ABSTRACT
We have now reached the point where writing enters the history of the Germanic language. From the late eighth century until the invention of the phonograph in the nineteenth we are almost entirely dependent for our knowledge of German on written and printed records. In this chapter, therefore, we shall look briefly at the provenance of the German alphabet and its development in writing and printing till our own day. Readers who wish to omit this excursus should turn to Chapter 5.
