Tree of Germanic Languages

Language Descriptions

Afrikaans

Afrikaans is a contemporary West Germanic language developed from seventeenth century Dutch. It is one of the eleven official languages of the Republic of South Africa.
"Although Afrikaans derives from Dutch, it was also influenced by Malay (spoken by the slaves in the 17th century) and the indigenous African languages. The first recognizable form of Afrikaans was apparently spoken by the Malay people of the Cape in the 17th/18th century." - Johan Viljoen
Number of speakers (1988): 10 million

Burgundian

Burgundian was the East Germanic language of the Germanic speaking people who ultimately settled in southeastern Gaul (Southeastern France, Western Switzerland, and Northwestern Italy) in the fifth century C.E. It is extinct.

Dutch-Flemish

Dutch or Flemish is the contemporary descendent of Middle Dutch. With slight differences, the same language is called Dutch in the Netherlands and Flemish in Belgium. It is one of the two official languages of the Netherlands and one of the three official languages of Belgium.
Number of Speakers (2000): 20 million

East Germanic

The East Germanic branch of the Germanic languages was spoken by the Germanic speaking people who, in the second through fourth centuries C. E., migrated first to the Danube and Black Sea areas from the Germanic homeland. The languages of these people, which are poorly attested except for West Gothic, show characteristic differences from West and North Germanic branches.
The East Germanic Languages were Gothic, Vandalic, Burgundian, Lombardic, Rugian, Herulian, Bastarnae, and Scirian. It is said that the East Germanic languages were probably all very similar.
All of the East Germanic languages are extinct.

East Norse

East Norse is the eastern branch of the North Germanic languages used in Denmark and Sweden and their present and former colonies. It diverged from common North Germanic about 800 C. E. Its descendents were Danish, Swedish, and Gutnish.

Faroese

Faroese is a contemporary Western North Germanic language spoken in the Faroe Islands. It is a descendant of West Norse.
Number of Speakers (1988): 41,000