History of Dutch
Classified as a Germanic language, Dutch shares its ancestry
with English, German and the languages of Scandinavia. The Germanic
language family is split in to three groups West, East and North.
Dutch is in the West Germanic group along with English, German,
Flemish and Afrikaans (itself a descendent of Dutch).
Old Dutch
The present Dutch language derived from Old Dutch dialects
spoken in the Low Countries between the 6th and 11th centuries. The
earliest example of Old Dutch was written around 510 in the Salic
law document, an important body of traditional law codified for
governing the Salian Franks in the early Middle Ages.
Middle Dutch
Old Dutch developed in the Middle Dutch from around 1150 to 1550
and is the collective term used for the closely related dialects
spoken in the current Dutch speaking regions of Europe. The first
Dutch dictionaries were written during this period and the language
was heavily influenced by French and Latin. Examples of the Latin
influence on Dutch include words such as strate from
strata meaning street and wijn from vinum meaning
wine.
The dialects that collectively formed Middle Dutch were:
- Flemish - spoken in the modern region of West and East
Flanders
- Brabantian - the language of what is now the Dutch province of
North Brabant and the Belgian provinces of Walloon Brabant, Flemish
Brabant and Antwerp as well as around Brussels
- Hollandic - mainly used in the present provinces of North and
South Holland and parts of Utrecht
- Limburgish - spoken by the people in the district of modern
Dutch and Belgian Limburg
- Low Saxon - spoken in what is now Gelderland, Overijssel,
Drenthe and parts of Groningen
Modern Dutch
The process of standardizing these Middle Dutch dialects in to
what we now regard as modern Dutch began in the Middle Ages. This
process became stronger in the 16th century based on the Antwerp
dialect. In 1585 Antwerp fell to the Spanish army and as a result
many of its inhabitants fled along with their language to the
northern provinces of the Netherlands, especially Holland.
Another major step in the standardization of Dutch was in 1637
when the first Dutch translation of the bible was created. This was
written so that people from all the Low Countries could understand
it, using various dialects but predominantly that of Holland.
Although the various Middle Dutch dialects developed into one
standard language the dialects still partially survive in one form
or another. Today there are still regional differences, for example
to Dutch speakers there is a clear audible difference between
northern and southern Dutch.