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(Redirected from Grimm\'s Law)
'Grimm's law' (also known as the First Germanic Sound Shift) is a set of statements describing the inherited Proto-Indo-European (PIE) stops as they developed in Proto-Germanic (PGmc, the common ancestor of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European family) in the 1st millennium BC. It establishes a set of regular correspondences between early Germanic stops and fricatives and the stop consonants of certain other Indo-European languages (Grimm used mostly Latin and Greek for illustration). As it is presently formulated, Grimm's Law consists of three parts, which must be thought of as three consecutive phases in the sense of a chain shift:
#Proto-Indo-European voiceless stops change into voiceless fricatives.
#Proto-Indo-European voiced stops become voiceless.
#Proto-Indo-European voiced aspirated stops lose their aspiration and change into plain voiced stops.
The voiced aspirated stops may have first become voiced fricatives before hardening to the voiced unaspirated stops "b", "d", and "g" under certain conditions, however some linguists dispute this. See Proto-Germanic phonology.
Grimm's law was the first non-trivial systematic sound change to be discovered in linguistics; its formulation was a turning point in the development of linguistics, enabling the introduction of a rigorous methodology to historical linguistic research. The "law" was discovered by Friedrich von Schlegel in 1806 and Rasmus Christian Rask in 1818, and later elaborated (i.e. extended to include standard German) in 1822 by Jacob Grimm, the elder of the Brothers Grimm, in his book ''Deutsche Grammatik''. Some scholars use the term 'Rask's-Grimm's rule'.
Further changes following Grimm's Law, as well as sound changes in other Indo-European languages, can sometimes obscure its effects. The most illustrative examples are used here.
★ 'Note:' Some linguists dispute the origin of the word "wife". The current assumed root word is Proto-Indo-European .
This is strikingly regular. Each phase involves one single change which applies equally to the labials () and their equivalent dentals (), velars () and rounded velars (). The first phase left the phoneme repertoire of the language without voiceless stops, the second phase filled this gap but created a new one, and so on until the chain had run its course.
The voiceless stops did not become fricatives if they were preceded by ''
★ s'' (itself a fricative).
★ 'Note:' Some linguists dispute the origin of the word "scold" but
★ skwetlo is the current assumed root.
Furthermore, the voiceless stop ''
★ t'' also did not become a fricative if preceded by ''
★ p,
★ k,'' or '' (themselves voiceless stops). The voiceless stop it was preceded by did fricativize, however. ''(In other words, at the time in history when voiceless stops fricativized in Proto-Germanic, that fricativization only affected leading voiceless stops 'when paired' with the voiceless stop ''
★ t''.)'' This is sometimes treated separately under the heading Germanic spirant law:
The most recalcitrant set of apparent exceptions to Grimm's Law, which defied linguists for a few decades, eventually received explanation from the Danish linguist Karl Verner (see the article on Verner's law for details).
The Germanic "sound laws", combined with regular changes reconstructed for other Indo-European languages, allow one to define the expected sound correspondences between different branches of the family. For example, Germanic (word-initial)
★ b- corresponds regularly to Latin
★ f-, Greek '', Sanskrit '', Slavic, Baltic or Celtic ''b-'', etc., while Germanic
★ f- corresponds to Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, Slavic and Baltic ''p-'' and to zero (no initial consonant) in Celtic. The former set goes back to PIE
★ (faithfully reflected in Sanskrit and modified in various ways elsewhere), and the latter set to PIE
★ p- (shifted in Germanic, lost in Celtic, but preserved in the other groups mentioned here).
★ Verner's law
★ High German consonant shift
★ Glottalic theory
★ Observations named after people
'Grimm's law' (also known as the First Germanic Sound Shift) is a set of statements describing the inherited Proto-Indo-European (PIE) stops as they developed in Proto-Germanic (PGmc, the common ancestor of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European family) in the 1st millennium BC. It establishes a set of regular correspondences between early Germanic stops and fricatives and the stop consonants of certain other Indo-European languages (Grimm used mostly Latin and Greek for illustration). As it is presently formulated, Grimm's Law consists of three parts, which must be thought of as three consecutive phases in the sense of a chain shift:
#Proto-Indo-European voiceless stops change into voiceless fricatives.
#Proto-Indo-European voiced stops become voiceless.
