East Germanic languages


The East Germanic languages, also called the Oder–Vistula Germanic languages, are a group of extinct Germanic languages spoken by East Germanic peoples.
The only East Germanic languages of which texts are known are Gothic and its later close relative, Crimean Gothic. Other languages that are assumed to be East Germanic include Vandalic and Burgundian, though very few texts in these languages are known. Crimean Gothic, the last remaining East Germanic language, is believed to have survived until the 18th century in isolated areas of Crimea.

History

By the 1st century AD, the writings of Pomponius Mela, Pliny the Elder, and Tacitus indicate a division of Germanic-speaking peoples into large groupings with shared ancestry and culture.
Based on accounts by Jordanes, Procopius, Paul the Deacon and others, as well as linguistic, toponymic, and archaeological evidence, it was formerly believed that the East Germanic tribes, the speakers of the East Germanic languages related to the North Germanic tribes, had migrated from Scandinavia into the area lying east of the Elbe. In fact, the Scandinavian influence on Pomerania and today's northern Poland from c. 1300–1100 BC onwards was so considerable that this region is sometimes included in the Nordic Bronze Age culture.
There is also archaeological and toponymic evidence which has been taken as suggesting that Burgundians lived on the Danish island of Bornholm, and that Rugians lived on the Norwegian coast of Rogaland.
However, the so-called Gotho-Nordic hypothesis is considered outdated, and East Germanic is thought to be a primary branch of Germanic, and likely even the first branch to split off Proto-Germanic in the first millennium BC.

Groups

Possible East Germanic-speaking tribes include: