Germanic

views updated May 21 2018

Ger·man·ic / jərˈmanik/ • adj. 1. of, relating to, or denoting the branch of the Indo-European language family that includes English, German, Dutch, Frisian, the Scandinavian languages, and Gothic. ∎  of, relating to, or denoting the peoples of ancient northern and western Europe speaking such languages.2. having characteristics of or attributed to Germans or Germany: she had an almost Germanic regard for order.• n. the Germanic languages collectively. See also East Germanic, North Germanic, West Germanic. ∎  the unrecorded ancient language from which these developed, thought to have been spoken on the shores of the Baltic Sea in the 3rd millennium BC. Also called Proto-Germanic.