#Proto-Indo-European voiced aspirated stops lose their aspiration and change into plain voiced stops.
The voiced aspirated stops may have first become voiced fricatives before hardening to the voiced unaspirated stops "b", "d", and "g" under certain conditions, however some linguists dispute this. See Proto-Germanic phonology.
Grimm's law was the first non-trivial systematic sound change to be discovered in linguistics; its formulation was a turning point in the development of linguistics, enabling the introduction of a rigorous methodology to historical linguistic research. The "law" was discovered by Friedrich von Schlegel in 1806 and Rasmus Christian Rask in 1818, and later elaborated (i.e. extended to include standard German) in 1822 by Jacob Grimm, the elder of the Brothers Grimm, in his book ''Deutsche Grammatik''. Some scholars use the term 'Rask's-Grimm's rule'.
| Contents |
| In detail |
| Exceptions |
| Correspondences to PIE |
| See also |
In detail
Further changes following Grimm's Law, as well as sound changes in other Indo-European languages, can sometimes obscure its effects. The most illustrative examples are used here.
| Change | Germanic (shifted) examples | Non-Germanic (unshifted) cognates |
|---|---|---|
| ★ p→f | English: ''foot,'' Dutch: ''voet,'' German: ''Fuß,'' Gothic: ''fōtus,'' Icelandic, Faroese: ''fótur,'' Danish: ''fod,'' Norwegian, Swedish: ''fot'' | Ancient Greek: ''πούς (pūs),'' Latin: ''pēs, pedis,'' Sanskrit: ''pāda'', Russian: ''под'' (''pod''), Lithuanian: ''pėda'', |
| ★ t→þ | English: ''third,'' Old High German: ''thritto,'' Gothic: ''þridja,'' Faroese: ''triðji'', Icelandic: ''þriðji'' | Ancient Greek: ''τρίτος (tritos),'' Latin: ''tertius'', Gaelic ''treas'', Sanskrit: ''treta'', Russian: ''третий'' (''tretij''), Lithuanian: ''trečias'' |
| ★ k→x (x later became h) | English: ''hound,'' Dutch: ''hond,'' German: ''Hund,'' Gothic: ''hunds,'' Icelandic, Faroese: ''hundur,'' Danish, Norwegian, Swedish: ''hund'' | Ancient Greek: ''κύων (kýōn),'' Latin: ''canis'', Gaelic ''cú' |
| ★ →hw | English: ''what,'' Dutch: ''wat,'' German: ''was,'' Gothic: '' ("hwa"),'' Danish ''hvad,'' Icelandic: ''hvað'', Faroese ''hvat'', Norwegian: ''hva'' | Latin: ''quod'', Gaelic ''ciod'', Sanskrit ''ka-, kiṃ'', Russian: ''ко-'' (''ko-''), Lithuanian: ''ką' |
| ★ b→p | English: ''warp''; Swedish: ''värpa''; Dutch: ''werpen''; Faroese: ''varpa'' | Latin: ''verber'' |
| ★ d→t | English: ''ten,'' Dutch: ''tien,'' Gothic: ''taíhun,'' Icelandic: ''tíu,'' Faroese: ''tíggju,'' Danish, Norwegian: ''ti,'' Swedish: ''tio'' | Latin: ''decem'', Greek: ''δέκα'' (''déka''), Gaelic ''deich'', Sanskrit: ''daśan'', Russian: ''десять'' (''des'at''), Lithuanian: ''dešimt'', |
| ★ g→k | English: ''cold,'' Dutch: ''koud,'' German: ''kalt,'' Icelandic, Faroese: ''kaldur,'' Danish: ''kold,'' Norwegian: ''kald,'' Swedish: ''kall'', | Latin: ''gelū'' |
| ★ →kw | English: ''quick,'' Frisian: ''quick, queck'' Dutch: ''kwiek,'' German: ''keck,'' Gothic: ''qius,'' Old Norse: ''kvikr,'' Icelandic, Faroese: ''kvikur,'' Swedish: ''kvick,'' Norwegian ''kvikk'' | Lithuanian: ''gyvas'' |
| ★ →b | English: ''brother,'' Dutch: ''broeder,'' German: ''Bruder,'' Gothic: ''broþar,'' Icelandic, Faroese: ''bróðir,'' Danish, Swedish: ''broder,'' Norwegian ''bror'' | Sanskrit: ''(bhrātā)'', Russian: ''брат'' (''brat''), Lithuanian: ''brolis'', Old Church Slavonic ''bratru'' |
