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Old High German literature refers toliterature written inOld High German, from the earliest texts in the 8th century to the middle of the 11th century.
The term "literature" as it is used in connection with Old High German has a broader scope than for later periods in the history of German: it is not restricted to imaginative works but encompasses everything written in the language, including prayers and theological works as well as verse narratives.[1][2] The surviving texts were written exclusively byclerics, in the mainmonks in a small number of monasticscriptoria, and serve almost entirely the purposes of the church in a region that was still being fully Christianized. Pre-Christian and non-clerical literary traditions are reflected in a small number of works, such as theHildebrandslied and thecharms, but otherwise there is little surviving evidence of theoral culture which must have been present outside clerical circles.[3]
The earliest texts date from the second half of the 8th century: translation aids (glosses andglossaries) for those learning to readLatin and translations of Latin Christian texts (prayers,creeds,confessions) for use inmissionary or pastoral work among the lay population. Translations and, later, adaptations of Latin Christian texts, continue throughout the period, and are seen inOtfrid'sgospel harmony in the 9th century and the extensive works ofNotker III in the early 11th century. After Notker, there is gap of some 40 years before evidence of a new tradition of biblical verse in a form of language now called EarlyMiddle High German, which is followed by the flourishing secular literature of Middle High German.[4]
The Old High German period sees the first attempts to use the Latin alphabet for writing German, something whichOtfrid of Weissenburg, writing c. 830, recognized as fraught with difficulty.[5] As Murdoch explains, "Written down without prescriptive rules in more or less isolated monasteries, then, it is to be expected that Old High (and Old Low) German texts show a bewildering amount of linguistic variation."[6] The result is that there is no standard Old High German — each text presents a particular dialect (or dialect mixture), and in the absence of contemporary evidence for dialect boundaries, they have been termed "monastery dialects" (GermanKlosterdialekte).[7]
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The most famous work in OHG is theHildebrandslied, a short piece of Germanic alliterative heroic verse which besides theMuspilli is the sole survivor of what must have been a vast oral tradition.
Works include the shortLudwigslied, celebrating the victory of theFrankish army, led byLouis III of France, over Danish (Viking) raiders at theBattle of Saucourt-en-Vimeu on 3 August 881. There is also the incompleteDas Georgslied about the life ofSaint George, and theWessobrunn Prayer, a praise of Creation and a plea for strength to withstand sin.
Works include theEvangelienbuch ofOtfrid von Weissenburg, the Latin-German dictionaryAbrogans, the magicalMerseburg Charms and the Old High German translation of the theologianTatian'sGospel harmony.
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