Subgroups and georaphic distribution of germanic languages

North Germanic Languages group

• Beginning the 8th c. Scandinavians set up many colonies in many territories:
• Overrun the Northern France and settled in Normandy. Here they adopted French language
• Crossing the Baltic Sea they came to Russia – the “varyagi” of the Russian chronicles
• Crossing the North Sea they made attacks on English Coastal towns and occupied the territory of England

North Germanic Languages group

• The North Germanic Languages Subgroup:
• Danish
• Swedish
• Norwegian
• Icelandic
• Faroese

North Germanic Languages group

• In the 9th century Scandinavians occupied the territory of Iceland and Faroe Islands
• In both territories independent languages – Icelandic and Faroese were developed
• Faroese is spoken nowadays by about 30000 people
• Written records of Icelandic dated from the 12th-13th c.
• Written records of Faroese dated back to 18th c