The English word for "Germany"

>it evolved into Old Low Frankish/ Old Dutch, and it influenced certain High German dialects.<

No, it's the other way round, the Middle German dialects have their origin in Old Frankish while they were also partly influenced by Old High German which developed in the south of Germany! Do you really believe that those Franks who were living in present-day Central Germany spoke a dialect other than Old Frankish...?

>>No, it's the other way round, the Middle German dialects have their origin in Old Frankish while they were also partly influenced by Old High German which developed in the south of Germany! Do you really believe that those Franks who were living in present-day Central Germany spoke a dialect other than Old Frankish...? <<

Yes, at the time of Charlemagne they did.

And just for the record, people in Central Germany have High German dialects, as they have experienced the High German consonant shift

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benrather_line

Believe me, Middle German dialects, have their origins in Old High German, not Old Frankish as it was not "high".Dialects like Franconian German might have a Frankish substrate or influence, but Frankish is not their direct ancestor.

You guys make it sound as if Low and High German were/are two distinct languages with a sharp divide. Are you sure about that?

I have always though of it more as a dialect continuum.

>>I have always though of it more as a dialect continuum. <<

Check your watch Frederik, it's running 60 years late. That dialect contiuum has been dead for decades. ;-)

And I would not underestimate the difference between Dutch and German frederik, its really big, and nothing compared to ... let's say Danish and Bokmal.

Of course at both extremes of the dialect continuum, let's say Bavaria and Holland, you indeed have to different languages, as they are not at all mutually understandable.

But can you really group Mitteldeutsch so 100 % as Hochdeutsch. After all there are several of these lines, from the Benratherlinie to the Mainlinie.

Looks like your quarrel is a well-lnown one. Wikipedia writes, under "Fränkische Sprqachen":
"Unter Sprachwissenschaftlern gibt es sehr unterschiedliche Auffassungen darüber, ob und inwieweit die fränkischen Sprachen und Mundarten tatsächlich eine "Sprachfamilie" darstellen. Dazu müsste in sprachvergleichenden Untersuchungen der - bis jetzt fehlende - Nachweis gelingen, dass sich die heutigen fränkischen Sprachen und Dialekte sprachgeschichtlich aus einem ursprünglichen Fränkisch entwickelt haben."

>> Of course at both extremes of the dialect continuum, let's say Bavaria and Holland, you indeed have to different languages, as they are not at all mutually understandable. <<

Corr. There is no dialect continuum ;-)

>>But can you really group Mitteldeutsch so 100 % as Hochdeutsch. After all there are several of these lines, from the Benratherlinie to the Mainlinie. <<

If it experienced the high German consonant shift its hard not do so.

And yes... it's a well known source of debating.
This page makes it quite clear,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankish_language
I found this one quite interesting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlemagne#Language
This was nothing new - to me-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Frankish

Very interesting!

Would you please explain why there is no dialect continuum? After all, there are similar dialects on both sides of the German-Dutch border (e.g. Limburgs).

>>Would you please explain why there is no dialect continuum? <<

Standardizing in the early 16th century and mass education in the 19th.

Of course, on the standard level German stops at the border and Dutch takes over and vice versa.
But on the dialect level there are surely many people who chat with each other across the Dutch-German border, across the Low-Franconian-High Franconian border and across the Franconian-Swabian border.

>>But on the dialect level there are surely many people who chat with each other across the Dutch-German border, across the Low-Franconian-High Franconian border and across the Franconian-Swabian border<<

Sorry, thats not the case anymore. The German Dutch dialect continuum is dead.

Japanese - ??? (doitsu).
Korean - ?? (dok-il)

I just found this one and I thought to contribute something:

"people in Central Germany have High German dialects, as they have experienced the High German consonant shift"

Central German, also known as Middle German, is distinguished from Upper German by having experienced only the first and fourth phases of the High German consonant shift!

"Middle German dialects, have their origins in Old High German, not Old Frankish as it was not "high"...

So, what do you think did Old High German originate from???...from
Slavic or Latin...??
The alemannic dialect faced the consonant shift as a whole and this influenced some other dialects of german! Because of the fact that the Middle German dialects never had experienced all phases of the consonant shift, is a proof of being only influenced by it!

the french are slavic in fact, that explains everything.

The above post is not from me. Another one of the impersonators having a good time at our expense. Looks like someone escaped from the loony bin.