Anglo-Frisian languages

The Anglo-Frisian languages are a group of related languages. They include the Anglic languages such as English and Scots, and the Frisian languages like West Frisian, North Frisian, and East Frisian. Some people think these languages share a special connection. Many experts believe they are part of a bigger group called the Ingvaeonic languages.

These languages spread along the North Sea. They changed over time, especially during a big movement of people called the Migration Period in the 5th century.

Even though there is debate about how these languages are related, they share some special sound changes. For example, words like "cheese" and "church" sound different in English and Frisian compared to other languages such as Dutch or German. These differences help experts understand how the languages changed.

Geography played a role in shaping these languages. The people in Great Britain lived far from the rest of Europe. Their language, English, was influenced more by Old Norse and later the Norman language. The Frisian languages developed closer to southern Germanic areas, which shaped their sounds and words in different ways.

Classification

The Anglo-Frisian family tree groups certain languages together. It has two main groups: the Anglic languages and the Frisian languages.

The Anglic languages include English and Scots. They also include older languages like Fingallian and Yola from Ireland that are no longer spoken.

The Frisian languages are spoken by people near the North Sea in the Netherlands and Germany. West Frisian is the most spoken and is an official language in the Dutch province of Friesland. North Frisian has fewer speakers, mainly on islands and parts of Germany. East Frisian has even fewer speakers today, mostly in a place called Saterland in Germany.

Anglo-Frisian developments

This section talks about important changes in the sounds of the Anglo-Frisian languages, which include English and Frisian. These changes happened to vowels—the parts of words you say when you sing—and happened in a certain order. Some experts think these changes didn’t happen the same way for all these languages.

Some of the big changes include:

Changes to certain vowel sounds before special letters.
Dropping a letter that changed the sound of the vowel before it.
Using one form for certain verb endings.
Shifting vowel sounds forward in the mouth.
Changing certain consonant sounds before front vowels.
Shifting some vowel sounds back to their original form.
Further shifting of vowel sounds in some areas.
More changes to vowels based on nearby letters.
Special changes in one dialect of Old English.
Changes caused by nearby vowels, followed by other sound shifts.
Final sound changes that made some sounds distinct.
Smoothing out some sounds and shifting others backward.

For more details, see Phonological history of Old English.

Comparisons

Here are the words for the numbers one to 12 in several Anglo-Frisian languages, along with some other languages like Dutch, Afrikaans, West-Flemish, and German for comparison:

Ae , is a special form used before nouns.

Language	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
English	one	two	three	four	five	six	seven	eight	nine	ten	eleven	twelve
West Riding Yorkshire	one	two	three	fower	five	six	seven	eight	nine	ten	(e)leven	twelve
Scots	ane ae* een yin	twa	three	fower	five	sax	seiven	aicht	nine	ten	eleiven	twal
Yola	oan	twye	dhree	vour	veeve	zeese	zeven	ayght	neen	dhen	ellven	twalve
West Frisian	ien	twa	trije	fjouwer	fiif	seis	sân	acht	njoggen	tsien	alve	tolve
Saterland Frisian	aan (m.) een (f., n.)	twäin (m.) two (f., n.)	träi (m.) trjo (f., n.)	fjauer	fieuw	säks	sogen	oachte	njúgen	tjoon	alven	twelig
North Frisian (Mooring dialect)	iinj ån	tou tuu	trii tra	fjouer	fiiw	seeks	soowen	oocht	nüügen	tiin	alwen	tweelwen
Dutch	een	twee	drie	vier	vijf	zes	zeven	acht	negen	tien	elf	twaalf
West-Flemish	jin	twi	drieje	viere	vuvve	zesse	zeevne	achte	neegn	tiene	elve	twolve
Afrikaans	een	twee	drie	vier	vyf	ses	sewe	agt	nege	tien	elf	twaalf
High German	eins	zwei	drei	vier	fünf	sechs	sieben	acht	neun	zehn	elf	zwölf

