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Glite Dictionary
East Germanic

East Germanic

9.9
A group of old languages like Gothic once used in eastern Europe and no longer spoken
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : germánico oriental
  • The East Germanic languages, such as Gothic, are no longer spoken today.

Examples

  • Unlike West Germanic tongues, East Germanic left few written records.

  • Did you know that East Germanic includes Gothic?

  • Scholars study East Germanic texts to better understand the migration period.

  • The East Germanic languages are fascinating to study.

  • Scholars study East Germanic texts to better understand the migration period.

  • The East Germanic languages, such as Gothic, are no longer spoken today.

  • Unlike West Germanic tongues, East Germanic left few written records.

Synonyms

East Germanic language
vsEast Germanic
  • Specialized
9.9

Languages from the Germanic family once spoken in Eastern Europe, for example Gothic, and now no longer spoken

is the same in meaning but uses a shorter group name rather than branch wording

Surface Forms

East Germanic singular
East Germanics plural

Morphology

east + Germanic

The phrase 'East Germanic' is a straightforward composition of 'east' (direction/location) and 'Germanic' (relating to the Germanic language family), so its meaning — the Germanic group from the eastern area — is directly derivable from the parts. This directional + family-label pattern is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the intended meaning.

Etymology

East Germanic comes from a simple place-and-group name: East shows these languages were spoken to the east of other Germanic groups, and Germanic names the people and their speech. These languages, like Gothic and Vandalic, are now 'extinct', so the name tells us it is a group of old Germanic languages once spoken in Eastern Europe.