Ripuarian Franconian

The Ripuarian Franconians are the people of Cologne Bay in the Rhineland, whose West Central German dialects form the Ripuarian group. Their name comes from the Ripuarian Franks, who settled around Cologne from the 4th century. Their fighters served Aetius against Attila at the Catalaunian Plains in 451, and the 7th-century Lex Ripuaria governed the country around Cologne and Bonn.

The dialect area runs south of the Benrath line from Düsseldorf and Cologne to Aachen, crossing into eastern Belgium and Dutch Limburg. Its best-known variety is Kölsch, the speech of Cologne. Local forms are separated by the isoglosses known as the Rhenish fan.

Shaped by Latin, Low German, Dutch and French influence, Ripuarian remained the everyday speech of townspeople and villagers. Free imperial cities such as Cologne and Aachen grew rich on trade and church politics within the Holy Roman Empire.