Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/20

xiv When the linguistic influence of the West had reached its culminating point, Slavonic began to make itself felt on the German Eastern marches. As it was due to neighbourly intercourse among the border tribes, it was at first insignificant and harmless. But several words which came to light in this way, such as, , , , , and , gradually won for themselves from the 13th century a place in the language of our literature.

These are in their main features the facts of those periods of the history of the German language whose material has furnished the essential contents of the present work. In those periods lie the beginnings of most of the words whose origin demands a stricter etymological investigation.