Germanic Peoples

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Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples were historical groups of
people that once occupied Central Europe and
Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle
Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been
defined by the use of ancient and early medieval
Germanic languages and are thus equated at least
approximately with Germanic-speaking peoples,
although different academic disciplines have their own
definitions of what makes someone or something
"Germanic".[1] The Romans named the area in which
Germanic peoples lived Germania, stretching East to
West between the Vistula and Rhine rivers and north to
south from Southern Scandinavia to the upper
Danube.[2] In discussions of the Roman period, the
Germanic peoples are sometimes referred to as
Germani or ancient Germans, although many Roman bronze statuette representing a
scholars consider the second term problematic, since it Germanic man with his hair in a Suebian
suggests identity with present-day Germans. The very knot
concept of "Germanic peoples" has become the subject of
controversy among contemporary scholars.[3] Some
scholars call for its total abandonment as a modern construct since lumping "Germanic peoples"
together implies a common group identity for which there is little evidence.[3] Other scholars have
defended the term's continued use and argue that a common Germanic language allows one to
speak of "Germanic peoples", regardless of whether these ancient protagonists saw themselves as
having a common identity.[4]
Most scholars view the Jastorf Culture (6th century BCE to 1st century CE) in what is now
Denmark and northeastern Germany as the earliest material evidence for the Germanic peoples.
Roman authors first described Germanic peoples near the Rhine in the 1st century BCE, while the
Roman Empire was establishing its dominance in that region. Under Emperor Augustus (63 BCE-
14 CE), the Romans attempted to conquer a large area of Germania, but they withdrew after a
major Roman defeat at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 CE. The Romans continued to
control the Germanic frontier closely by meddling in its politics, and they constructed a long
fortified border, the Limes Germanicus. From 166 to 180 CE, Rome was embroiled in a conflict
against the Germanic Marcomanni, Quadi, and many other peoples known as the Marcomannic
Wars. The wars reordered the Germanic frontier, and afterwards, new Germanic peoples are heard
of such as the Franks, Goths, Saxons, and Alemanni. During the Migration Period (375–568),
various Germanic peoples entered the Roman Empire and eventually took control of parts of it and
established their own independent kingdoms after the collapse of Western Roman rule. The most
powerful of them were the Franks, who would conquer many of the others. Eventually, the
Frankish king Charlemagne would claim the title of Roman emperor for himself in 800.
Archaeological finds suggest that Roman-era sources portrayed the Germanic way of life as more
primitive than it actually was. Instead, archaeologists have unveiled evidence of a complex society
and economy throughout Germania. Germanic-speaking peoples originally shared similar
religious practices. Denoted by the term Germanic paganism, they varied widely throughout the
territory occupied by Germanic-speaking peoples. Over the course of Late Antiquity, most
continental Germanic peoples and the Anglo-Saxons of Britain converted to Christianity, but the
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Saxons and Scandinavians converted only much later. Traditionally, the Germanic peoples have
been seen as possessing a law dominated by the concepts of feuding and blood compensation. The
precise details, nature and origin of what is still normally called "Germanic law" are now
controversial. Roman sources state that the Germanic peoples made decisions in a popular
assembly (the thing) but that they also had kings and war-leaders. The ancient Germanic-speaking
peoples probably shared a common poetic tradition, alliterative verse, and later Germanic peoples
also shared legends originating in the Migration Period.
The publishing of Tacitus's Germania by humanist scholars in the 1400s greatly influenced the
emerging idea of "Germanic peoples". Later scholars of the Romantic period, such as Jacob and
Wilhelm Grimm, developed several theories about the nature of the Germanic peoples that were
highly influenced by romantic nationalism. For those scholars, the "Germanic" and modern
"German" were identical. Ideas about the early Germans were also highly influential among and
were influenced and co-opted by the Nazis, which led in the second half of the 20th century to a
backlash against many aspects of earlier scholarship.
Contents
Terminology
Etymology
Modern definitions and controversies
Classical terminology
Subdivisions
Languages
Proto-Germanic
Early attestations
Linguistic disintegration
Classification
History
Prehistory
Earliest recorded history
Roman Imperial Period to 375
Migration Period (ca. 375–568)
Early Middle Ages to c. 800
Religion
Germanic paganism
Conversion to Christianity
Society and culture
Germanic law
Personal names
Poetry and legend
Warfare
Writing
Economy and material culture
Agriculture and population density
Crafts
Metalworking
Clothing and textiles
Trade
Genetics
Modern reception
See also
Notes
References
Citations
Bibliography
External links
Terminology
Etymology
The etymology of the Latin word "Germani", from which Latin Germania and English "Germanic"
are derived, is unknown, although several different proposals have been made for the origin of the
name. Even the language from which it derives is a subject of dispute, with proposals of Germanic,
Celtic, and Latin, and Illyrian origins.[5] Herwig Wolfram, for example, thinks "Germani" must be
Gaulish.[6] Historian Wolfgang Pfeifer more or less concurs with Wolfram and surmises that the
name Germani is likely of Celtic etymology, related in this case to the Old Irish word gair
(neighbors) or could be tied to the Celtic word for their war cries gairm, which simplifies into "the
neighbors" or "the screamers".[7] Regardless of its language of origin, the name was transmitted to
the Romans via Celtic speakers.[8]
It is unclear that any people group ever referred to themselves as Germani.[9] By late antiquity,
only peoples near the Rhine, especially the Franks, and sometimes the Alemanni, were called
Germani by Latin or Greek writers.[10] Germani subsequently ceased to be used as a name for any
group of people, and was only revived as such by the humanists in the 16th century.[9] Previously,
scholars during the Carolingian period (8th–11th century) had already begun using Germania and
Germanicus in a territorial sense to refer to East Francia.[11]
In modern English, the adjective "Germanic" is distinct from "German": while "German" is
generally used when referring to modern Germans only, "Germanic" relates to the ancient
Germani or the broader Germanic group.[12] In modern German, the ancient Germani are referred
to as Germanen and Germania as Germanien, as distinct from modern Germans (Deutsche) and
modern Germany (Deutschland). The direct equivalents in English are, however, "Germans" for
Germani and "Germany" for Germania,[13] although the Latin "Germania" is also used. To avoid
ambiguity, the Germani may instead be called "ancient Germans" or Germani, using the Latin
term in English.[14][12]
Modern definitions and controversies
The modern definition of Germanic peoples developed in the 19th century, when the term
"Germanic" was linked to the newly identified Germanic language family. This provided a new way
of defining the Germanic peoples which came to be used in historiography and archaeology.[15][1]
While Roman authors did not consistently exclude Celtic-speaking people, or have a term
corresponding to Germanic-speaking peoples, this new definition, by using the Germanic language
as the main criterion, understood the Germani as a people or nation (Volk) with a stable group
identity linked to language. As a result, some scholars treat the Germani (Latin) or Germanoi
(Greek) of Roman-era sources as non-Germanic if it seems they spoke non-Germanic
languages.[16] For clarity, Germanic peoples, when defined as "speakers of a Germanic language",
are sometimes referred to as "Germanic-speaking peoples".[1] Today, the term "Germanic" is
widely applied to "phenomena including identities, social, cultural or political groups, to material
cultural artefacts, languages and texts, and even specific chemical sequences found in human
DNA".[17]
Apart from the designation of a language family (i.e., "Germanic languages"), the application of the
term "Germanic" has become controversial in scholarship since 1990,[1] especially among
archaeologists and historians. Scholars have increasingly questioned the notion of ethnically
defined people groups (Völker) as stable, basic actors of history.[18] The connection of
archaeological assemblages to ethnicity has also been increasingly questioned.[19] This has
resulted in different disciplines developing different definitions of "Germanic".[1] Beginning with
the work of the "Toronto School" around Walter Goffart, various scholars have denied that
anything such as a common Germanic ethnic identity ever existed. Such scholars argue that most
ideas about Germanic culture are taken from far later epochs and projected backwards to
antiquity.[20] Historians of the Vienna School, such as Walter Pohl, have also called for the term to
be avoided or used with careful explanation,[21] and argued that there is little evidence for a
common Germanic identity.[22] Anglo-Saxonist Leonard Neidorf writes that historians of the
continental-European Germanic peoples of the 5th and 6th centuries are "in agreement" that there
was no pan-Germanic identity or solidarity.[23] Whether a scholar favors the existence of a
common Germanic identity or not is often related to their position on the nature of the end of the
Roman Empire.[24]
Defenders of continued use of the term "Germanic" argue that the speakers of Germanic languages
can be identified as Germanic people by language regardless of how they saw themselves.[4]
Linguists and philologists have generally reacted skeptically to claims that there was no Germanic
identity or cultural unity,[25] and may view "Germanic" simply as a long-established and
convenient term.[26] Some archaeologists have also argued in favor of retaining the term
"Germanic" due to its broad recognizability.[27] Archaeologist Heiko Steuer defines his own work
on the Germani in geographical terms (covering Germania) rather than in ethnic terms.[2] He
nevertheless argues for some sense of shared identity between the Germani, noting the use of a
common language, a common runic script, various common objects of material culture such as
bracteates and gullgubber (small gold objects), and the confrontation with Rome as things that
could cause a sense of shared "Germanic" culture.[28] While cautious of the use of "Germanic" to
refer to peoples, Sebastian Brather, Wilhelm Heizmann, and Steffen Patzold nevertheless refer to
further commonalities such as the widely attested worship of deities such as Odin, Thor, and Frigg,
and a shared legendary tradition.[26]
Classical terminology
The first author to describe the Germani as a large category of peoples distinct from the Gauls and
Scythians was Julius Caesar, writing around 55 BCE during his governorship of Gaul.[29] In
Caesar's account, the clearest defining characteristic of the Germani people was that they lived
east of the Rhine,[30] opposite Gaul on the west side. Caesar sought to explain both why his legions
stopped at the Rhine and also why the Germani were more dangerous than the Gauls and a
constant threat to the empire.[31] He also classified the Cimbri and Teutons, peoples who had
previously invaded Italy, as Germani, and examples of this threat to Rome.[32][33] Although Caesar
described the Rhine as the border between Germani and Celts, he also describes a group of people
he identifies as Germani who live on the west bank of the Rhine in the northeast of Gall, the
Germani cisrhenani.[34] It is unclear if these Germani spoke a Germanic language.[35] According
to the Roman historian Tacitus in his Germania (c. 98 CE), it was among this group, specifically
the Tungri, that the name Germani first arose, and was spread to further groups.[36] Tacitus
continues to mention Germanic tribes on the west bank of the Rhine in the period of the early
Empire.[37] Caesar's division of the Germani from the Celts was not taken up by most writers in
Greek.[38]
Caesar and authors following him regarded Germania as stretching east of the Rhine for an
indeterminate distance, bounded by the Baltic Sea and the Hercynian Forest.[39] Pliny the Elder
and Tacitus placed the eastern border at the Vistula.[40] The Upper Danube served as a southern
border. Between there and the Vistula Tacitus sketched an unclear boundary, describing Germania
as separated in the south and east from the Dacians and the Sarmatians by mutual fear or
mountains.[41] This undefined eastern border is related to a lack of stable frontiers in this area
such as were maintained by Roman armies along the Rhine and Danube.[38] The geographer
Ptolemy (2nd century CE) applied the name Germania magna ("Greater Germania", Greek:
Γερμανία Μεγάλη) to this area, contrasting it with the Roman provinces of Germania Prima and
Germania Secunda (on the west bank of the Rhine).[42] In modern scholarship, Germania magna
is sometimes also called Germania libera ("free Germania"), a name that became popular among
German nationalists in the 19th century.[43]
Caesar and, following him, Tacitus, depicted the Germani as sharing elements of a common
culture.[44] A small number of passages by Tacitus and other Roman authors (Caesar, Suetonius)
mention Germanic tribes or individuals speaking a language distinct from Gaulish. For Tacitus
(Germania 43, 45, 46), language was a characteristic, but not defining feature of the Germanic
peoples.[45] Many of the ascibed ethnic characteristics of the Germani represented them as
typically "barbarian", including the possession of stereotypical vices such as "wildness" and of
virtues such as chastity.[46] Tacitus was at times unsure whether a people were Germanic or not,
expressing his uncertainty about the Bastarnae, who he says looked like Sarmatians but spoke like
the Germani, about the Osi and the Cotini, and about the Aesti, who were like Suebi but spoke a
different language.[45] When defining the Germani ancient authors did not differentiate
consistently between a territorial definition ("those living in Germania") and an ethnic definition
("having Germanic ethnic characteristics"), although the two definitions did not always align.[47]
The Romans did not regard the eastern Germanic-speakers such as Goths, Gepids, and Vandals as
Germani, but rather connected them with other non-Germanic-speaking peoples such as the
Huns, Sarmatians, and Alans.[38] Romans described these peoples, including those who did not
speak a Germanic language, as "Gothic people" (gentes Gothicae) and most often classified them
as "Scythians".[48] The writer Procopius, describing the Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Vandals, Alans, and
Gepids, derived the Gothic peoples from the ancient Getae and described them as sharing similar
customs, beliefs, and a common language.[49]
Subdivisions
Several ancient sources list subdivisions of the Germanic tribes. Writing in the first century CE,
Pliny the Elder lists five Germanic subgroups: the Vandili, the Inguaeones, the Istuaeones (living
near the Rhine), the Hermiones (in the Germanic interior), and the Peucini Basternae (living on
the lower Danube near the Dacians).[50] In chapter 2 of the Germania, written about a half-
century later, Tacitus lists only three subgroups: the Ingvaeones (near the sea), the Hermiones (in
the interior of Germania), and the Istvaeones (the remainder of the tribes),[51] whom he says
claimed descent from the god Mannus, son of Tuisto.[52] Tacitus also mentions a second tradition
that there were four sons of either Mannus or Tuisto from whom the groups of the Marsi,
Gambrivi, Suebi, and Vandili claim descent.[53][54]
There are a number of inconsistencies in the listing