English	West Riding Yorkshire	Scots	Yola	West Frisian	Afrikaans	Dutch	German	West-Flemish
day	day	day	dei	dei	dag	dag	Tag	dah
world	warld	warld	eord	wrâld	wêreld	wereld	Welt	wèreld
rain	rain	rain	rhyne	rein	reën	regen	Regen	rinne
blood	blooid	bluid	blooed	bloed	bloed	bloed	Blut	bloed
alone	aloan	alane	alane	allinne	alleen	alleen	allein	oaljinne
stone	stoan	stane	sthoan	stien	steen	steen	Stein	stjin
snow	snaw	snaw	sneow	snie	sneeu	sneeuw	Schnee	snji(w)
summer	summer	simmer	zimmer	simmer	somer	zomer	Sommer	zomer
way	way	wey	wye	wei	weg	weg	Weg	weh
almighty	almeety	awmichtie	aulmichty	almachtich	almagtig	almachtig	allmächtig	oalmahtih
ship	ship	ship	zhip	skip	skip	schip	Schiff	skip/sjgip
nail	nail	nail	niel	neil	nael	nagel	Nagel	noagle
old	owd	auld	yola	âld	oud	oud	alt	oed
butter	butter	butter	buther	bûter	botter	boter	Butter	beuter
cheese	cheese	cheese	cheese	tsiis	kaas	kaas	Käse	koas
apple	apple	aiple	appel	apel	appel	appel	Apfel	apple
church	church (older kurk)	kirk	chourche	tsjerke	kerk	kerk	Kirche	kerke
son	son	son	zon	soan	seun	zoon	Sohn	zeune
door	door	door	dher	doar	deur	deur	Tür	deure
good	gooid	guid	gooude	goed	goed	goed	gut	hoed
fork	fork	fork	vork	foarke	vurk	vork	Gabel Forke (dated)	vork
sib	sib (obsolete)	sib	meany / sibbe (dated)	sibbe	sibbe	sibbe (dated)	Sippe
together	together	thegither	agyther	tegearre	saam/tesame	samen tegader	zusammen	tegoare
morn(ing)	morn(in)	morn(in)	arich	moarn	môre	morgen	Morgen	morhn
until, till	whol, until, till	until, till	del	oant	tot	tot	bis	tot
where	wheer	whaur^{or whare}	fidie	wêr	waar	waar	wo	woa(r)(e)
key	key	key	kei / kie	kaai	sleutel	sleutel	Schlüssel	sleutle
have been (was)	wor	wis	was	ha west	was gewees	ben geweest	bin gewesen	zy(n)/è gewist
two sheep	two sheep	twa sheep	twye zheep	twa skiep	twee skape	twee schapen	zwei Schafe	twi skoapn
have	have/hev/ha	hae	ha	hawwe	het	hebben	haben	èn
us	uz	us	ouse	ús	ons	ons	uns	oes
horse	hoss	horse	caule	hynder hoars (rare)	perd	paard ros (dated)	Pferd Ross (dated)	pèrd
bread	breead	breid	breed	brea	brood	brood	Brot	brwot
hair	hair	hair	haar	hier	haar/hare	haar	Haar	oar
heart	heart	hert	hearth	hert	hart	hart	Herz	èrte
beard	beard	beard	bearde	burd	baard	baard	Bart	board
moon	mooin	muin	mond	moanne	maan	maan	Mond	moane
mouth	maath, gob	mooth	meouth	mûn	mond	mond	Mund	moend
ear	ear, lug	ear, lug (colloquial)	lug	ear	oor	oor	Ohr	wore/ôre
green	green	green	green	grien	groen	groen	grün	groene
red	red	reid	reed	read	rooi	rood	rot	rwod/rôd
sweet	sweet	sweet	sweet	swiet	soet	zoet	süß	zoet
through	throo/thro	throu	draugh	troch	deur	door	durch	deur
wet	weet	weet	weate	wiet	nat	nat	nass	nat
eye	ee	ee	ei / iee	each	oog	oog	Auge	wooge/ôoge
dream	dreeam	dream	dreem	dream	droom	droom	Traum	droom
mouse	maase	moose	meouse	mûs	muis	muis	Maus	muzze
house	haase	hoose	heouse	hûs	huis	huis	Haus	hus
it goes on	it goes/goas on	it gaes/gangs on	it goath an	it giet oan	dit gaan aan	het gaat door	es geht weiter/los	tgoa deure
good day	gooid day	guid day	gooude dei	goeie (dei)	goeie dag	goedendag	guten Tag	goein dah

Alternative grouping

Main article: North Sea Germanic

North Sea Germanic, also called Ingvaeonic, is a way to group some old West Germanic languages. It includes Old Frisian, Old English, and Old Saxon. This grouping is seen as an alternative to the Anglo-Frisian idea.

Some experts think North Sea Germanic is a better way to look at these languages. This is because Old Saxon lost some shared features with Old English and Old Frisian early on.

North Sea Germanic isn’t thought to be one single old language. Instead, it’s a group of related dialects that changed in similar ways. The idea of North Sea Germanic was first suggested in a book from 1942 by a German expert named Friedrich Maurer. He proposed this as an alternative to older ways of organizing these languages.

Classification

Anglo-Frisian developments

Comparisons

Alternative grouping

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