Lombardic language

Lombard is an extinct and preserved only as ruins language Germanic language that was spoken by the Lombards and became extinct later than 1000. Historically, the Lombards and their language are only from the 6th century to comprehend, as they give up their residences in Pannonia immigrate to North Italy. To a written language, the Longobard never developed because his spokesman quickly adopted the Romance dialect of the locals and how they used it as a written language Latin.

Which language group belonged to the Longobard within the Germanic languages ​​, is not entirely clear. However, many word documents show a phonological phenomenon which is the High German consonant shift in line. In the research, therefore, the thesis has been discussed for a long time, the sound shift that radiated from south to north, had been triggered by the influence of the Lombard language that came into contact in the Alps with the German dialects.

Source location

The source location is not very productive. They are mostly to personal names, place names, as well as single words in the early days as runic inscriptions, and later in documents such as the Codex diplomaticus Langobardorum, the Edictum Rothari and the Edictum Langobardorum and historical works such as the Historia gentis Langobardorum the historian Paul appear Deacon.

A number of more or less unquestionably Lombard words has held in Italian and its dialects, see:

• Panca " ( seat ) Bank " ( typical of Bavarian sound shift of b -> p- )
• (possibly) pizza (corresponds etymologically to the German high bite )
• Guardare " ( watch ) " from the word Vartan ( serve as warden, wait )
• Staffa " stirrup " (equivalent to German trudge )

Sound system and language relationship

Together with Bavarian and Alemannic the Longobard is counted among the Upper German dialects. On the basis of the traditional language monuments, the High German sound shift can already clearly demonstrated. For historical linguistics the Longobard is especially interesting because here the end of the 6th, can be found the earliest evidence for the High German consonant shift early 7th century.

While the vast majority of linguists the Longobard the West Germanic and within which imputes the Upper German dialects, represented the Italian linguist FA Leoni 1991 who felt that they had recently " hypothesis asserted that the original physiognomy of the Lombard was more ' gothic ': His final shape is the result of a relatively late Verdeutschungsprozesses "

Grammar

Due to the source location, could do but conjecture here any more.