of Germanic subgroups by Tacitus and Pliny. While
both Tacitus and Pliny mention some Scandinavian
tribes, they are not integrated into the
subdivisions.[50] While Pliny lists the Suebi as part
of the Hermiones, Tacitus treats them as a separate
group.[55] Additionally, Tacitus's description of a
group of tribes as united by the cult of Nerthus
(Germania 40) as well as the cult of the Alcis
controlled by the Nahanarvali (Germania 43) and
the Tacitus's account of the origin myth of the
Semnones (Germania 39) all suggest different
subdivisions than the three mentioned in
Germania chapter 2.[56] The Hermiones are also The approximate positions of the three groups
mentioned by Pomponius Mela, but otherwise these and their sub-peoples reported by Tacitus.
divisions do not appear in other ancient works on Ingvaeones
the Germani.[53] Istvaeones
Hermiones and Suebi
The divisions in Pliny and Tacitus have been very
influential for scholarship on Germanic history and
language up until recent times.[50] However, outside of Tacitus and Pliny there are no other textual
indications that these groups were important. The divisions mentioned by Tacitus are not used by
him elsewhere in his work, contradict other parts of his work, and cannot be reconciled with Pliny,
who is equally inconsistent.[55][54] Additionally, there is no linguistic or archaeological evidence
for these subgroups.[55][57] New archaeological finds have tended to show that the boundaries
between Germanic peoples were very permeable, and scholars now assume that migration and the
collapse and formation of cultural units were constant occurrences within Germania.[58]
Nevertheless, various aspects such as the alliteration of many of the tribal names and the name of
Mannus himself suggest that the descent from Mannus was an authentic Germanic tradition.[59]
Languages
Proto-Germanic
All Germanic languages derive from the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE), which is generally
reckoned to have been spoken between 4500 and 2500 BCE.[60] The ancestor of Germanic
languages is referred to as Proto- or Common Germanic,[61] and likely represented a group of
mutually intelligible dialects.[62] They share distinctive characteristics which set them apart from
other Indo-European sub-families of languages, such as Grimm's and Verner's law, the
conservation of the PIE ablaut system in the Germanic verb system (notably in strong verbs), or
the merger of the vowels a and o qualities (ə, a, o > a; ā, ō > ō).[63] During the Pre-Germanic
linguistic period (2500–500 BCE), the proto-language has almost certainly been influenced by an
unknown non-Indo-European language, still noticeable in the Germanic phonology and
lexicon.[64][a] Shared changes in their grammars also suggest very early contacts between
Germanic and the Indo-European Baltic languages.[67]
Although Proto-Germanic is reconstructed without dialects via the comparative method, it is

almost certain that it never was a uniform proto-language.[68] The late Jastorf culture occupied so
much territory that it is unlikely that Germanic populations spoke a single dialect, and traces of
early linguistic varieties have been highlighted by scholars.[69] Sister dialects of Proto-Germanic
itself certainly existed, as evidenced by the absence of the First Germanic Sound Shift (Grimm's
law) in some "Para-Germanic" recorded proper names, and the reconstructed Proto-Germanic
language was only one among several dialects spoken at that time by peoples identified as
"Germanic" by Roman sources or archeological data.[70] Although Roman sources name various
Germanic tribes such as Suevi, Alemanni, Bauivari, etc., it is unlikely that the members of these
tribes all spoke the same dialect.[71]
Early attestations
Definite and comprehensive evidence of Germanic lexical units only occurred after Caesar's
conquest of Gaul in the 1st century BCE, after which contacts with Proto-Germanic speakers began
to intensify. The Alcis, a pair of brother gods worshipped by the Nahanarvali, are given by Tacitus
as a Latinized form of *alhiz (a kind of 'stag'), and the word sapo ('hair dye') is certainly borrowed
from Proto-Germanic *saipwōn- (English soap), as evidenced by the parallel Finnish loanword
saipio.[72] The name of the framea, described by Tacitus as a short spear carried by Germanic
warriors, most likely derives from the compound *fram-ij-an- ('forward-going one'), as suggested
by comparable semantical structures found in early runes (e.g., raun-ij-az 'tester', on a lancehead)
and linguistic cognates attested in the later Old Norse, Old Saxon and Old High German
languages: fremja, fremmian and fremmen all mean 'to carry out'.[73]
In the absence of earlier evidence, it must be assumed

that Proto-Germanic speakers living in Germania were
members of preliterate societies.[75] The only pre-Roman
inscriptions that could be interpreted as Proto-Germanic,
written in the Etruscan alphabet, have not been found in
Germania but rather in the Venetic region. The
inscription harikastiteiva\\\ip, engraved on the Negau The inscription on the Negau helmet B,
carved in the Etruscan alphabet during the
helmet in the 3rd–2nd centuries BCE, possibly by a
3rd–2nd c. BCE, is generally regarded as
Germanic-speaking warrior involved in combat in
Proto-Germanic.[74]
northern Italy, has been interpreted by some scholars as
Harigasti Teiwǣ (*harja-gastiz 'army-guest' + *teiwaz
'god, deity'), which could be an invocation to a war-god
or a mark of ownership engraved by its possessor.[74] The inscription Fariarix (*farjōn- 'ferry' +
*rīk- 'ruler') carved on tetradrachms found in Bratislava (mid-1st c. BCE) may indicate the
Germanic name of a Celtic ruler.[76]
Linguistic disintegration
By the time Germanic speakers entered written history, their linguistic territory had stretched
farther south, since a Germanic dialect continuum (where neighbouring language varieties
diverged only slightly between each other, but remote dialects were not necessarily mutually
intelligible due to accumulated differences over the distance) covered a region roughly located
between the Rhine, the Vistula, the Danube, and southern Scandinavia during the first two
centuries of the Common Era.[77] East Germanic speakers dwelled on the Baltic sea coasts and
islands, while speakers of the Northwestern dialects occupied territories in present-day Denmark
and bordering parts of Germany at the earliest date when they can be identified.[78]
In the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, migrations of East Germanic gentes from the Baltic Sea coast
southeastwards into the hinterland led to their separation from the dialect continuum.[79] By the
late 3rd century CE, linguistic divergences like the West Germanic loss of the final consonant -z
had already occurred within the "residual" Northwest dialect continuum.[80] The latter definitely
ended after the 5th- and 6th-century migrations of Angles, Jutes and part of the Saxon tribes
towards modern-day England.[81]
Classification
The Germanic languages are traditionally divided between

East, North and West Germanic branches.[82] The modern
prevailing view is that North and West Germanic were also
encompassed in a larger subgroup called Northwest
Germanic.[83]
Northwest Germanic: mainly characterized by the i-umlaut,

and the shift of the long vowel *ē towards a long *ā in
accented syllables;[84] it remained a dialect continuum
following the migration of East Germanic speakers in the
2nd–3rd century CE;[85]
North Germanic or Primitive Norse: initially
characterized by the monophthongization of the sound
ai to ā (attested from ca. 400 BCE);[86] a uniform
northern dialect or koiné attested in runic inscriptions
from the 2nd century CE onward,[87] it remained
practically unchanged until a transitional period that Replica of an altar for the Matrons of
started in the late 5th century;[88] and Old Norse, a Vacallina (Matronae Vacallinehae)
language attested by runic inscriptions written in the from Mechernich-Weyer, Germany
Younger Fuþark from the beginning of the Viking Age
(8th–9th centuries CE);[89]
West Germanic: including Old Saxon (attested from the 5th c. CE), Old English (late 5th
c.), Old Frisian (6th c.), Frankish (6th c.), Old High German (6th c.), and possibly
Langobardic (6th c.), which is only scarcely attested;[90] they are mainly characterized by
the loss of the final consonant -z (attested from the late 3rd century),[91] and by the j-
consonant gemination (attested from ca. 400 BCE);[92] early inscriptions from the West
Germanic areas found on altars where votive offerings were made to the Matronae
Vacallinehae (Matrons of Vacallina) in the Rhineland dated to ca. 160–260 CE; West
Germanic remained a "residual" dialect continuum until the Anglo-Saxon migrations in the
5th–6th centuries CE;[81]
East Germanic, of which only Gothic is attested by both runic inscriptions (from the 3rd c. CE)
and textual evidence (principally Wulfila's Bible; ca. 350–380). It became extinct after the fall of
the Visigothic Kingdom in the early 8th century.[79] The inclusion of the Burgundian and
Vandalic languages within the East Germanic group, while plausible, is still uncertain due to
their scarce attestation.[93] The latest attested East Germanic language, Crimean Gothic, has
been partially recorded in the 16th century.[94]
Further internal classifications are still debated among scholars, as it is unclear whether the
internal features shared by several branches are due to early common innovations or to the later
diffusion of local dialectal innovations.[95][b]
History
Prehistory
The Germanic-speaking peoples speak an Indo-European language. The leading theory for the
origin of Germanic languages, suggested by archaeological and genetic evidence,[96] postulates a
diffusion of Indo-European languages from the Pontic–Caspian steppe towards Northern Europe
during the third millennium BCE, via linguistic contacts and migrations from the Corded Ware
culture towards modern-day Denmark, resulting in

cultural mixing with the earlier Funnelbeaker
culture.[97][c] The subsequent culture of the Nordic
Bronze Age (c. 1700-c. 600 BCE) shows definite
cultural and population continuities with later
Germanic peoples,[98] and is often supposed to
have been the culture in which the Germanic Parent
Language, the predecessor of the Proto-Germanic
language, developed.[99]
Generally, scholars agree that it is possible to speak

of Germanic-speaking peoples after 500 BCE,
although the first attestation of the name
"Germani" is not until much later.[100] Between
around 500 BCE and the beginning of the Common
Era, archeological and linguistic evidence suggest Archeological cultures of Northern and Central
that the Urheimat ('original homeland') of the Europe in the late Pre-Roman Iron Age:
Proto-Germanic language, the ancestral idiom of all
Jastorf Zarubintsy
attested Germanic dialects, was primarily situated
in the southern Jutland peninsula, from which Nordic Estonian
Proto-Germanic speakers migrated towards Harpstedt-Nienburger Gubin
bordering parts of Germany and along the sea- Celtic Oksywie
shores of the Baltic and the North Sea, an area
corresponding to the extent of the late Jastorf Przeworsk Thracian
culture.[101][d] If the Jastorf Culture is the origin of House Urns Poienesti-Lukasevka
the Germanic peoples, then the Scandinavian Eastern Balt Western Balt
peninsula would have become Germanic either via
migration or assimilation over the course of the
same period.[102] Alternatively, Hermann Ament has stressed that two other archaeological groups
must have belonged to the Germani, one on either side of the Lower Rhine and reaching to the
Weser, and another in Jutland and southern Scandinavia. These groups would thus show a
"polycentric origin" for the Germanic peoples.[103] The neighboring Przeworsk culture in modern
Poland is also taken to be Germanic.[104] The identification of the Jastorf culture with the Germani
has been criticized by Sebastian Brather, who notes that it seems to be missing areas such as
southern Scandinavia and the Rhine-Weser area, which linguists argue to have been Germanic,
while also not according with the Roman era definition of Germani, which included Celtic-
speaking peoples further south and west.[105]
One piece of evidence for the proto-Germanic homeland is the presence of early Germanic
loanwords in the Finnic and Sámi languages (e.g. Finnic kuningas, from Proto-Germanic
*kuningaz 'king'; rengas, from *hringaz 'ring'; etc.),[106] with the older loan layers possibly dating
back to an earlier period of intense contacts between pre-Germanic and Finno-Permic (i.e. Finno-
Samic) speakers.[107] Celtic influence on Germanic vocabulary indicates intensive contacts
between the Germani and Celtic peoples, usually identified with the archaeological La Tène
culture, found in southern Germany and the modern Czech Republic.[104][108] The Celts appear to
have had a large amount of influence on Germanic culture from up until the first century CE, and
there was a high degree of Celtic-Germanic shared material culture and social organization.[109]
Earliest recorded history
According to some authors the Bastarnae or Peucini were the first Germani to be encountered by
the Greco-Roman world and thus to be mentioned in historical records.[111] They appear in
historical sources going back as far as the 3rd century BCE through the 4th century CE.[112]
Another eastern people known from about 200 BCE, and

