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high german

 - 4 dictionary results

High German

 
Use high german in a Sentence
–noun
1. the group of West Germanic languages that in a.d. c400–c500 underwent the second consonant shift described by Grimm's Law. Abbreviation: HG
2. German (def. 4).
Origin:
1700–10

Ger⋅man

  [jur-muhn]
–adjective
1. of or pertaining to Germany, its inhabitants, or their language.
–noun
2. a native or inhabitant of Germany.
3. a descendant of a native of Germany.
4. Also called High German. an Indo-European language that is based on a High German dialect, is official in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and is also widely used as an international language for scholarship and science. Abbreviation: G, G.
5. Linguistics. any variety of West Germanic speech native to Germany, Austria, or Switzerland.
6. (usually lowercase) an elaborate social dance resembling a cotillion.
7. (lowercase) New England and South Atlantic States. a dancing party featuring the german.
Origin:
1520–30; < L Germānus German; c. Gk Germanoí (pl.)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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High German   (hī)   
n.  

  1. German as indigenously spoken and written in Austria, Switzerland, and central and southern Germany.

  2. The standard variety of German used as the official language in Germany and Austria and as one of the official languages in Switzerland.


[Translation of German Hochdeutsch : hoch, high (from the mountainous terrain of the area in which it originated) + Deutsch, German.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

German  (2)
"Teuton," 1530, from L. Germanus, first attested in writings of Julius Caesar, who used Germani to designate a group of tribes in northeastern Gaul, origin unknown, probably the name of an individual tribe. It is perhaps of Gaulish (Celtic) origin, perhaps originally meaning "noisy" (cf. O.Ir. garim "to shout") or "neighbor" (cf. O.Ir. gair "neighbor"). The earlier Eng. word was Almain or Dutch. Their name for themselves was the root word of modern Ger. Deutsch (see Dutch). Roman writers also used Teutoni as a German tribal name, and Latin writers after about 875 commonly refer to the German language as teutonicus. See also Alemanni. The German shepherd (dog) (1922) translates Ger. deutscher Schäferhund
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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