Old Dutch

Old Dutch

English

Proper noun

Old Dutch

1. A branch of Old Low Franconian, with a Frisian substrate, spoken and written during the Middle Ages (c. 9th to 12th century) in the Netherlands and the northern part of present-day Belgium, as well as in areas of northern France along the North Sea coast and adjoining Belgium. This language represents the first attested stage of the Dutch language and its dialects, being succeeded by Middle Dutch in the later Middle Ages.
   • 1998, Hans Frede Nielsen, The Continental Backgrounds of English and its Insular Development until 1154, p. 43:

     The earliest extant material in Old Dutch (or Old Low Franconian) is from the ninth century (psalm fragments translated in or around the south of Limburg, i.e. the south-east corner of the Netherlands).

Synonyms

• Old West Low Franconian

Holonyms

• Old Low Franconian

Translations

language

Dutch: Oudnederlands (nl) n Finnish: muinaishollanti (fi) Galician: neerlandés antigo (gl) m German: Altniederländisch n Portuguese: holandês antigo (pt) m Swedish: fornnederländska (sv) c

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Old Dutch terms

Further reading

• ISO 639-3 code odt (SIL)