sometimes believed to be Germanic-speaking, are the Sciri
(Greek: Skiroi), who are recorded threatening the city of
Olbia on the Black Sea.[113] Late in the 2nd century BCE,
Roman and Greek sources recount the migrations of the
Cimbri, Teutones and Ambrones whom Caesar later
classified as Germanic.[114] The movements of these
groups through parts of Gaul, Italy and Hispania resulted
in the Cimbrian War (113–101 BCE) against the Romans,
in which the Teutons and Cimbri were victorious over
Expansion of early Germanic tribes into
several Roman armies but were ultimately
[115][116][117] Central Europe:[110]
defeated.
Settlements before 750 bce
The first century BCE was a time of the expansion of New settlements by 500 bce
Germanic-speaking peoples at the expense of Celtic- New settlements by 250 bce
speaking polities in modern southern Germany and the New settlements by 1 ce
Czech Republic.[118][119] In 63 BCE, Ariovistus, king of the
Suevi and a host of other peoples,[120] led a force across
the Rhine into Gaul to aid the Sequani against their enemies the Aedui.[121] The Suevi were
victorious at the Battle of Magetobriga, and initially were considered an ally of Rome.[122] The
Aedui were Roman allies and Julius Caesar, the governor of the Roman province of Transalpine
Gaul in 58 BCE, went to war with them,[121] defeating Ariovistus at the Battle of Vosges.[123] In 55
BCE, Caesar crossed the Rhine into Germania, massacring a large migrating group of Tencteri and
Usipetes who had crossed the Rhine from the east.[124]
Roman Imperial Period to 375
Early Roman Imperial period (27 BCE–166 CE)
Throughout the reign of Augustus—from 27 BCE

until 14 CE—the Roman empire expanded into
Gaul, with the Rhine as a border. Starting in 13
BCE, there were Roman campaigns across the
Rhine for a 28-year period.[125] First came the
pacification of the Usipetes, Sicambri, and Frisians
near the Rhine, then attacks increased further from
the Rhine, on the Chauci, Cherusci, Chatti and
Suevi (including the Marcomanni).[126] These
campaigns eventually reached and even crossed the
Elbe, and in 5 CE Tiberius was able to show
strength by having a Roman fleet enter the Elbe
and meet the legions in the heart of Germania.[127]
Once Tiberius subdued the Germanic people The Roman province of Germania, in existence
between the Rhine and the Elbe, the region at least from 7 BCE to 9 CE. The dotted line represents
up to Weser—and possibly up to the Elbe—was the Limes Germanicus, the fortified border
made the Roman province Germania and provided constructed following the final withdrawal of
soldiers to the Roman army.[128][129] Roman forces from Germania.
However, within this period two Germanic kings

formed larger alliances. Both of them had spent some of their youth in Rome; the first of them was
Maroboduus of the Marcomanni,[e] who had led his people away from the Roman activities into
Bohemia, which was defended by forests and mountains, and had formed alliances with other
peoples. In 6 CE, Rome planned an attack against him but the campaign was cut short when forces
were needed for the Illyrian revolt in the Balkans.[128][131]
Just three years later (9 CE), the second
of these Germanic figures, Arminius of the Cherusci—initially an ally of Rome—drew a large
Roman force into an ambush in northern Germany, and destroyed the three legions of Publius
Quinctilius Varus at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.[132] Marboduus and Arminius went to war
with each other in 17 CE; Arminius was victorious and Marboduus was forced to flee to the
Romans.[133]
Following the Roman defeat at the Teutoburg Forest, Rome gave up on the possibility of fully
integrating this region into the empire.[134] Rome launched successful campaigns across the Rhine
between 14 and 16 CE under Tiberius and Germanicus, but the effort of integrating Germania now
seemed to outweigh its benefits.[135] In the reign of Augustus's successor, Tiberius, it became state
policy to expand the empire no further than the frontier based roughly upon the Rhine and
Danube, recommendations that were specified in the will of Augustus and read aloud by Tiberius
himself.[136] Roman intervention in Germania led to a shifting and unstable political situation, in
which pro- and anti-Roman parties vied for power. Arminius was murdered in 21 CE by his fellow
Germanic tribesmen, due in part to these tensions and for his attempt to claim supreme kingly
power for himself.[133]
In the wake of Arminius's death, Roman diplomats sought to keep the Germanic peoples divided
and fractious.[137] Rome established relationships with individual Germanic kings that are often
discussed as being similar to client states; however, the situation on the border was always
unstable, with rebellions by the Frisians in 28 CE, and attacks by the Chauci and Chatti in the 60s
CE.[138] The most serious threat to the Roman order was the Revolt of the Batavi in 69 CE, during
the civil wars following the death of Nero known as the Year of the Four Emperors.[139] The Batavi
had long served as auxiliary troops in the Roman army as well as in the imperial bodyguard as the
so-called Numerus Batavorum, often called the Germanic bodyguard.[140] The uprising was led by
Gaius Julius Civilis, a member of the Batavian royal family and Roman military officer, and
attracted a large coalition of peoples both inside and outside of Roman territory. The revolt ended
following several defeats, with Civilis claiming to have only supported the imperial claims of
Vespasian, who was victorious in the civil war.[141]
The century after the Batavian Revolt saw mostly peace

between the Germanic peoples and Rome. In 83 CE, Emperor
Domitian of the Flavian dynasty attacked the Chatti north of
Mainz (Mogontiacum).[143] This war would last until 85 CE.
Following the end of the war with the Chatti, Domitian reduced
the number of Roman soldiers on the upper Rhine and shifted
the Roman military to guarding the Danube frontier, beginning
the construction of the limes, the longest fortified border in the
empire.[144] The period afterwards was peaceful enough that
the emperor Trajan reduced the number of soldiers on the
frontier.[145] According to Edward James, the Romans appear
to have reserved the right to choose rulers among the
barbarians on the frontier.[146]
Marcomannic Wars to 375 CE

A bog body, the Osterby Man,
Following sixty years of quiet on the frontier, 166 CE saw a displaying the Suebian knot, a
major incursion of peoples from north of the Danube during hairstyle which, according to
the reign of Marcus Aurelius, beginning the Marcomannic Tacitus, was common among
Wars.[147] By 168 (during the Antonine plague), barbarian Germanic warriors.[142]
hosts consisting of Marcomanni, Quadi, and Sarmatian
Iazyges, attacked and pushed their way to Italy.[148] They advanced as far as Upper Italy, destroyed
Opitergium/Oderzo and besieged Aquileia..[149] The Romans had finished the war by 180, through
a combination of Roman military victories, the resettling of some peoples on Roman territory, and
by making alliances with others.[150] Marcus Aurelius's successor Commodus chose not to
permanently occupy any territory conquered north of the Danube, and the following decades saw
an increase in the defenses at the limes.[149] The Romans renewed their right to choose the kings
of the Marcomanni and Quadi, and Commodus forbid them to hold assemblies unless a Roman
centurion was present.[151]
The period after the Marconmannic Wars saw

the emergence of peoples with new names
along the Roman frontiers, which probably
formed by the merger of smaller groups.[150]
These new confederacies or peoples tended to
border the Roman imperial frontier.[152] Many
ethnic names from earlier periods
disappear. [153] The Alamanni emerged along
the upper Rhine and are mentioned in Roman
sources from the 3rd century onward.[154] The
Goths begin to be mentioned along the lower Depiction of Romans fighting Goths on the Ludovisi
Danube, where they attacked the city of Histria Battle sarcophagus (c. 250–260 CE).
in 238.[155] The Franks are first mentioned
occupying territory between the Rhine and
Weser.[156] The Lombards seem to have moved their center of power to the central Elbe.[54]
Groups such as the Alamanni, Goths, and Franks were not unified polities; they formed multiple,
loosely associated groups, who often fought each other and some of whom sought Roman
friendship.[157] The Romans also begin to mention seaborne attacks by the Saxons, a term used
generically in Latin for Germanic-speaking pirates. A system of defenses on both sides of the
English Channel, the Saxon Shore, was established to deal with their raids.[158][159]
From 250 onward, the Gothic peoples formed the "single most potent threat to the northern
frontier of Rome".[156] In 250 CE a Gothic king Cniva led Goths with Bastarnae, Carpi, Vandals,
and Taifali into the empire, laying siege to Philippopolis. He followed his victory there with
another on the marshy terrain at Abrittus, a battle which cost the life of Roman emperor
Decius.[155] In 253/254, further attacks occurred reaching Thessalonica and possibly Thrace.[160]
In 267/268 there were large raids led by the Herules in 267/268, and a mixed group of Goths and
Herules in 269/270. Gothic attacks were abruptly ended in the years after 270, after a Roman
victory in which the Gothic king Cannabaudes was killed.[161]
The Roman limes largely collapsed in 259/260,[162] during the Crisis of the Third Century (235–
284),[54] and Germanic raids penetrated as far as northern Italy.[163] The limes on the Rhine and
upper Danube was brought under control again in 270s, and by 300 the Romans had reestablished
control over areas they had abandoned during the crisis.[163] From the later third century onward,
the Roman army relied increasingly on troops of Barbarian origin, often recruited from Germanic
peoples, with some functioning as senior commanders in the Roman army.[164] In the 4th century,
warfare along the Rhine frontier between the Romans and Franks and Alemanni seems to have
mostly consisted of campaigns of plunder, during which major battles were avoided.[165] The
Romans generally followed a policy of trying to prevent strong leaders from emerging among the
barbarians, using treachery, kidnapping, and assassination, paying off rival tribes to attack them,
or by supporting internal rivals.[166]
Migration Period (ca. 375–568)
The Migration Period is traditionally cited by historian as

beginning in 375 CE, under the assumption that the
appearance of the Huns prompted the Visigoths to seek shelter
within the Roman Empire in 376.[167] The end of the migration
period is usually set at 586, when the Lombards invaded Italy.
During this time period, numerous barbarian groups invaded
the Roman Empire and established new kingdoms within its
boundaries.[168] These Germanic migrations traditionally mark
the transition between antiquity and the beginning of the early
2nd century to 6th century simplified
Middle Ages.[169] The reasons for the migrations of the period
migrations
are unclear, but scholars have proposed overpopulation,
climate change, bad harvests, famines, and adventurousness as
possible reasons.[170] Migrations were probably carried out by
relatively small groups rather than entire peoples.[171]
Early Migration Period (before 375–420)
The Greuthungi, a Gothic group in modern Ukraine under the rule of Ermanaric, were among the
first peoples attacked by the Huns, apparently facing Hunnic pressure for some years.[172]
Following Ermanaric's death, the Greuthungi's resistance broke and they moved toward the
Dniester river.[173] A second Gothic group, the Tervingi under King Athanaric, constructed a
defensive earthwork against the Huns near the Dniester.[174] However, these measures did not
stop the Huns and the majority of the Tervingi abandoned Athanaric; they subsequently fled—
accompanied by a contingent of Greuthungi—to the Danube in 376, seeking asylum in the Roman
Empire.[175] The emperor Valens chose only to admit the Tervingi, who were settled settled in the
Roman provinces of Thrace and Moesia.[174][176]
Due to mistreatment by the Romans, the Tervingi revolted in 377, starting the Gothic War, joined
by the Greuthungi.[177][174][f] The Goths and their allies defeated the Romans first at Marcianople,
then defeated and killed emperor Valens in the Battle of Adrianople in 378, destroying two-thirds
of Valens' army.[179][180] Following further fighting, peace was negotiated in 382, granting the
Goths considerable autonomy within the Roman Empire.[181] However, these Goths—who would
be known as the Visigoths—revolted several more times,[182] finally coming to be ruled by
Alaric.[183] In 397, the disunited eastern Empire submitted to some of his demands, possibly
giving him control over Epirus.[184] In the aftermath of the large-scale Gothic entries into the
empire, the Franks and Alemanni became more secure in their positions in 395, when Stilicho, the
barbarian generalissimo who held power in the western Empire, made agreements with them.[185]
In 401, Alaric invaded Italy, coming to an understanding with Stilicho in 404/5.[188] This
agreement allowed Stilicho to fight against the force of Radagaisus, who had crossed the Middle
Danube in 405/6 and invaded Italy, only to be defeated outside Florence.[189] That same year, a
large force of Vandals, Suevi, Alans, and Burgundians crossed the Rhine, fighting the Franks, but
facing no Roman resistance.[190] In 409, the Suevi, Vandals, and Alans crossing the Pyrenees into
Spain, where they took possession of the northern part of the peninsula.[191] The Burgundians
seized the land around modern Speyer, Worms, and Strasbourg, territory that was recognized by
the Roman Emperor Honorius.[192] When Stilicho fell from power in 408, Alaric invaded Italy
again and eventually sacked Rome in 410; Alaric died shortly thereafter.[193] The Visigoths
withdrew into Gaul where they faced a power struggle until the succession of Wallia in 415 and his
son Theodoric I in 417/18.[194] Following successful campaigns against them by the Roman
emperor Flavius Constantius, the Visigoths were settled as Roman allies in Gaul between modern
Toulouse and Bourdeaux.[195][196]
Other Goths, including those of Athanaric, continued to live

