Middle High German

Middle High German, often shortened to MHG, was the form of High German spoken during the High Middle Ages, roughly between the years 1050 and 1350. It developed from Old High German and later evolved into Early New High German. This language is special because it was affected by something called the Second Sound Shift, which changed how certain sounds were pronounced in the German language.

Even though there wasn’t one single standard form of Middle High German, a special literary form began to appear in the late 1100s. This form 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 very similar today, even though the real spoken language might have been more varied.

During this time, German-speaking people also began moving eastward across the Elbe and Saale rivers. This movement, called the Ostsiedlung, started in the 1100s and helped create new dialects in areas further east. Also, a special version of Middle High German called Judeo-German started to appear in the 1200s and 1300s. This version was written using 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 shifted from being mostly written by clergy using Latin to being more used in the courts of noble families. German became more common in everyday writing and speaking.

The number of people speaking German grew a lot, until the Black Death in 1348 caused 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, but the area where Low German was spoken extended 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. Back then, there was no single way to spell words everyone agreed on. Today, scholars often follow rules set by Karl Lachmann from the 1800s to make old books easier to read.

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

The spellings in old papers also changed depending on where and when they were written, making it tricky for us to read them today!

Phonology

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

Vowels

Short and long vowels

Not every version of Middle High German told apart all the same vowels. Short vowels were probably said in 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 either 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 the local way of speaking. There were also long versions of some consonants, shown with double letters like “pp” or “bb”, which really meant a longer sound and not a longer vowel like today. The old “s” sound was different from a later “z” sound and probably was said somewhere between the modern “s” and “sh” sounds.

Grammar

Middle High German pronouns described the speaker, the person being spoken to, or the subject being discussed. These pronouns matched the gender, number, and case of the nouns they replaced.

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

Vocabulary

During the Middle High German period, the growth of courtly culture and the changing role of knights led to many new words in the language. Because these changes started in France, many new words came from French, especially in areas like knighthood, war, fun activities, and fancy goods.

Some French words became part of German, like âventiure, which later became words like Jägerei and Arznei. A new way to make verbs appeared too, adding -îeren to the end of words. This started from French verb endings but was used even with German words, like turnîeren from the French 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 most well-known works are songs called Minnesang, like those in the Codex Manesse, and epic tales such as the Nibelungenlied. There are also exciting stories about knights, like Parzival and Tristan, written by authors such as Wolfram von Eschenbach and Gottfried von Strassburg. Other popular types of writing include chronicles that tell about history and books about laws, like the Sachsenspiegel.