The Germanic languages comprise one branch of the Indo-European language family. They can be divided into three groups: West Germanic, North Germanic and East Germanic. The East Germanic group includes Gothic, a language which is now extinct.
The West Germanic group includes English, Dutch, German, Afrikaans, Yiddish and Frisian. The North Germanic group includes Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic and Faeroese. Of the two groups, the West Germanic has far more speakers.
Among the earliest Germanic texts is the Gothic Bible, which was translated around 350 AD. From around 200 AD inscriptions were carved into the runic alphabet. However, later Germanic texts mostly used adaptations of the Latin alphabet.
The Germanic languages include two of the most widely-spoken languages in the world, English and German. They both belong to the West Germanic group. The most-widely spoken North Germanic language is Swedish. All the languages of the East Germanic group are now extinct.
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