North Sea Germanic

North Sea Germanic
Ingvaeonic, Ingveonic,[1] coastal Germanic[1]
Geographic
distribution		Originally the North Sea coast from Friesland to Jutland; today, worldwide
Native speakers
325 million (2004)
Linguistic classificationIndo-European
Subdivisions
Glottolognort3175
The distribution of the primary Germanic languages in Europe c. AD 1:
  North Germanic
  North Sea Germanic, or Ingvaeonic
  Weser–Rhine Germanic, or Istvaeonic
  Elbe Germanic, or Irminonic
  East Germanic †

North Sea Germanic, also known as Ingvaeonic (/ˌɪŋviːˈɒnɪk/ ING-vee-ON-ik),[2] refers to a subgrouping of West Germanic languages that consists of Old Frisian, Old English, and Old Saxon, and their descendants.

Ingvaeonic is named after the Ingaevones, a West Germanic cultural group or proto-tribe along the North Sea coast that was mentioned by both Tacitus and Pliny the Elder (the latter also mentioning that tribes in the group included the Cimbri, the Teutoni and the Chauci). It is thought of as not a monolithic proto-language but as a group of closely related dialects that underwent several areal changes in relative unison.

  1. ^ a b Anthonia Feitsma, 'Democratic' and 'elitist' trends and a Frisian standard, in: Andrew R. Linn, Nicola McLelland (eds.), Standardization: Studies from the Germanic Languages, 2002, p. 205 ff., here p. 205
  2. ^ "Ingvaeonic". CollinsDictionary.com. HarperCollins. Retrieved 2024-03-24.