page_title: Von Wartburg Line
hierarchical_section_title: Von Wartburg Line
context_page_description: The von Wartburg line is the name commonly given to a language border highlighted by Walther von Wartburg in his 1939 study, Die Entstehung der romanischen Völker. This line enables a distinction between the northern and southern varieties of Gallo-Romance languages in the 9th century. It was identified for the first time by Jakob Jud.
  According to Walther von Wartburg, this linguistic border is the result of Frankish settlement "north of the Loire River" and corresponds to the political and ethnic border that took form around the year 500 between the Frankish kingdom of Neustria in the north, and Aquitaine and Burgundy in the south. For other linguists, the Vulgar Latin spoken in northern Gaul was already different before the Franks' arrival.
  With time, this line moved south until becoming the current border of Oïl languages, and Occitan and Franco-Provençal.
context_section_description: The von Wartburg line (or Nantes-Épinal line) is the name commonly given to a language border highlighted by Walther von Wartburg in his 1939 study, Die Entstehung der romanischen Völker (The origins of the Romance peoples). This line enables a distinction between the northern and southern varieties of Gallo-Romance languages in the 9th century. It was identified for the first time by Jakob Jud.
  According to Walther von Wartburg, this linguistic border is the result of Frankish settlement "north of the Loire River" and corresponds to the political and ethnic border that took form around the year 500 between the Frankish kingdom of Neustria in the north, and Aquitaine and Burgundy in the south. For other linguists, the Vulgar Latin spoken in northern Gaul was already different before the Franks' arrival.
  With time, this line moved south until becoming the current border of Oïl languages, and Occitan and Franco-Provençal.
caption: Languages of the Gallo-Romance sprachbund:
  1 Current limits of the Occitan language
  2 Old limits of the Occitan language[3]
  3 Current limits of Franco-Provençal[4]
  4 Old limits of Francoprovencal[5]
  5 Southern limits of the French language in the 8th century (von Wartburg line)
  6 Southern limits of the French language in the 13th century[3]
  7 Limits of Breton in the 19th century
  8 Limits of Breton in the 9th century
  9 Current limits of Germanic languages in France
  10 Historical extent of Oïl languages[3]
  11 Historical extent of Germanic languages in France