Kontinentalwestgermanisch
German[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From kontinental (“continental”) + Westgermanisch (“West Germanic”).
Not necessarily calqued on, but likely reinforced by Dutch Continentaalwestgermaans/Continentaal-Westgermaans/continentaal-westgermaans. Dutch linguists increasingly rejected the use of Deutsch/Duits(ch) for the entire continuum, because this use may suggest that Dutch somehow split off from the common source (when in fact all lects evolved continuously by diverging from each other and influencing each other at the same time).
Pronunciation[edit]
Proper noun[edit]
Kontinentalwestgermanisch n (language name, genitive Kontinentalwestgermanisch or Kontinentalwestgermanischs, alternative nominative (used with the definite article) Kontinentalwestgermanische, alternative genitive Kontinentalwestgermanischen, no plural)
- (linguistics) Continental West Germanic (continuum in continental Europe among the descendants of Old High German, Old Dutch, Old Saxon, and (though sometimes excluded) Old Frisian)
- Synonyms: (archaic) Deutsch, Gesamtdeutsch, (neologisms) Theodisk