The language spoken during the Old High German period, that is to say,
down to about the year 1050, is remarkable for the fulness and
richness of its vowel-sounds in word-stems as well as in inflections.
Cf. _elilenti_, _Elend_; _luginari_, _Lugner_; _karkari_, _Kerker_;
_menniskono slahta_, _Menschengeschlecht_; _herzono_, _Herzen_ (gen.
pl.); _furisto_, _vorderste_; _hartost_, (_am_) _hartesten_;
_sibunzug_, _siebzig_; _ziohemes_, (_wir_) _ziehen_; _salbota_, (_er_)
_salbte_; _gaworahtos_, (_du_) _wirktest_, &c. Of the consonantal
changes which took place during this period that of the spirant th
(preserved only in English) to d (_werthan_, _werdan_; _theob_,
_deob_) deserves mention. It spread from Upper Germany, where it is
noticeable as early as the 8th century to Middle and finally, in the
11th and 12th centuries, to Low Germany. Further, the initial _h_ in
_hl_, _hn_, _hr_, _hw_ (cf. _hwer_, _wer_; _hreini_, _rein_;
_hlahhan_, _lachen_) and _w_ in _wr_ (_wrecceo_, _Recke_) disappeared,
this change also starting in Upper Germany and spreading slowly north.
The most important vowel-change is the so-called mutation
(_Umlaut_),[16] that is to say, the qualitative change of a vowel
(except _i_) in a stem-syllable, owing to the influence of an _i_ or
_j_ in the following syllable. This process commenced in the north
where it seems to have been already fully developed in Low German as
early as the 8th century. It is to be found, it may be noted, in
Anglo-Saxon, as early as the 6th century. It gradually worked its way
southwards to Middle and Upper Germany where, however, certain
consonants seem to have protected the stem syllable from the influence
of _i_ in a following syllable. Cf., for instance, Modern High German
_drucken_ and _drucken_; _glauben_, _kaufen_, _Haupt_, words which in
Middle German dialects show mutation. Orthographically, however, this
process is, during the first period, only to be seen in the change of
_a_ to _e_; from the 10th century onwards there are, it is true, some
traces of other changes, and vowels like _u_, _o_, _ou_ must have
already been affected, otherwise we could not account for the mutation
of these vowels at a period when the cause of it, the _i_ or _j_, no
longer existed. A no less important change, for it helped to
differentiate High from Low German, was that of Germanic _e_2 (a
closed _e_-sound) and _o_ diphthongs in Old High German, while they
were retained in Old Low German. Cf. O.H.G. _her_, _hear_, _hiar_,
O.L.G. _her_; O.H.G. _fuoz_, O.L.G. _fot_. The final result was that
in the 10th century ie (older forms, _ia_, _ea_) and _uo_ (older _ua_,
_oa_ in Alemannic, _ua_ in South Franconian) had asserted themselves
throughout all the High German dialects. Again while in Old High
German the older diphthongs _ai_ and _au_ were preserved as _ei_ and
_ou_, unless they happened to stand at the end of a word or were
followed by certain consonants (_h_, _w_, _r_ in the one case, and
_h_, _r_, _l_, _n_, _th_, _d_, _t_, _z_, _s_ in the other; cf. _zeh_
from _zihan_, _zoh_ from _ziohan_, _verlos_, &c.), the Old Low German
shows throughout the monophthongs _e_ (in Middle Low German a closed
sound) and _o_ (cf. O.L.G. _sten_, _oga_). These monophthongs are also
to be heard in Rhenish Franconian, the greater part of East Franconian
and the Upper Saxon and Silesian dialects of modern times (cf.
_Stein_: _Steen_ or _Stan_; _laufen_: _lofen_ or _lopen_).
Of the dialects enumerated above, Bavarian and Alemannic, High and
Rhenish Franconian as well as Old Saxon are more or less represented
in the literature of the first period. But this literature, the chief
monuments of which are Otfrid's _Evangelienbuch_ (in South
Franconian), the Old Saxon _Heliand_ (a life of Christ in alliterative
verse), the translation of Tatian's _Gospel Harmony_ (East Franconian)
and that of a theological tract by Bishop Isidore of Seville and of
parts of the Bible (Rhenish Franconian), is almost exclusively
theological and didactic in character. One is consequently inclined to
attach more value to the scanty remains of the _Hildebrandslied_ and
some interesting and ancient charms. The didactic spirit again
pervades the translations and commentaries of Notker of St Gall in the
early part of the 11th century, as well as a paraphrase of the _Song
of Songs_ by an abbot Williram of Ebersberg a little later. Latin,
however, reigned supreme throughout this period, it being the language
of the charters, the lawbooks (there is nothing in Germany to compare
with the laws of the Anglo-Saxons), of science, medicine, and even
poetry. It is thus needless to say that there was no recognized
literary language (_Schriftsprache_) during this period, nor even any
attempt to form one; at most, we might speak of schools in the large
monasteries, such as Reichenau, St Gall, Fulda, which contributed to
the spread and acceptance of certain orthographical rules.