outside the empire, with three groups crossing into Roman
territory after the Tervingi.[197] The Huns gradually conquered
Gothic groups north of the Danube, of which at least six are
known, from 376 to 400. Those in Crimea may never have been
conquered.[198] The Gepids also formed an important
Germanic people under Hunnic rule; the Huns had largely
conquered them by 406.[199] One Gothic group under Hunnic
domination was ruled by the Amal dynasty, who would form
the core of the Ostrogoths.[200] The situation outside the
Roman empire in 410s and 420s is poorly attested, but it is
clear that the Huns continued to spread their influence onto
A replica of an ivory diptych
the middle Danube.[201]
probably depicting Stilicho (on the
right), the son of a Vandal father and
The Hunnic Empire (c. 420–453) a Roman mother, who became the
most powerful man in the Western
In 428, the Vandal leader Geiseric moved his forces across the Roman Empire from 395–408
strait of Gibraltar into north Africa. Within two years, they had CE.[186][187]
conquered most of north Africa.[202] By 434, following a
renewed political crisis in Rome, the Rhine frontier had
collapsed, and in order to restore it, the Roman magister militum Flavius Aetius engineered the
destruction of the Burgundian kingdom in 435/436, possibly with Hunnic mercenaries, and
launched several successful campaigns against the Visigoths.[203] In 439, the Vandals conquered
Carthage, which served as an excellent base for further raids throughout the Mediterranean and
became the basis for the Vandal Kingdom.[204] The loss of Carthage forced Aetius to make peace
with the Visigoths in 442, effectively recognizing their independence within the boundaries of the
empire.[205] During the resulting peace, Aetius resettled the Burgundians in Sapaudia in southern
Gaul.[206] In 430s, Aetius negotiated peace with the Suevi in Spain, leading to a practical loss of
Roman control in the province.[207] Despite the peace, the Suevi expanded their territory by
conquering Merida in 439 and Seville in 441.[208]
By 440, Attila and the Huns had come to rule a multi-ethnic empire north of the Danube; two of
the most important peoples within this empire were the Gepids and the Goths.[209] The Gepid king
Ardaric came to power around 440 and participated in various Hunnic campaigns.[199] In 450, the
Huns interfered in a Frankish succession dispute, leading in 451 to an invasion of Gaul. Aetius, by
uniting a coalition of Visigoths, part of the Franks, and others, was able to defeat the Hunnic army
at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains.[210] In 453, Attila died unexpectedly, and an alliance led by
Ardaric's Gepids rebelled against the rule of his sons, defeating them in the Battle of Nedao.[199]
Either before or after Attila's death, Valamer, a Gothic ruler of the Amal dynasty, seems to have
consolidated power over a large part of the Goths in the Hunnic domain.[211] For the next 20 years,
the former subject peoples of the Huns would fight among each other for preeminence.[212]
The arrival of the Saxons in Britain is traditionally dated to 449, however archaeology indicates
they had begun arriving in Britain earlier.[213] Latin sources used "Saxon" generically for seaborne
raiders, meaning that not all of the invaders belonged to the continental Saxons.[158] According to
the British monk Gildas (c. 500 – c. 570), this group had been recruited to protect the Romano-
British from the Picts, but had revolted.[214] They quickly established themselves as rulers on the
eastern part of the island.[215]
After the death of Attila (453–568)
In 455, in the aftermath of the death of Aetius in 453 and the

murder of emperor Valentinian III in 455,[216] the Vandals
invaded Italy and sacked Rome in 455.[217] In 456, the Romans
persuaded the Visigoths to fight the Suevi, who had broken
their treaty with Rome. The Visigoths and a force of
Burgundians and Franks defeated the Suevi at the Battle of
Campus Paramus, reducing Suevi control to northwestern
Spain.[208] The Visigoths went on to conquer all of the Iberian
Peninsula by 484 except a small part that remained under Germanic kingdoms and peoples
Suevian control.[218] after the end of the Western Roman
Empire in 476 CE
The Ostrogoths, led by Valamer's brother Thiudimer, invaded
the Balkans in 473. Thiudimer's son Theodoric succeeded him
in 476.[219] In that same year, a barbarian commander in the Roman Italian army, Odoacer,
mutinied and removed the final western Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus.[220] Odoacer
ruled Italy for himself, largely continuing the policies of Roman imperial rule.[221] He destroyed
the Kingdom of the Rugians, in modern Austria, in 487/488.[222] Theodoric, meanwhile,
successfully extorted the Eastern Empire through a series of campaigns in the Balkans. The
eastern emperor Zeno agreed to send Theodoric to Italy in 487/8.[223] After a successful invasion,
Theodoric killed and replaced Odoacer in 493, founding a new Ostrogothic kingdom.[224]
Theodoric died in 526, amid increasing tensions with the eastern empire.[225]
Toward the end of the migration period, in the early 500s, Roman sources portray a completely
changed ethnic landscape outside of the empire: the Marcomanni and Quadi disappeared, as had
the Vandals. Instead the Thuringians, Rugians, Sciri, Herules, Goths, and Gepids are mentioned as
occupying the Danube frontier.[226] From the mid-5th century onward, the Alamanni had greatly
expanded their territory in all directions and launched numerous raids into Gaul.[227] The territory
under Frankish influence had grown to encompass northern Gaul and Germania to the Elbe.[228]
The Frankish king Clovis I united the various Frankish groups in 490s,[229] and conquered the
Alamanni by 506.[230] From the 490s onward, Clovis waged wars against the Visigoths, defeating
them in 507 and taking control of most of Gaul.[229] Clovis's heirs conquered the Thuringians by
530 and the Burgundians by 532.[231] The continental Saxons, composed of many subgroups, were
made tributary to the Franks, as were the Frisians, who faced an attack by the Danes under
Hygelac in 533.[232]
The Vandal and Ostrogothic kingdoms were destroyed in 534 and 555 respectively by the Eastern
Roman (Byzantine) empire under Justinian.[233] Around 500, a new ethnic identity appears in
modern southern Germany, the Baiuvarii (Bavarians), under the patronage of Theodoric's
Ostrogothic kingdom and then of the Franks.[222] The Lombards, moving out of Bohemia,
destroyed the kingdom of the Heruli in Pannonia in 510. In 568, after destroying the Gepid
kingdom, the last Germanic kingdom in the Carpathian basin,[222] the Lombards under Alboin
invaded northern Italy, eventually conquering most of it.[234] This invasion has traditionally been
regarded as the end of the migration period.[168] The eastern part of Germania, formerly inhabited
by the Goths, Gepids, Vandals, and Rugians, was gradually Slavicized, a process enabled by the
invasion of the nomadic Avars.[235]
Early Middle Ages to c. 800
Merovingian Frankia became divided into three subkingdoms: Austrasia in the east around the
Rhine and Meuse, Neustria in the west around Paris, and Burgundy in the southeast around
Chalon-sur-Saône.[236] The Franks ruled a multilingual and multi-ethnic kingdom, divided
between a mostly Romance-speaking West and a mostly Germanic-speaking east, that integrated
former Roman elites but remained centered on a Frankish

ethnic identity.[237] In 687, the Pippinids came to control
the Merovingian rulers as mayors of the palace in
Neustria. Under their direction, the subkingdoms of
Frankia were reunited.[238] Following the mayoralty of
Charles Martel, the Pippinids replaced the Merovingians
as kings in 751, when Charles's son Pepin the Short became
king and founded the Carolingian dynasty. His son,
Charlemagne, would go on to conquer the Lombards,
Saxons, and Bavarians.[239] Charlemagne was crowned Frankish expansion from the early
Roman emperor in 800 and regarded his residence of kingdom of Clovis I (481) to the divisions
Aachen as the new Rome.[240] of Charlemagne's Empire (843/870)
Following their invasion in 568, the Lombards quickly

conquered larger parts of the Italian peninsula.[241] From 574
to 584, a period without a single Lombard ruler, the Lombards
nearly collapsed,[242] until a more centralized Lombard polity
emerged under King Agilulf in 590.[243] The invading
Lombards only ever made up a very small percentage of the
Italian population, however Lombard ethnic identity expanded
to include people of both Roman and barbarian descent.[244]
Lombard power reached its peak during the reign of King The Sutton Hoo helmet from c. 625
Liutprand (712–744).[245] After Liutprand's death, the in the British Museum.
Frankish King Pippin the Short invaded in 755, greatly
weakening the kingdom.[245] The Lombard kingdom was
finally annexed by Charlemagne in 773.[246]
After a period of weak central authority, the Visigothic kingdom came under the rule of Liuvigild,
who conquered the Kingdom of the Suebi in 585.[247] A Visigothic identity that was distinct from
the Romance-speaking population they ruled had disappeared by 700, with the removal of all legal
differences between the two groups.[248] In 711, a Muslim army landed at Grenada; the entire
Visigothic kingdom would be conquered by the Umayyad Caliphate by 725.[249]
In what would become England, the Anglo-Saxons were divided into several competing kingdoms,
the most important of which were Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex.[250] In the 7th century,
Northumbria established overlordship over the other Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms, until Mercia
revolted under Wulfhere in 658. Subsequently, Mercia would establish dominance until 825 with
the death of King Cenwulf.[250] Few written sources report on Vendel period Scandinavia from
400 to 700, however this period saw profound societal changes and the formation of early states
with connections to the Anglo-Saxon and Frankish kingdoms.[251] In 793, the first recorded Viking
raid occurred at Lindisfarne, ushering in the Viking Age.[252]
Religion
Germanic paganism
Germanic paganism refers to the traditional, culturally significant religion of the Germanic-
speaking peoples.[254] It did not form a uniform religious system across Germanic-speaking
Europe, but varied from place to place, people to people, and time to time. In many contact areas
(e.g. Rhineland and eastern and northern Scandinavia), it was similar to neighboring religions
such as those of the Slavs, Celts, and Finnic peoples.[255] The term is sometimes applied as early as
the Stone Age, Bronze Age, or the earlier Iron Age, but it is more generally restricted to the time
period after the Germanic languages had become distinct from

other Indo-European languages. From the first reports in
Roman sources to the final conversion to Christianity,
Germanic paganism thus covers a period of around one
thousand years.[256] Scholars are divided as to the degree of
continuity between the religious practices of the earlier
Germanic peoples and those attested in later Norse paganism
and elsewhere: while some scholars argue that Tacitus, early
medieval sources, and the Norse sources indicate religious
continuity, other scholars are highly skeptical of such
arguments.[257]
Like their neighbors and other historically related peoples, the

ancient Germanic peoples venerated numerous indigenous
deities. These deities are attested throughout literature
authored by or written about Germanic-speaking peoples,
including runic inscriptions, contemporary written accounts,
and in folklore after Christianization. As an example, the
second of the two Merseburg charms (two Old High German
examples of alliterative verse from a manuscript dated to the
ninth century) mentions six deities: Woden, Balder, Sinthgunt,
Sunna, Frija, and Volla.[258]
Roughly carved wooden idols from
With the exception of Sinthgunt, proposed cognates to these Oberdorla moor, modern Thuringia.
deities occur in other Germanic languages, such as Old English The idols were found in context with
and Old Norse. By way of the comparative method, philologists animal bones and other evidence of
are then able to reconstruct and propose early Germanic forms sacrificial rites.[253]
of these names from early Germanic mythology. Compare the
following table:
Proto-
Old High Old
Old English Germanic Notes
German Norse
reconstruction
A deity similarly associated with healing magic in the
Old English Nine Herbs Charm and particular forms
Wuotan[259] Óðinn[259] Wōden[259] *Wōđanaz[259] of magic throughout the Old Norse record. This deity
is strongly associated with extensions of *Frijjō (see
below).
In Old Norse texts, where the only description of the
Balder[260] Baldr[260] Bældæg[260] *Balđraz[260] deity occurs, Baldr is a son of the god Odin and is
associated with beauty and light.
*Sowelō ~ A theonym identical to the proper noun 'Sun'. A
Sunne[261] Sól[261] Sigel[261]
*Sōel[262][263] goddess and the personified Sun.
A goddess associated with extensions of the

