Old Dutch
In linguistics, Old Dutch (Dutch: Oudnederlands) or Old Low Franconian (Dutch: Oudnederfrankisch) is the set of dialects that evolved from Frankish spoken in the Low Countries during the Early Middle Ages, from around the 6th or 9th to the 12th century. Old Dutch is mostly recorded on fragmentary relics, and words have been reconstructed from Middle Dutch and Old Dutch loanwords in French.
| Old Dutch | |
|---|---|
| Old Low Franconian | |
| Native to | Holland, Austrasia, Zeeland and Flanders |
| Region | The Low Countries |
| Era | Gradually developed into Middle Dutch by mid-12th century |
Early forms | |
| Runes, Latin (later) | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | odt |
odt | |
| Glottolog | oldd1237 |
The areas where the Old Dutch language was spoken | |
Old Dutch is regarded as the primary stage in the development of a separate Dutch language. It was spoken by the descendants of the Salian Franks who occupied what is now the southern Netherlands, northern Belgium, part of northern France, and parts of the Lower Rhine regions of Germany. It evolved into Middle Dutch around the 12th century. The inhabitants of northern Dutch provinces, including Groningen, Friesland, and the coast of North Holland, spoke Old Frisian, and some in the east (Achterhoek, Overijssel, and Drenthe) spoke Old Saxon.