Frankish language

Frankish (reconstructed endonym: *Frankisk), also known as Old Franconian or Old Frankish, was the West Germanic language spoken by the Franks from the 5th to 10th centuries.

Franks under king Chlodio settled in Roman Gaul in the 5th century. One of his successors, named Clovis I, took over the Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis (in modern day France). Outnumbered by the local populace, the ruling Franks there adapted to its language which was a Proto-Romance dialect. However, many modern French words and place names are still of Frankish origin.

Between the 5th and 10th centuries, Frankish spoken in Northeastern France, present-day Belgium, and the Netherlands is subsequently referred to as Old Dutch, whereas the Frankish varieties spoken in the Rhineland were heavily influenced by Elbe Germanic dialects and the Second Germanic consonant shift and formed part of the modern Central Franconian and Rhine Franconian dialects of German and Luxembourgish.

The Old Frankish language is poorly attested and mostly reconstructed from Frankish loanwords in Old French, and inherited words in Old Dutch, as recorded between the 6th to 12th centuries. A notable exception is the Bergakker inscription, which may represent a primary record of 5th-century Frankish, though it is debated whether the inscription is written in Frankish, or Old Dutch.