goddess *Frijjō (see below). The Old Norse record
Volla[264] Fulla[264] Unattested *Fullōn[264] refers to Fulla as a servant of the goddess Frigg,
while the second Merseburg Charm refers to Volla
as Friia's sister.
Associated with the goddess Volla/Fulla in both the
Old High German and Old Norse records, this
Friia[265] Frigg[265] Frīg[265] *Frijjō[265] goddess is also strongly associated with the god
Odin (see above) in both the Old Norse and
Langobardic records.
The structure of the magic formula in this charm has a long history prior to this attestation: it is
first known to have occurred in Vedic India, where it occurs in the Atharvaveda, dated to around
500 BCE.[266] Numerous other beings common to various groups of ancient Germanic peoples
receive mention throughout the ancient Germanic record. One such type of entity, a variety of
supernatural women, is also mentioned in the first of the two Merseburg Charms:
Old Proto-
Old Old
High Germanic Notes
Norse English
German reconstruction
A type of goddess-like supernatural entity. The West Germanic
forms present some linguistic difficulties but the North
itis[267] dís[267] ides[267] *đīsō[267] Germanic and West Germanic forms are used explicitly as
cognates (compare Old English ides Scildinga and Old Norse
dís Skjǫldunga).[268]
Other widely attested entities from the North and West Germanic folklore include elves, dwarfs,
and the mare. (For more discussion on these entities, see Proto-Germanic folklore.)
The great majority of material describing Germanic mythology stems from the North Germanic
record. The body of myths among the North Germanic-speaking peoples is known today as Norse
mythology and is attested in numerous works, the most expansive of which are the Poetic Edda
and the Prose Edda. While these texts were composed in the 13th century, they frequently quote
genres of traditional alliterative verse known today as eddic poetry and skaldic poetry dating to
the pre-Christian period.[269]
West Germanic mythology (that of speakers of, e.g., Old English and Old High German) is
comparatively poorly attested. Notable texts include the Old Saxon Baptismal Vow and the Old
English Nine Herbs Charm. While most extant references are simply to deity names, some
narratives do survive into the present, such as the Lombard origin myth, which details a tradition
among the Lombards that features the deities Frea (cognate with Old Norse Frigg) and Godan
(cognate with Old Norse Óðinn). Attested in the 7th-century Origo Gentis Langobardorum and
the 8th-century Historia Langobardorum from the Italian Peninsula, the narrative strongly
corresponds in numerous ways with the prose introduction to the eddic poem Grímnismál,
recorded in 13th-century Iceland.[270][271]
Very few texts make up the corpus of Gothic and other East Germanic languages, and East
Germanic paganism and its associated mythic body is especially poorly attested. Notable topics
that provide insight into the matter of East Germanic paganism include the Ring of Pietroassa,
which appears to be a cult object (see also Gothic runic inscriptions), and the mention of the
Gothic Anses (cognate with Old Norse Æsir '(pagan) gods') by Jordanes.[272]
Practices associated with the religion of the ancient Germanic peoples see fewer attestations.
However, elements of religious practices are discernable throughout the textual record associated
with the ancient Germanic peoples, including a focus on sacred groves and trees, the presence of
seeresses, and numerous vocabulary items. The archaeological record has yielded a variety of
depictions of deities, a number of them associated with depictions of the ancient Germanic peoples
(see Anthropomorphic wooden cult figurines of Central and Northern Europe). Notable from the
Roman period are the Matres and Matronae, some having Germanic names, to whom devotional
altars were set up in regions of Germania, Eastern Gaul, and Northern Italy (with a small
distribution elsewhere) that were occupied by the Roman army from the first to the fifth
century.[273]
Germanic mythology and religious practice is of particular interest to Indo-Europeanists, scholars

who seek to identify aspects of ancient Germanic culture—both in terms of linguistic
correspondence and by way of motifs—stemming from Proto-Indo-European culture, including
Proto-Indo-European mythology. The primordial being Ymir, attested solely in Old Norse sources,
makes for a commonly cited example. In Old Norse texts, the death of this entity results in creation
of the cosmos, a complex of motifs that finds strong correspondence elsewhere in the Indo-
European sphere, notably in Vedic mythology.[274]
Conversion to Christianity
Germanic peoples began entering the Roman Empire in

large numbers at the same time that Christianity was
spreading there, [275] and this connection was a major factor
encouraging conversion.[276] The East Germanic peoples, the
Langobards, and the Suevi in Spain converted to Arian
Christianity,[277] a form of Christianity that rejected the
divinity of Christ.[278] The first Germanic people to convert
to Arianism were the Visigoths, at the latest in 376 when they
entered the Roman Empire. This followed a longer period of
missionary work by both Orthodox Christians and Arians,
such as the Arian Wulfila, who was made missionary bishop
of the Goths in 341 and translated the Bible into Gothic.[279]
The Arian Germanic peoples all eventually converted to
Nicene Christianity, which had become the dominant form of
Christianity within the Roman Empire; the last to convert
were the Visigoths in Spain under their king Reccared in Page from the Codex Argenteus
587.[280] containing the Gothic Bible translated
by Wulfila.
The areas of the Roman Empire conquered by the Franks,
Alemanni, and Baiuvarii were mostly Christian already, but
it appeared Christianity declined there.[281] In 496, the Frankish king Clovis I converted to Nicene
Christianity. This began a period of missionizing within Frankish territory.[282] The Anglo-Saxons
gradually converted following a mission sent by Pope Gregory the Great in 595.[283] In the 7th
century, Frankish-supported missionary activity spread out of Gaul, led by figures of the Anglo-
Saxon mission such as Saint Boniface.[284] The Saxons initially rejected Christianization,[285] but
were eventually forcibly converted by Charlemagne as a result of their conquest in the Saxon Wars
in 776/777.[286]
While attempts to convert the Scandinavian peoples began in 831, they were mostly unsuccessful
until the 10th and 11th centuries.[287] The last Germanic people to convert were the Swedes,
although the Geats had converted earlier. The pagan Temple at Uppsala seems to have continued
to exist into the early 1100s.[288]
Society and culture
Germanic law
Until the middle of the 20th century, the majority of scholars assumed the existence of a distinct
Germanic legal culture and law.[289] Early ideas about Germanic law have come under intense
scholarly scrutiny since the 1950s, and specific aspects of it such as the legal importance of sibb,
retinues, and loyalty, and the concept of outlawry can no longer be justified.[290][291] Besides the
assumption of a common Germanic legal tradition and the use of sources of different types from
different places and time periods,[290] there are no native sources for early Germanic law.[292][293]
The earliest written legal sources, the Leges Barbarorum, were all written under Roman and
Christian influence and often with the help of Roman

jurists,[294] and contain large amounts of "Vulgar Latin Law",
an unofficial legal system that functioned in the Roman
provinces.[295]
Although Germanic law never appears to have been a

competing system to Roman law, it is possible that Germanic
"modes of thought" (Denkformen) still existed, with important
elements being an emphasis on orality, gesture, formulaic
language, legal symbolism, and ritual.[296] Some items in the
"Leges", such as the use of vernacular words, may reveal
aspects of originally Germanic, or at least non-Roman, law. Germanic bracteate from Funen,
Legal historian Ruth Schmidt-Wiegand writes that this Denmark
vernacular, often in the form of Latinized words, belongs to
"the oldest layers of a Germanic legal language" and shows
some similarities to Gothic.[297][298]
Personal names
Germanic personal names are commonly dithematic,

consisting of two components that may be combined freely
(such as the Old Norse female personal name Sigríðr,
consisting of sigr ‘victory’ + fríðr ‘beloved’). As summarized by
Per Vikstrand, "The old Germanic personal names are, from a
social and ideological point of view, characterized by three
main features: religion, heroism, and family bonds. The
religious aspect [of Germanic names] seems to be an inherited,
Indo-European trace, which the Germanic languages share
with Greek and other Indo-European languages."[299]
One point of debate surrounding Germanic name-giving

practice is whether name elements were considered
semantically meaningful when combined. [299] Whatever the
case, an element of a name could be inherited by a male or
female's offspring, leading to an alliterative lineage (related,
see alliterative verse). The runestone D359 in Istaby, Sweden
provides one such example, where three generations of men The Istaby Stone (DR359) is a
are connected by way of the element wulfaz, meaning 'wolf' runestone that features a Proto-
(the alliterative Haþuwulfaz, *Heruwulfaz, and Norse Elder Futhark inscription
Hariwulfaz). [299] Sacral components to Germanic personal describing three generations of
names are also attested, including elements such as *hailaga- men. Their names share the
and *wīha- (both usually translated as 'holy, sacred', see for common element of 'wolf' (wulfaz)
example Vé), and deity names (theonyms). Deity names as first and alliterate.
components of personal names are attested primarily in Old
Norse names, where they commonly reference in particular the
god Thor (Old Norse Þórr).[300]
Poetry and legend
The ancient Germanic-speaking peoples were a largely oral culture. Although runes existed as a
writing system, they were not used to record poetry or literature and literacy was probably limited.
Written literature in Germanic languages is not recorded until the 6th century (Gothic Bible) or
the 8th century in modern England and Germany.[301] The philologist Andreas Heusler proposed
the existence of various genres of literature in the "Old Germanic" period, which were largely
based on genres found in high medieval Old Norse poetry. These include ritual poetry,
epigrammatic poetry (Spruchdichtung), memorial verses (Merkdichtung), lyric, narrative poetry,
and praise poetry.[302] Heinrich Beck suggests that, on the basis of Latin mentions in late antiquity
and the early Middle Ages, the following genres can be adduced: origo gentis (the origin of a
people or their rulers), the fall of heroes (casus heroici), praise poetry, and laments for the
dead.[303]
Some stylistic aspects of later Germanic poetry appear to have origins in the Indo-European
period, as shown by comparison with ancient Greek and Sanskrit poetry.[304] Originally, the
Germanic-speaking peoples shared a metrical and poetic form, alliterative verse, which is attested
in very similar forms in Old Saxon, Old High German and Old English, and in a modified form in
Old Norse.[305] Alliterative verse is not attested in Gothic, and Rafael Pascual has suggested that it
may not have been metrically possible in that language, in which case alliterative verse would be a
wholly North-West Germanic phenomenon.[306] Nelson Goering, however, has argued that
alliterative verse is in fact linguistically possible as early as Proto-Germanic, and therefore it is
possible if not provable that it existed in Gothic as well.[307] The poetic forms diverge among the
different languages from the 9th century onward.[308]
Later Germanic peoples shared a common legendary tradition. These heroic legends mostly
involve historical personages who lived during the migration period (4th–6th centuries AD),
placing them in highly ahistorical and mythologized settings;[309][g] they originate and develop as
part of an oral tradition.[311][312] Some early Gothic heroic legends are already found in Jordanes'
Getica (c. 551).[313] The close link between Germanic heroic legend and Germanic language and
possibly poetic devices is shown by the fact that the Germanic speakers in Francia who adopted a
Romance language, do not preserve Germanic legends but rather developed their own heroic
folklore—excepting the figure of Walter of Aquitaine.[314]
Warfare
Warfare seems to have been a constant in Germanic

society,[315] including conflicts among and within Germanic
peoples.[316] There is no common Germanic word for "war",
and it was not necessarily differentiated from other forms of
violence.[317] Historical information on Germanic warfare
almost entirely depends on Greco-Roman sources,[318]
however their accuracy has been questioned.[319] The core of
the army was formed by the comitatus (retinue), a group of Image of Romans fighting the
warriors following a chief.[320] As retinues grew larger, their Marcomanni on the Column of
names could become associated with entire peoples. Many Marcus Aurelius (193 CE).
retinues functioned as auxilia (mercenary units in the Roman
army).[321]
Roman sources stress, perhaps partially as a literary topos, that the Germanic peoples fought
without discipline.[322][323] Germanic warriors fought mostly on foot,[324] in tight formations in
close combat.[325] Tacitus mentions a single formation as used by the Germani, the wedge (Latin:
cuneus).[326] Cavalry was rare: in the Roman period, it mostly consisted of chiefs and their
immediate retinues,[324] who may have dismounted to fight.[327] However, East Germanic peoples
such as the Goths developed cavalry forces armed with lances due to contact with various nomadic
peoples.[328] Archaeological finds, mostly in the form of grave goods, indicate that most warriors
were armed with spear, shield, and often with swords.[325] Higher status individuals were often
buried with spurs for riding.[327] The only archaeological evidence for helmets and chain mail
shows them to be of Roman manufacture.[329]
Writing
The earliest writing system used by the Germanic-speaking

