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So one of the most distinctive features of the Germanic languages is Grimm's sound shift. Among other changes, it's why (for example) Latin P often corresponds with English F, Latin T with English Þ, Latin C with English C, Latin Qu with English Wh, etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimm%27s_law
At times I've thought that the shift happened in the Roman period. Because the Cimbri and Teutones, whom Marius defeated in the 2nd century BCE, are often supposed to be Germanic peoples, possibly from Jutland, and their names don't show any such shift. And because the Chatii, Cheruscii, etc. who lived in what's now Germany in the 1st Century CE, are Germanic peoples and their names appar to be mid-shift.
Anyway, ran across the same theory elsewhere online.
I am not a linguist, but I am pretty sure it's wrong. Because the Germanic languages borrow a lot of political and military vocubulary from the Celtic languages, and these don't show the shift, so they must have borrowed these after the shift. And they probably borrowed these during periods of Gallic hegemony, rather than Roman hegemony. The most prominent example is perhaps Gallic rix, "ruler," yielding for example Gothic reiks rather than *reihs. D.H. Green notes Gallic celicnon, "tower," which yields Gothic kelikn, rather than *helihn.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimm%27s_law
At times I've thought that the shift happened in the Roman period. Because the Cimbri and Teutones, whom Marius defeated in the 2nd century BCE, are often supposed to be Germanic peoples, possibly from Jutland, and their names don't show any such shift. And because the Chatii, Cheruscii, etc. who lived in what's now Germany in the 1st Century CE, are Germanic peoples and their names appar to be mid-shift.
Anyway, ran across the same theory elsewhere online.
I am not a linguist, but I am pretty sure it's wrong. Because the Germanic languages borrow a lot of political and military vocubulary from the Celtic languages, and these don't show the shift, so they must have borrowed these after the shift. And they probably borrowed these during periods of Gallic hegemony, rather than Roman hegemony. The most prominent example is perhaps Gallic rix, "ruler," yielding for example Gothic reiks rather than *reihs. D.H. Green notes Gallic celicnon, "tower," which yields Gothic kelikn, rather than *helihn.
