Low German
Low German, being at the crossroads between High German, Anglo-Frisian and Low Franconian has a less clear-cut linguistic history, epitomizing that the West Germanic group is really a dialect continuum. It was strongly influenced by Anglo-Frisian in Early Medieval times, and by High German during the duration of the Holy Roman Empire. After the end of the Hanseatic League in the 17th century, Low German was marginalized to the status of local dialects.
Read more about this topic: History Of German
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