Tree of Germanic Languages

North Germanic

The North Germanic branch of the Germanic languages is spoken by the Germanic speaking people who stayed in northern part of the Germanic homeland. Between about 800 C. E. and 1000 C. E., the dialects of North Germanic diverged into West Norse and East Norse.
A characteristic of the North Germanic languages is the use of a postposed definite article.

Norwegian

Norwegian, a contemporary Western North Germanic language, is the official language of Norway. It is a collection of related dialects of West Norse. It has two major written dialects: Nynorsk and Bokmal. Nynorsk is the contemporary descendent of Old Norwegian. Bokmal, also called Dano-Norwegian or Riksmal, is really a form of Danish. Since 1951 there has been a concerted effort to effect a merger of the two dialects.
Number of Speakers (1988): 5 million

Old English

Old English (or Anglo-Saxon) is the oldest recorded form of English. It is said to be the language of the three tribes (Angles, Saxons, and Jutes) of West Germanic speaking people who invaded and occupied Britain in the fifth century C. E. It is very closely related to Old Frisian.
Old English developed four major dialects: Northumbrian, Mercian, West Saxon, and Kentish. The majority of recorded Old English is in the West Saxon dialect.
Old English is characterized by phonetic spelling, a moderate number of inflections (two numbers, three genders, four cases, remnants of dual number and instrumental case), a syntax somewhat dependent on word order, and a simple two tense, three mood, four person (three singular, one plural) verb system.
Old English is recorded from the late seventh century onwards. By about 1100 C. E. enough changes had accumulated so that the language is designated Middle English.

Old Danish

Old Danish was an Eastern North Germanic language, spoken in Denmark, the ancestor of New Danish and Bokmal.