peoples were the runes, an alphabet of unclear origins that is
based on a Mediterranean alphabet.[331] The precise date that
the runic alphabet was adopted is unknown, with estimates
varying from 100 BCE to 100 CE.[332] Inscriptions in the oldest
attested form, called the Elder Futhark, date from 200 to 700
CE.[333] The word "rune" is attested in multiple Germanic
languages, coming from Proto-Germanic *rūna and having a
primary meaning of secret,[331] but also other meanings such
as "whisper", "mystery", "closed deliberation", and The Vimose Comb, housed at the
"council".[334] Runes appear not to have been used for National Museum of Denmark
everyday communication and knowledge of them was probably contains the oldest extant runic
limited to a small group,[332] for whom the term erilaR is inscription from c. 160 CE. The
inscription is harja, a name from hari
attested from the sixth century onward.[335]
("army").[330]
The letters of the elder futhark are arranged in an order that is
called the futhark, after its first six characters.[336] The
alphabet is supposed to have been extremely phonetic, and each letter could also represent a word
or concept, so that, for instance, the f-rune also stood for *fehu (cattle, property).[337] Runic
inscriptions are found on organic materials such as wood, bone, horn, ivory, and animal hides, as
well as on stone and metal.[338] Inscriptions tend to be short,[332] and are difficult to interpret as
profane or magical. They include names, inscriptions by the maker of an object, memorials to the
dead, as well as inscriptions that religious or magical in nature.[339]
Economy and material culture
Agriculture and population density
Unlike agriculture in the Roman provinces, which was organized around the large farms known as
villae rusticae, Germanic agriculture was organized around villages. When Germanic peoples
expanded into Northern Gaul in the 4th and 5th centuries CE, they brought this village-based
agriculture with them, which increased the agricultural productivity of the land; Heiko Steuer
suggests this means that Germania was more agriculturally productive than is generally
assumed.[340] Villages were not distant from each other but often within sight, revealing a fairly
high population density, and contrary to the assertions of Roman sources, only about 30% of
Germania was covered in forest, about the same percentage as today.[341]
Based on pollen samples and the finds of seeds and plant remains, the chief grains cultivated in
Germania were barley, oats, and wheat (both Einkorn and emmer), while the most common
vegetables were beans and peas. Flax was also grown.[342] Agriculture in Germania relied heavily
on animal husbandry, primarily the raising of cattle, which were smaller than their Roman
counterparts[343] Both cultivation and animal husbandry methods improved with time, with
examples being the introduction of rye, which grew better in Germania, and the introduction of the
three-field system.[344]
Crafts
It is unclear if there was a special class of craftsmen in Germania, however archaeological finds of
tools are frequent.[345] Many everyday items such as dishes were made out of wood, and
archaeology has found the remains of wooden well construction.[346] The 4th-century CE Nydam
and Illerup ships show highly developed knowledge of ship construction, while elite graves have
revealed wooden furniture with complex joinery.[347] Products made from ceramics included
cooking, drinking, and storage, vessels, as well as lamps. While originally formed by hand, the
period around 1 CE saw the introduction of the potter's wheel.[348] Some of the ceramics produced
on potter's wheels seem to have been done in direct imitation of Roman wares,[349] and may have
been produced by Romans in Germania or by Germani who had learned Roman techniques while
serving in the Roman army.[350] The shape and decoration of Germanic ceramics vary by region
and archaeologists have traditionally used these variations to determine larger cultural areas.[351]
Many ceramics were probably produced locally in hearths, but large pottery kilns have also been
discovered, and it seems clear that there were areas of specialized production.[349]
Metalworking
Despite the claims of Roman writers such as Tacitus that the

Germani had little iron and lacked expertise in working it,
deposits of iron were commonly found in Germania and
Germanic smiths were skillful metalworkers.[353] Smithies are
known from multiple settlements, and smiths were often
buried with their tools.[354] An iron mine discovered at Rudki,
in the Łysogóry mountains of modern central Poland, operated
from the 1st to the 4th centuries CE and included a substantial A 5th-century CE gold collar from
smelting workshop; similar facilities have been found in Ålleberg, Sweden. It displays
Bohemia.[355] The remains of large smelting operations have Germanic filigree work.[352]
been discovered by Ribe in Jutland (4th to 6th century
CE),[356] as well as at Glienick in northern Germany and at
Heeten in the Netherlands (both 4th century CE).[357] Germanic smelting furnaces may have
produced metal that was as high-quality as that produced by the Romans.[358] In addition to large-
scale production, nearly every individual settlement seems to have produced some iron for local
use.[356] Iron was used for agricultural tools, tools for various crafts, and for weapons.[359]
Lead was needed in order to make molds and for the production of jewelry, however it is unclear if
the Germani were able to produce lead. While lead mining is known from within the Siegerland
across the Rhine from the Roman Empire, it is sometimes theorized that this was the work of
Roman miners.[360] Another mine within Germania was near modern Soest, where again it is
theorized that lead was exported to Rome.[361] The neighboring Roman provinces of Germania
superior and Germania inferior produced a great deal of lead, which has been found stamped as
plumbum Germanicum ("Germanic lead") in Roman shipwrecks.[362]
Deposits of gold are not found naturally within Germania and had to either be imported[363] or
could be found having naturally washed down rivers.[364] The earliest known gold objects made by
Germanic craftsmen are mostly small ornaments dating from the later 1st century CE.[363] Silver
working likewise dates from the first century CE, and silver often served as a decorative element
with other metals.[365] From the 2nd century onward, increasingly complex gold jewelry was
made, often inlaid with precious stones and in a polychrome style.[366] Inspired by Roman
metalwork, Germanic craftsmen also began working with gold and silver-gilt foils on belt buckles,
jewelry, and weapons.[352] Pure gold objects produced in the late Roman period included torcs
with snakeheads, often displaying filigree and cloisonné work, techniques that dominated
throughout Germanic Europe.[367]
Clothing and textiles
Clothing does not generally preserve well archaeologically.

Early Germanic clothing is shown on some Roman stone
monuments such as Trajan's Column and the Column of
Marcus Aurelius, and is occasionally discovered in finds from
in moors,[369] mostly from Scandinavia.[370] Frequent finds
include long trousers, sometimes including connected
stockings, shirt-like gowns (Kittel) with long sleeves, large
pieces of cloth, and capes with fur on the inside.[371] All of
these are thought to be male clothing, while finds of tubular
garments are thought to be female clothing. These would have
reached to the ankles and would likely have been held in place
by brooches at the height of the shoulders, as shown on Roman
monuments.[372] On Roman depictions, the dress was gathered
below the breast or at the waist, and there are frequently no
sleeves. Sometimes a blouse or skirt is depicted below the
A pair of trousers with attached dress, along with a neckerchief around the throat.[373] By the
stockings found in the Thorsberg middle of the 5th century CE, both men and women among the
moor (3rd century CE).[368] continental Germanic peoples came to wear a Roman-style
tunic as their most important piece of clothing. This was
secured at the waist and likely adopted due to intensive contact
with the Roman world.[374] The Romans typically depict Germanic men and women as
bareheaded, although some head-coverings have been found. Although Tacitus mentions an
undergarment made of linen, no examples of these have been found.[373]
Surviving examples indicate that Germanic textiles were of high quality and mostly made of flax
and wool.[368] Roman depictions show the Germani wearing materials that were only lightly
worked.[375] Surviving examples indicate that a variety of weaving techniques were used.[373]
Leather was used for shoes, belts, and other gear.[376] Spindles, sometimes made of glass or
amber, and the weights from looms and distaffs are frequently found in Germanic settlements.[368]
Trade
Archaeology shows that from at least the turn of the 3rd century CE larger regional settlements in
Germnaia existed that were not exclusively involved in an agrarian economy, and that the main
settlements were connected by paved roads. The entirety of Germania was within a system of long-
distance trade.[379] Migration-period seaborne trade is suggested by Gudme on the Danish island
of Funen and other harbors on the Baltic.[380]
Roman trade with Germania is poorly documented.[381] Roman merchants crossing the Alps for
Germania are recorded already by Caesar in the 1st century BCE.[377] During the imperial period,
most trade probably took place in trading posts in Germania or at major Roman bases.[382] The
most well-known Germanic export to the Roman Empire was amber, with a trade centered on the
Baltic coast.[383] Economically, however, amber is likely to have been fairly unimportant.[384] The
use of Germanic loanwords in surviving Latin texts suggests that besides amber (glaesum), the
Romans also imported the feathers of Germanic geese (ganta) and hair-dye (sapo). Germanic
slaves were also a major commodity.[385]

Archaeological discoveries indicate that lead was
exported from Germania as well, perhaps mined in
Roman-Germanic "joint ventures".[386]
Products imported from Rome are found

archaeologically throughout the Germanic sphere and
include vessels of bronze and silver, glassware,
pottery, brooches; other products such as textiles and
foodstuffs may have been just as important.[387]
Rather than mine and smelt non-ferrous metals
themselves, Germanic smiths seem to have often
preferred to melt down finished metal objects from The Minerva Bowl, part of the Hildesheim
Rome, which were imported in large numbers, Treasure, likely a Roman diplomatic gift.[377]
including coins, metal vessels, and metal statues.[388] The treasure may date from the reign of Nero
Tacitus mentions in Germania chapter 23 that the (37–68 CE) or the early Flavian dynasty (69–
Germani living along the Rhine bought wine, and 96 CE).[378]
Roman wine has been found in Denmark and northern
Poland.[377] Find of Roman silver coinage and
weapons might have been war booty or the result of trade, while high quality silver items may have
been diplomatic gifts.[389] Roman coinage may have acted as a form of currency as well.[390]
Genetics
The use of genetic studies to investigate the Germanic past is controversial, with scholars such as
Guy Halsall suggesting it could represent a hearkening back to 19th-century ideas of race.[391]
Sebastian Brather, Wilhelm Heizmann, and Steffen Patzold write that genetics studies are of great
use for demographic history, but cannot give us any information about cultural history.[392] In a
2013 book which reviewed studies made up until then, scholars noted that most Germanic
speakers today have a Y-DNA that is a mixture haplogroup I1, R1a1a, R1b-P312 and R1b-U106;
however, the authors also note that these groups are older than Germanic languages and found
among speakers of other languages.[393]
Modern reception
The rediscovery of Tacitus's Germania in the 1450s was used by German humanists to claim a
glorious classical past for their nation that could compete with that of Greece and Rome,[394] and
to equate the "Germanic" with the "German".[395] While the humanists' notion of the "Germanic"
was initially vague, later it was narrowed and used to support a notion of German(ic) superiority to
other nations.[396] Equally important was Jordanes's Getica, rediscovered by Aeneas Sylvius
Piccolomini in the mid-15th century and first printed in 1515 by Konrad Peutinger, which depicted
Scandinavia as the "womb of nations" (Latin: vagina nationum) from which all the historical
northeastern European barbarians migrated in the distant past.[397] While treated with suspicion
by German scholars, who preferred the indigenous origin given by Tacitus, this motif became very
popular in contemporary Swedish Gothicism, as it supported Sweden's imperial ambitions.[398]
Peutinger printed the Getica together with Paul the Deacon's History of the Lombards, so that the
Germania, the Getica, and the History of the Lombards formed the basis for the study of the
Germanic past.[399] Scholars did not clearly differentiate between the Germanic peoples, Celtic
peoples, and the "Scythian peoples" until the late 18th century with the discovery of Indo-
European and the establishment of language as the primary criterion for nationality. Before that
time, German scholars considered the Celtic peoples to be part of the Germanic group.[400]
The beginning of Germanic philology proper starts around the turn of the 19th century, with Jacob
and Wilhelm Grimm being the two most significant founding figures. Their oeuvre included
various monumental works on linguistics, culture, and literature.[401] Jacob Grimm offered many
arguments identifying the Germans as the "most Germanic" of the Germanic-speaking peoples,
many of which were taken up later by others who sought to equate "Germanicness" (German:
Germanentum) with "Germanness" (German: Deutschtum).[402] Grimm also argued that the
Scandinavian sources were, while much later, more "pure" attestations of "Germanness" than
those from the south, an opinion that remains common today.[403] German nationalist thinkers of
the völkisch movement placed a great emphasis on the connection of modern Germans to the
Germania using Tacitus to prove the purity and virtue of the German people, which had allowed
them to conquer the decadent Romans.[404] German historians used the Germanic past to argue
for a liberal, democratic form of government and a unified German state.[405] Contemporary
Romantic nationalism in Scandinavia placed more weight on the Viking Age, resulting in the
movement known as Scandinavism.[406]
In the late 19th century, Gustaf Kossinna developed several widely-accepted theories tying
archaeological finds of specific assemblages of objects. Kossina used his theories to extend
Germanic identity back to the Neolithic period and to state with confidence when and where
various Germanic and other peoples had migrated within Europe.[407] In the 1930s and 40s, the
Nazi Party made use of notions of Germanic "purity" reaching back into the earliest prehistoric
times.[5] Nazi ideologues also used the "Germanic" nature of peoples such as the Franks and Goths
to justify territorial annexations in northern France, Ukraine, and the Crimea.[408] Scholars
reinterpreted Germanic culture to justify the Nazis' rule as anchored in the Germanic past,
emphasizing noble leaders and warlike retinues who dominated surrounding peoples.[409] After
1945, these associations led to a scholarly backlash and re-examining of Germanic origins.[5] Many
medieval specialists have even demanded that scholars avoid the term "Germanic" altogether since
it is too emotionally charged, adding that it has been politically abused and creates more confusion
than clarity.[410]
See also
List of Germanic peoples
Notes
a. The reconstruction of such loanwords remains a difficult task, since no descendant language
of substrate dialects is attested, and plausible etymological explanations have been found for
many Germanic lexemes previously regarded as of non-Indo-European origin. The English
term sword, long regarded as "without etymology", was found to be cognate with the Ancient
Greek áor, the sword hung to the shoulder with valuable rings, both descending from the PIE
root *swerd-, denoting the 'suspended sword'. Similarly, the word hand could descend from a
PGer. form *handu- 'pike' (< *handuga- 'having a pike'), possibly related to Greek kenteîn 'to
stab, poke' and kéntron 'stinging agent, pricker'.[65] However, there is still a set of words of
Proto-Germanic origin, attested in Old High German since the 8th c., which have found so far
no competing Indo-European etymologies, however unlikely: e.g., Adel 'aristocratic lineage';
Asch 'barge'; Beute 'board'; Loch 'lock'; Säule 'pillar'; etc.[66]
b. Rübekeil 2017, pp. 996–997: West Germanic: "There seems to be a principal distinction

