Proto-Germanic is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Germanic language family, itself descended from Proto-Indo-European. It is estimated to have been spoken roughly 500 BCE to the early centuries CE in southern Scandinavia and the adjacent North European Plain. Like PIE, it is unattested and reconstructed through comparison of its descendants.
The defining sound changes that separate Proto-Germanic from other Indo-European branches are described by Grimm’s Law (the first Germanic consonant shift): PIE voiceless stops became voiceless fricatives (*p → *f, *t → *θ, *k → *h), voiced stops became voiceless stops (*b → *p, *d → *t, *g → *k), and voiced aspirated stops became voiced stops or fricatives. Verner’s Law accounts for the exceptions to Grimm’s Law by reference to the PIE accent.
Proto-Germanic also developed fixed initial stress accent (replacing the mobile PIE accent), strong and weak verb conjugation, and the beginnings of the strong/weak adjective distinction. These innovations shape all subsequent Germanic languages.
Descendant branches
- North Germanic: Old Norse → Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Faroese
- West Germanic: Old English, Old Frisian, Old Saxon, Old High German → English, Frisian, Dutch, German, Yiddish
- East Germanic: Gothic (extinct; the only well-attested East Germanic language, through Wulfila’s Bible translation)