The East Germanic subgroup was formed by the tribes who returned from Scandinavia at the beginning of our era. The most numerous and powerful of them were the Goths. They were among the first Teutons to leave the coast of the Baltic Sea and start on their great migrations.

The Gothic language, now dead, has been preserved in written records of the 4th-6th c. The Goths were the first of the Teutons to become Christians. Parts of Uflilas' Gospels--a manuscript of about two hundred pages, probably made in the 5th or 6th c. - have been preserved and are kept now in Uppsala, Sweden.