between the northern and the southern part of this group; the demarcation between both parts,
however, is a matter of controversy. The northern part, North Sea Gmc or Ingvaeonic, is the
larger one, but it is a moot point whether Old Saxon and Old Low Franconian really belong to
it, and if yes, to what extent they participate in all its characteristic developments. (...) As a
whole, there are arguments for a close relationship between Anglo-Frisian on the one hand
and Old Saxon and Old Low Franconian on the other; there are, however, counter-arguments
as well. The question as to whether the common features are old and inherited or have
emerged by connections over the North Sea is still controversial."
c. Iversen & Kroonen 2017, p. 521: "In the more than 250 years (ca. 2850–2600 B.C.E.) when
late Funnel Beaker farmers coexisted with the new Single Grave culture communities within a
relatively small area of present-day Denmark, processes of cultural and linguistic exchange
were almost inevitable—if not widespread."
d. Ringe 2006, p. 85: "Early Jastorf, at the end of the 7th century BCE, is almost certainly too
early for the last common ancestor of the attested languages; but later Jastorf culture and its
successors occupy so much territory that their populations are most unlikely to have spoken a
single dialect, even granting that the expansion of the culture was relatively rapid. It follows
that our reconstructed PGmc was only one of the dialects spoken by peoples identified
archeologically, or by the Romans, as 'Germans'; the remaining Germanic peoples spoke
sister dialects of PGmc."
Polomé 1992, p. 51: "...if the Jastorf culture and, probably, the
neighboring Harpstedt culture to the west constitute the Germanic homeland (Mallory 1989:
87), a spread of Proto-Germanic northwards and eastwards would have to be assumed, which
might explain both the archaisms and the innovative features of North Germanic and East
Germanic, and would fit nicely with recent views locating the homeland of the Goths in
Poland."
e. Tacitus referred to him as king of the Suevians.[130]
f. During the initial stage of the conflict between the Romans and the Tervingi, the Greuthungi
had crossed the Danube into the Empire.[178]
g. Historian Shami Ghosh for instance, argues: "It is certainly the case that the Goths, Lombards,
Franks, Angles, Saxons, and Burgundians...were all Germanic peoples, in that their vernacular
tongue belonged to the Germanic sub-group of the Indo-European family of languages. It is
also the case that the corpus of what literary scholars define as Germanic heroic poetry does
contain narratives that have as a historical core events that took place largely in the period
c.300–c.600—insofar as any of these narratives can in fact be related to any sort of historical
realities at all. But there is little evidence from before the eighth century, at least, for any sense
even of an awareness of an inter-relatedness among these peoples, and certainly not of any
perception among them of any significance of such inter-relatedness—any sort of knowledge
of and meaning granted to a common ‘Germanentum’, or ‘Germanic-ness’, that has any
relation to the burden of significance such a concept has borne in modern scholarship.
Furthermore, the historical links between the extant heroic texts and any verifiable historical
fact are both invariably slender and often quite tenuous, and therefore should not be
overvalued."[310]
References
Citations
1. Steuer 2021, p. 30.
2. Steuer 2021, p. 3.
3. Steuer 2021, p. 28.
4. Timpe & Scardigli 2010, pp. 383–385.
5. Todd 1999, p. 9.
6. Wolfram 1988, p. 5.

7. Pfeifer 2000, p. 434.
8. Pohl 2004a, p. 58.
9. Pohl 2004a, p. 1.
10. Steinacher 2020, pp. 48–57.
11. Pohl 2004a, p. 4.
12. Green 1998, p. 8.
13. Winkler 2016, p. xxii.
14. Kulikowski 2020, p. 19.
17. Harland & Friedrich 2020, pp. 2–3.
18. Brather, Heizmann & Patzold 2021, p. 31.
20. Harland & Friedrich 2020, p. 6.
21. Steuer 2021, pp. 29, 35.
22. Pohl 2004a, pp. 50–51.
23. Neidorf 2018, p. 865.
24. Harland 2021, p. 28.
25. Harland & Friedrich 2020, p. 10.
27. Steuer 2021, p. 29.
28. Steuer 2021, pp. 1275–1277.
29. Steinacher 2020, pp. 35–39.
30. Riggsby 2010, p. 51.
31. Steinacher 2020, pp. 36–37.
32. Steinacher 2020, pp. 37–38.
33. Pohl 2004a, p. 11.
34. Pohl 2004a, pp. 52–53.
35. Pohl 2004a, pp. 53–54.
36. Pohl 2004a, pp. 54–55.
37. Pohl 2004a, p. 19.
38. Pohl 2004a, p. 3.
39. Timpe & Scardigli 2010, pp. 376, 511.
40. Timpe & Scardigli 2010, p. 377.
41. Krebs 2011, p. 204.
44. Liebeschuetz 2015, p. 97.
45. Pohl 2004a, pp. 9–10.
46. Pohl 2004a, pp. 4–5.
47. Pohl 2004a, p. 53.
48. Steinacher 2020, p. 47.
49. Steinacher 2020, pp. 47–48.
50. Rübekeil 2017, p. 986.
51. Tacitus 1948, p. 102.
52. Wolters 2001, p. 567.

53. Wolters 2001, p. 568.
54. Pohl 2004a, p. 57.
55. Wolters 2001, p. 470.
56. Wolters 2001, pp. 470–471.
57. Steuer 2021, p. 59.
58. Steuer 2021, pp. 125–126.
59. Wolters 2001, p. 471.
60. Ringe 2006, p. 84; Anthony 2007, pp. 57–58; Iversen & Kroonen 2017, p. 519
61. Penzl 1972, p. 1232.
63. Stiles 2017, p. 889; Rübekeil 2017, p. 989
64. Schrijver 2014, p. 197; Seebold 2017, p. 978; Iversen & Kroonen 2017, p. 518
65. Seebold 2017, pp. 978–979.
66. Seebold 2017, pp. 979–980.
68. Ringe 2006, p. 85; Nedoma 2017, p. 875; Seebold 2017, p. 975; Rübekeil 2017, p. 989
69. Ringe 2006, p. 85; Rübekeil 2017, p. 989
70. Ringe 2006, p. 85.
72. Kroonen 2013, p. 422; Rübekeil 2017, p. 990
73. Rübekeil 2017, p. 990.
74. Todd 1999, p. 13; Green 1998, p. 108; Ringe 2006, p. 152; Sanders 2010, p. 27; Nedoma
2017, p. 875.
75. Green 1998, p. 13; Nedoma 2017, p. 876
76. Nedoma 2017, p. 875.
77. Fortson 2004, pp. 338–339; Nedoma 2017, p. 876
78. Ringe 2006, p. 85; Nedoma 2017, p. 879
79. Nedoma 2017, p. 879.
80. Nedoma 2017, pp. 876–877.
81. Nedoma 2017, p. 881.
82. Fortson 2004, p. 339; Rübekeil 2017, p. 993
83. Fortson 2004, p. 339; Seebold 2017, p. 976
84. Stiles 2017, pp. 903–905.
85. Nedoma 2017, pp. 879, 881; Rübekeil 2017, p. 995
86. Schrijver 2014, p. 185; Rübekeil 2017, p. 992
87. Rübekeil 2017, p. 991.
88. Nedoma 2017, p. 877.
89. Nedoma 2017, p. 878.
90. Rübekeil 2017, pp. 987, 991, 997; Nedoma 2017, pp. 881–883
91. Nedoma 2017, pp. 877, 881.
92. Rübekeil 2017, p. 992.
93. Rübekeil 2017, pp. 987, 997–998.
94. Nedoma 2017, p. 880.
95. Fortson 2004, p. 339.
96. Anthony 2007, p. 360; Seebold 2017, p. 978; Heyd 2017, pp. 348–349; Kristiansen et al. 2017,
p. 340; Reich 2018, pp. 110–111
97. Anthony 2007, pp. 360, 367–368; Seebold 2017, p. 978; Kristiansen et al. 2017, p. 340;
Iversen & Kroonen 2017, pp. 512–513
99. Koch 2020, p. 38.
100. Steuer 2021, p. 32.
101. Polomé 1992, p. 51; Fortson 2004, p. 338; Ringe 2006, p. 85
103. Pohl 2004a, pp. 49–50.
104. Steuer 2021, p. 113.
105. Brather 2004, pp. 181–183.
106. Fortson 2004, p. 338; Kroonen 2013, pp. 247, 311; Nedoma 2017, p. 876
107. Schrijver 2014, p. 197; Nedoma 2017, p. 876
109. Green 1998, pp. 145–159.
110. Kinder 1988, p. 108.
111. Maciałowicz, Rudnicki & Strobin 2016, pp. 136–138.
112. Todd 1999, p. 23.
113. Chaniotis 2013, pp. 209–211.
114. Kaul & Martens 1995, pp. 133, 153–154.
115. Harris 1979, pp. 245–247.
116. Burns 2003, pp. 72.
117. Woolf 2012, pp. 105–107.
118. Todd 1999, p. 22.
119. Pohl 2004a, p. 13.
120. Vanderhoeven & Vanderhoeven 2004, p. 144.
121. Todd 1999, p. 45.
122. Goldsworthy 2006, p. 204.
123. Steuer 2006, p. 230.
124. Goldsworthy 2009, p. 212, note 2.
125. Wells 2004, p. 155.
126. Gruen 2006, pp. 180–182.
127. Gruen 2006, p. 183.
128. Haller & Dannenbauer 1970, p. 30.
129. Steuer 2021, p. 995.
130. Tacitus, Annales, 2.26 (http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi1351.phi005.perseus
-eng1:2.26).
131. Goldsworthy 2016, p. 275.
132. Goldsworthy 2016, pp. 276–277.
133. Pohl 2004a, p. 15.
134. Steuer 2021, p. 994.
135. Haller & Dannenbauer 1970, pp. 30–31.
136. Wells 1995, p. 98.
137. Pohl 2004a, p. 16.
138. Pohl 2004a, pp. 16–17.
139. Pohl 2004a, p. 17.

140. Roymans 2004, pp. 57–58.
141. Pohl 2004a, pp. 17–18.
142. Steuer 2021, p. 683.
143. Pohl 2004a, p. 18.
144. Todd 1999, pp. 52–53.
145. Pohl 2004a, p. 25.
146. James 2014, p. 31.
147. Todd 1999, p. 54.
148. Ward, Heichelheim & Yeo 2016, p. 340.
149. Pohl 2004a, p. 26.
150. Todd 1999, p. 55.
151. James 2014, p. 32.
152. Halsall 2007, p. 120.
153. Pohl 2004a, pp. 26–27.
154. Geary 1999, p. 109.
155. Todd 1999, p. 140.
156. Todd 1999, p. 56.
157. James 2014, pp. 40–45.
158. Wolfram 1997, p. 244.
159. James 2014, p. 122.
160. Heather 2009, p. 112.
161. Todd 1999, pp. 141–142.
162. Todd 1999, p. 57.
163. Pohl 2004a, p. 27.
164. Todd 1999, pp. 59–61.
165. Pohl 2004a, p. 35.
166. Halsall 2007, p. 125.
167. Springer 2010, pp. 1020–1021.
168. Springer 2010, p. 1021.
169. Brather 2010, p. 1034.
170. Brather 2010, p. 1035-1036.
171. Brather 2010, p. 1036.
172. Heather 1996, p. 101.
173. Heather 1996, pp. 98–100.
174. Todd 1999, p. 143.
175. Heather 1996, p. 100.
176. Heather 1996, p. 131.
177. Heather 1996, pp. 131–132.
178. Goldsworthy 2009b, p. 252.
179. Halsall 2007, pp. 176–178.
180. Wolfram 1997, pp. 79–87.
181. Heather 1996, pp. 135–137.
182. Heather 1996, pp. 138–139.
183. Todd 1999, p. 145.
184. Heather 1996, pp. 143–144.
185. Halsall 2007, p. 199.

