National Karl Day – July 4, 2024

History of National Karl Day

German is a West Germanic language that belongs to the Indo-European language family that is spoken in many parts of the world, specifically concentrated in central Europe. It is one of the official languages of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, certain provinces of Italy, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Namibia. It shares several significant commonalities with languages like Dutch, English, Luxembourgish, and Yiddish. German happens to be one of the most widely spoken Germanic languages — the second most, actually.

The language itself has undergone a great deal of transformation over its lifetime. The first time German was seen as an independent language was when the High German consonant shift happened and disguised the language from Old Saxon. Over time, the language morphed into what it considered Middle High German. Though it is commonly dated between 1050 and 1350. Early New High German came next, its development was seen as the beginning of Modern High German. This happened when the German states were still under the Holy Roman Empire, however, the desire for German unification drove the development of a more cohesive written language. The early 20th century saw the standardization of Standard High German, forming the closest base of the German language spoken today.

Through the course of the development of German, names also continuously developed and changed. Karl, for instance, is a conventionally masculine name of Germanic origin. It means ‘free man.’ Despite its German origin, the name is commonly found in individuals of German, Dutch, Scandinavian, and Slavic descent. It is closely related to the names ‘Carl’ and ‘Charles.’ One of the most famous instances of someone with this name was Emperor Charlemagne, who was also known as Charles I or Charles the Great.