Note that Middle High German is not a single uniform language; the term refers to any Germanic variety affected by the High German consonant shift from 1050–1500 C.E., meaning there was plenty of variation and change in pronunciation across time and space. Unless otherwise noted, the pronunciation discussed here and given in entries represents normalised "classical" Middle High German, an idealisation of the language of around 1200 C.E. developed by 19th-century German philologist Karl Lachmann; sounds in parentheses represent special dialectal developments that do not occur in this norm.
^ Unlike in modern standard German, orthographic sequences of two identical consonants are pronounced as a geminate (lengthened) consonant; though in late Middle High German geminates are reduced to single consonants (although not before open-syllable lengthening or in some dialects, which still remain gemination today).
↑ 2.02.12.22.3/b/, /v/, /d/, [z̠], /ɡ/ were likely lenis consonants [b̥], [v̥], [d̥], [z̠̊], [ɡ̊] rather than true voiced consonants, as in most modern German dialects.
↑ 3.03.13.2/t/, /d/, /n/ may have been dental [t̪], [d̪~d̪̊], [n̪].
↑ 4.04.14.2During the Old High German period, initial /f/, /s̠/ were voiced to /v/, [z̠], though this voicing did not occur everywhere, with that of /s̠/ being more common than that of /f/. Note that the voicing of /s̠/ is not indicated in Wiktionary's pronunciations since there is no position where [s̠] and [z̠] contrast, unlike /f/ and /v/.
↑ 5.05.15.25.35.4/p/, /p͡f/, /t/, /t͡s/, /k/ were probably [pʰ], [p͡fʰ], [tʰ], [t͡sʰ], [kʰ] in some positions, as in modern German.
^ Not found in normalised Middle High German, but in Upper German, though even there often replaced with /k/ or /x/.
^ Words which have /ŋ/ in modern standard German usually have the cluster /nɡ/ (pronounced [ŋɡ]) in Middle High German. Similarly, the combination /nk/ is pronounced [ŋk].
^ During the late Middle High German period, /s̠/ becomes /ʃ/ after /r/ and before /l/, /m/, /n/, /p/, /t/, /w/ word-initially.
^ It is usually believed that the sequence -sch- was still a consonant cluster /s̠x/ in early Middle High German.
^ As in modern German, /x/ may have had a backed articulation [χ] after back vowels and a fronted articulation [ç] after front vowels. However, unlike in the modern standard, there are no grounds for considering the fronted articulation to be contrastive.
^ By the late Middle High German period, /w/ usually fortifies to [β] (the modern standard German pronunciation /v/ is a more recent development), except often after vowels and diphthongs (exceptionlessly after those with a rounded final element), where it is lost, and in the sequence /aːw/, which sometimes develops to /aʊ̯/. This does not merge with /v/, which devoices to /f/.
^ Only usual, non-conditioned reflexes are shown here; special developments or dialects/languages which develop differently from modern standard German, such as Bavarian, Luxembourgish, and Yiddish, are not dealt with.
↑ 14.014.114.2The three mid front unrounded vowels are not distinguished in all dialects.
↑ 15.015.115.215.315.4For speakers who keep them apart, the distribution of modern standard German /ɛː/ and /eː/ is more analogical than etymological: words transparently derived from words with /aː/ are spelt with <ä> and pronounced with /ɛː/, while the remainder are spelt with <e> and pronounced /eː/. However, words that had /eː/ in Middle High German retain it in modern German since they tend to lack such transparent derivations (as /eː/ derives from sources other than Germanic umlaut); contrarily, those which had /æ/ and were subject to open-syllable lengthening have /ɛː/ since they typically possess these transparent derivations (as /æ/ derives from the relatively recent process of "secondary umlaut"). This distribution originated due to the mixture of different dialects where the Middle High German mid front unrounded vowels merged in different ways and at different times, then subsequent analogical generalisation of /ɛː/ at the expense of /eː/.
^ This sound may be analysed as an allophone of /ɛ/ in unstressed position; it is possible that it was pronounced as [ɛ], as in Alemannic German.
↑ 18.018.118.218.318.418.5Middle High German front rounded vowels occasionally become unrounded due to the influence of dialects where this unrounding is regular (e.g. küssen > Kissen). Contrastingly, especially when adjacent to labials, front unrounded vowels may sporadically become rounded (e.g. vinf > fünf).
↑ 19.019.1Bavarian, Alemannic, and Central Franconian distinguish between /yː/, from Old High German /uː/, /iu̯/ when subject to umlaut (i.e. [yː], [iy̯]) on one hand and /iu/, from non-umlauted /iu̯/ on the other.
^ It is traditionally held that the Old High German sequence -awi- merged with /ou/ that had undergone Germanic umlaut as Middle High German /øy/. However, an alternative hypothesis that these two sounds were still separated in Middle High German (and Early New High German) as /eu̯/ and /øy̯/ respectively, since they exhibit different orthographic patterns. This is not reflected in Wiktionary's transcriptions pronunciation since it has yet to receive sufficient evaluation.
Cercignani, Fausto (9 February 2022), “The development of the Old High German umlauted vowels and the reflex of New High German /ɛː/ in Present Standard German”, in Linguistik online[1], volume 113, number 1, Bern: Universitätsbibliothek Bern, →DOI, →OCLC, pages 45-57