186. Todd 1999, p. 61.
187. Wolfram 1997, p. 89.
188. Todd 1999, pp. 145–146.
189. Heather 2009, p. 182.
190. Halsall 2007, p. 211.
191. Todd 1999, p. 172.
192. Todd 1999, p. 197.
193. Heather 1996, pp. 147–148.
194. Heather 1996, pp. 147–149.
195. Heather 1996, p. 150.
196. Halsall 2007, pp. 228–230.
197. Heather 1996, pp. 102–103.
198. Heather 1996, pp. 111–112.
199. Todd 1999, p. 223.
200. Heather 1996, pp. 113–114.
201. Goffart 2006, p. 109.
202. Todd 1999, p. 176.
203. Halsall 2007, pp. 243–244.
204. Todd 1999, pp. 176–177.
205. Halsall 2007, p. 245-247.
206. Halsall 2007, p. 248.
207. Halsall 2007, p. 240.
208. Todd 1999, p. 174.
209. Heather 1996, p. 109.
210. Halsall 2007, pp. 251–253.
211. Heather 1996, p. 116.
212. Heather 1996, pp. 151–152.
213. James 2014, p. 65.
214. James 2014, p. 64.
215. Wolfram 1997, p. 242.
216. Halsall 2007, p. 255.
217. Todd 1999, p. 177.
218. Todd 1999, p. 153.
219. Heather 1996, pp. 154–155.
220. Halsall 2007, p. 280.
221. Halsall 2007, pp. 284–285.
222. Pohl 2004a, p. 42.
223. Heather 1996, pp. 216–217.
224. Heather 1996, pp. 219–220.
225. Todd 1999, p. 170.
226. Goffart 2006, p. 111.
227. Pohl 2004a, p. 31.
228. Pohl 2004a, p. 34.
229. Todd 1999, p. 184.
230. Pohl 2004a, p. 32.
231. Todd 1999, p. 200, 240.

232. Pohl 2004a, pp. 39–40.
233. Halsall 2007, p. 284.
234. Todd 1999, p. 226.
235. Pohl 2004a, p. 41-2.
236. Beck & Quak 2010, p. 853.
237. Beck & Quak 2010, pp. 857–858.
238. Beck & Quak 2010, p. 863-864.
239. Beck & Quak 2010, p. 864-865.
240. Todd 1999, p. 193.
241. Todd 1999, pp. 226–227.
242. Wolfram 1997, pp. 293–294.
243. Todd 1999, p. 228.
244. Nedoma & Scardigli 2010, p. 129.
245. Todd 1999, p. 234.
246. Wolfram 1997, p. 300.
247. Todd 1999, pp. 158, 174.
248. Heather 1996, pp. 297–298.
249. Wolfram 1997, pp. 277–278.
250. Kuhn & Wilson 2010, p. 614.
251. Todd 1999, pp. 210, 219.
252. Capelle & Brather 2010, pp. 157–158.
253. Steuer 2021, pp. 641–642.
254. Hultgård 2010, p. 863.
255. Hultgård 2010, pp. 865–866.
256. Hultgård 2010, pp. 866–867.
257. Schjødt 2020, p. 265.
258. For general discussion regarding the Merseburg Charms, see for example Lindow 2001,
pp. 227–28 and Simek 1993, pp. 84, 278–279.
259. Orel 2003, p. 469.
260. Orel 2003, p. 33.
261. Orel 2003, pp. 361, 385, 387.
262. Orel 2003, p. 385.
263. Magnússon 1989, pp. 463–464.
264. Orel 2003, p. 118.
265. Orel 2003, p. 114.
266. The Atharveda charm is specifically charm 12 of book four of the Atharveda. See discussion in
for example Storms 2013, pp. 107–112.
267. Orel 2003, p. 72.
268. Kroonen 2013, pp. 96, 114–115.
269. For a concise overview of sources on Germanic mythology, see Simek 1993, pp. 298–300.
270. Simek 1993, pp. 298–300.
271. On the correspondences between the prose introduction to Grímnismál and the Langobardic
origin myth, see for example Lindow 2001, p. 129.
272. Regarding the Ring of Pietroassa, see for example discussion in MacLeod & Mees 2006,
pp. 173–174. On Gothic Anses, see for example Orel 2003, p. 21.
273. Simek 1993, pp. 204–205.

274. See discussion in for example Puhvel 1989, pp. 189–221 and Witzel 2017, pp. 365–369.
275. Cusack 1998, p. 35.
276. Düwel 2010a, p. 356.
277. Schäferdiek & Gschwantler 2010, p. 350.
278. Düwel 2010a, p. 802.
279. Schäferdiek & Gschwantler 2010, pp. 350–353.
280. Cusack 1998, pp. 50–51.
283. Stenton 1971, pp. 104–128.
285. Padberg 2010, p. 588.
286. Padberg 2010, pp. 588–589.
289. Dilcher 2011, pp. 241–242.
291. Dilcher 2011, p. 245.
293. Dilcher 2011, p. 243.
294. Lück 2010, pp. 423–424.
296. Dilcher 2011, pp. 246–247.
297. Schmidt-Wiegand 2010, p. 396.
299. Vikstrand 2020, p. 127.
300. Vikstrand 2020, p. 129-132.
305. Haymes & Samples 1996, pp. 39–40.
306. Goering 2020, p. 242.
307. Goering 2020, p. 246.
308. Millet 2008, pp. 27–28.
309. Millet 2008, pp. 4–7.
310. Ghosh 2016, p. 8.
311. Millet 2008, pp. 11–13.
312. Tiefenbach, Reichert & Beck 1999, pp. 267–268.
313. Haubrichs 2004, p. 519.
314. Ghosh 2007, p. 249.
315. Steuer 2021, p. 673.
316. Steuer 2021, p. 794.
317. Bulitta & Springer 2010, pp. 665–667.
318. Murdoch 2004, p. 62.
319. Steuer 2021, p. 674.

320. Steuer 2021, p. 785.
321. Steuer 2021, pp. 793–794.
322. Green 1998, pp. 68–69.
323. Murdoch 2004, p. 63.
324. Todd 1999, p. 35.
325. Steuer 2021, p. 663.
326. Bulitta & Springer 2010, pp. 678–679.
327. Steuer 2021, p. 672.
328. Todd 1999, p. 42.
329. Steuer 2021, p. 661.
330. Düwel 2004, p. 139.
331. Düwel 2004, p. 121.
332. Green 1998, p. 254.
333. Düwel 2004, p. 125.
334. Green 1998, p. 255.
335. Düwel 2004, p. 132.
336. Düwel 2004, pp. 121–122.
337. Düwel 2004, p. 123.
338. Düwel 2010b, pp. 999–1006.
339. Düwel 2004, pp. 131–132.
340. Steuer 2021, p. 409.
341. Steuer 2021, p. 1273.
342. Todd 1999, p. 79.
343. Todd 1999, pp. 76–77.
344. Steuer 2021, p. 410.
345. Steuer 2021, pp. 427–428.
346. Steuer 2021, p. 248.
347. Steuer 2021, p. 429.
348. Steuer 2021, p. 435.
349. Todd 1999, p. 130.
350. Steuer 2021, p. 507.
351. Steuer 2021, p. 434.
352. Todd 1999, p. 123.
353. Todd 1999, p. 127.
354. Steuer 2021, p. 469.
355. Todd 1999, pp. 128–129.
356. Steuer 2021, p. 444.
357. Steuer 2021, pp. 448–449.
358. Todd 1999, p. 129.
359. Steuer 2021, p. 452.
360. Steuer 2021, pp. 455–456.
361. Steuer 2021, pp. 459–460.
362. Steuer 2021, pp. 455–457.
363. Todd 1999, p. 120.
364. Steuer 2021, pp. 510–511.
365. Todd 1999, pp. 126–127.

366. Todd 1999, pp. 122–123.
367. Todd 1999, pp. 123–124.
368. Steuer 2021, p. 431.
369. Steuer 2021, pp. 430–431.
370. Banck-Burgess, Müller & Hägg 2010, p. 1214.
371. Banck-Burgess, Müller & Hägg 2010, pp. 1214–1215.
373. Todd 1999, p. 131.
374. Banck-Burgess, Müller & Hägg 2010, pp. 1221–1222.
376. Steuer 2021, pp. 433–434.
377. Murdoch 2004, p. 64.
378. Todd 1999, p. 92.
379. Steuer 2021, pp. 1274–1275.
380. Todd 1999, p. 98.
381. Todd 1999, p. 88.
382. Todd 1999, p. 89.
383. Murdoch 2004, p. 65.
384. Todd 1999, p. 95.
385. Murdoch 2004, p. 66.
386. Steuer 2021, p. 461.
387. Todd 1999, p. 87.
388. Steuer 2021, pp. 463–469.
389. Todd 1999, pp. 87–88.
390. Todd 1999, p. 101.
391. Halsall 2014, p. 518.
392. Brather, Heizmann & Patzold 2021, pp. 32–33.
393. Manco 2013, p. 208.
394. Donecker 2020, p. 68.
395. Beck 2004, pp. 25–26.
396. Donecker 2020, pp. 67–71.
397. Donecker 2020, p. 75.
398. Donecker 2020, p. 76.
399. Steinacher 2020, p. 40.
400. Donecker 2020, pp. 80–84.
402. Beck 2004, pp. 26–27.
403. Beck 2004, p. 27.
404. Mosse 1964, pp. 67–71.
406. Derry 2012, pp. 27, 220, 238–248.
407. Todd 1999, pp. 251–252.
408. Halsall 2007, p. 14.
410. Kaiser 2007, p. 379.
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5/27/22, 7:07 PM Germanic peoples - Wikipedia

Modern definitions and controversies

There are a number of inconsistencies in the listing

Although Proto-Germanic is reconstructed without dialects via the comparative method, it is

In the absence of earlier evidence, it must be assumed

The Germanic languages are traditionally divided between

Northwest Germanic: mainly characterized by the i-umlaut,

culture towards modern-day Denmark, resulting in

Generally, scholars agree that it is possible to speak

Earliest recorded history

Another eastern people known from about 200 BCE, and

Roman Imperial Period to 375

Early Roman Imperial period (27 BCE–166 CE)

Throughout the reign of Augustus—from 27 BCE

However, within this period two Germanic kings

The century after the Batavian Revolt saw mostly peace

Marcomannic Wars to 375 CE

The period after the Marconmannic Wars saw

Migration Period (ca. 375–568)

The Migration Period is traditionally cited by historian as

Early Migration Period (before 375–420)

Other Goths, including those of Athanaric, continued to live

After the death of Attila (453–568)

In 455, in the aftermath of the death of Aetius in 453 and the

Early Middle Ages to c. 800

former Roman elites but remained centered on a Frankish

Following their invasion in 568, the Lombards quickly

period after the Germanic languages had become distinct from

Like their neighbors and other historically related peoples, the

A goddess associated with extensions of the

Germanic mythology and religious practice is of particular interest to Indo-Europeanists, scholars

Germanic peoples began entering the Roman Empire in

Society and culture

Christian influence and often with the help of Roman

Although Germanic law never appears to have been a

Germanic personal names are commonly dithematic,

One point of debate surrounding Germanic name-giving

Poetry and legend

Warfare seems to have been a constant in Germanic

The earliest writing system used by the Germanic-speaking

Economy and material culture

Agriculture and population density

Despite the claims of Roman writers such as Tacitus that the

Clothing and textiles

Clothing does not generally preserve well archaeologically.

slaves were also a major commodity.[385]

Products imported from Rome are found

b. Rübekeil 2017, pp. 996–997: West Germanic: "There seems to be a principal distinction

6. Wolfram 1988, p. 5.

52. Wolters 2001, p. 567.

139. Pohl 2004a, p. 17.

185. Halsall 2007, p. 199.

231. Todd 1999, p. 200, 240.

273. Simek 1993, pp. 204–205.

319. Steuer 2021, p. 674.

365. Todd 1999, pp. 126–127.

Fortson, Benjamin W. (2004). Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction (https://book

Padberg, Lutz E. V. (2010) [2007]. "Zwangsbekehrung". Germanische Altertumskunde Online (http

Stenton, Frank (1971). Anglo-Saxon England (3 ed.). Oxford University Press.

Agathias, Histories (https://books.google.com/books?id=Wp92bUzuMoQC)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Germanic_peoples&oldid=1088326057"

This page was last edited on 17 May 2022, at 07:18.

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0;

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