About Proto-Germanic

[Jaska]

old europe:

“FWIW given the fact that I have no horse in the race on the issue of proto-germanic I would say that it could not be accurate to say that the first evidence of proto germanic is attested only in Scandinavia in the first centuries CE. There is the Negau helmet inscriptions in Slovenia dated at circa 300/200 BC and at the same latitude of northern Italy. The inscription in now universally considered germanic:”

I have only said that the early runic inscriptions are Northwest Germanic > Proto-Scandinavian.

There are indeed earlier attestations of Germanic words and names. These represent very archaic language stage, practically Proto-Germanic. 

old europe:

“So the presence of protogermanic folks in 500 BC in the Elbe region is quite sure.
Of course everything depends on WHEN exactly protogermanic is dated.”

Yes, I agree that the presence of Germanic lineage in Central Europe is that early, and probably even much earlier (since Pre-Germanic times). But this cannot change the result that Northwest Germanic and East Germanic expansions seem to have begun from Scandinavia. Therefore, all the later and still extant Germanic languages are descendants of these proto-dialects from the north. By definition, this means that all the earlier representatives of the Germanic lineage in Central Europe are labeled Para-Germanic ( = cousins or aunts of the actual Germanic languages).

So, there was an update of closely related language form from the north, leading to the known West Germanic languages, and Para-Germanic itself has no survived offsprings. Still, the early written examples most probably represent Para-Germanic languages.