often about knights, war, fun, and fancy goods.

Some French words became German words, like âventiure. This later changed into words like Jägerei and Arznei. A new way to make verbs also appeared. People added -îeren to the end of words. This came from French verb endings and was used with German words too. For example, turnîeren came from the French word tourner, meaning "to ride a horse."

Sample texts

The sample texts here show us how people wrote in Middle High German a long time ago. These stories include famous tales like Iwein and Nibelungenlied, written by a poet named Hartmann von Aue.

In these old stories, you can see words that look similar to German today, but some of them mean different things now. For example, a word that meant “hardship” back then now means “work.” Even though some words have changed, many are still recognizable, showing how language evolves over time.

Literature

Middle High German literature includes many famous poems, stories, and books. Some of the best-known works are songs called Minnesang, like those in the Codex Manesse, and epic tales such as the Nibelungenlied. There are also stories about knights, like Parzival and Tristan, written by authors such as Wolfram von Eschenbach and Gottfried von Strassburg. Other popular writing includes chronicles about history and books about laws, like the Sachsenspiegel.