| ★ →d | English: ''door,'' Frisian: ''doar,'' Dutch: ''deur,'' German: ''Tür,'' Gothic: ''daúr,'' Icelandic, Faroese: ''dyr,'' Danish, Norwegian: ''dør,'' Swedish: ''dörr'' | Sanskrit: ''dwār'', Russian: ''дверь'' (''dver'), Lithuanian: ''durys'' |
| ★ →g | English: ''goose,'' Frisian: ''goes,'' Dutch: ''gans,'' German: ''Gans,'' Icelandic: ''gæs,'' Faroese: ''gás,'' Danish, Norwegian, Swedish: ''gås'' | Russian: ''гусь'' (''gus'') |
| ★ →gw | English: ''wife,'' Proto-Germanic: ''wiban'' (from former ''gwiban''), Old Saxon, Old Frisian: ''wif,'' Dutch: ''wijf,'' Old High German: ''wib,'' German: ''Weib,'' Old Norse: ''vif,'' Faroese: ''vív,'' Danish, Swedish, Norwegian: ''viv'' | Tocharian A: ''kip'', B: ''kwípe'' (vulva) |
★ 'Note:' Some linguists dispute the origin of the word "wife". The current assumed root word is Proto-Indo-European .
This is strikingly regular. Each phase involves one single change which applies equally to the labials () and their equivalent dentals (), velars () and rounded velars (). The first phase left the phoneme repertoire of the language without voiceless stops, the second phase filled this gap but created a new one, and so on until the chain had run its course.
Exceptions
The voiceless stops did not become fricatives if they were preceded by ''
★ s'' (itself a fricative).
| Change | Germanic examples | Non-Germanic examples |
|---|---|---|
| ★ sp | English: ''spew,'' Gothic: ''speiwan,'' Dutch: ''spuien,'' German: ''speien,'' Norwegian, Swedish: ''spy,'' Icelandic: ''spýja'', Faroese: ''spýggja'' | Latin: ''spuere'' |
| ★ st | English: ''stand,'' Dutch: ''staan,'' German: ''stehen,'' Icelandic, Faroese: ''standa,'' Norwegian, Swedish: ''stå'' | Latin: ''stāre'', Sanskrit: ''sta'', Russian: ''стать'' (''stat''), Lithuanian: ''stoti'' |
| ★ sk | English: ''short,'' Old Norse and Icelandic: ''skorta,'' Old High German: ''scurz | Sanskrit: ''krdhuh,'' Latin: ''curtus,'' Lithuanian: ''skurdus'' |
| ★ | English: ''scold,'' Old Norse: ''skäld,'' Icelandic: ''skáld,'' Dutch: ''schelden'' | Proto-Indo-European: '' ★ skwetlo'' |
★ 'Note:' Some linguists dispute the origin of the word "scold" but
★ skwetlo is the current assumed root.
Furthermore, the voiceless stop ''
★ t'' also did not become a fricative if preceded by ''
★ p,
★ k,'' or '' (themselves voiceless stops). The voiceless stop it was preceded by did fricativize, however. ''(In other words, at the time in history when voiceless stops fricativized in Proto-Germanic, that fricativization only affected leading voiceless stops 'when paired' with the voiceless stop ''
★ t''.)'' This is sometimes treated separately under the heading Germanic spirant law:
| Change | Germanic examples | Non-Germanic examples |
|---|---|---|
| ★ pt→ft | Gothic: ''hliftus'' "thief" | Ancient Greek: ''κλέπτης (kleptēs)'' |
| ★ kt→ht | English: ''eight,'' Dutch: ''acht,'' Frisian: ''acht,'' German: ''acht,'' Gothic: ''ahtáu'' Icelandic: ''átta'' (pronounced ) | Ancient Greek: ''οκτώ (oktō),'' Latin: ''octō'' |
| ★ →h(w)t | English: ''night,'' Old High German: ''naht,'' Old Frisian, Dutch, German: ''nacht,'' Gothic: ''nahts'' Icelandic: ''nótt'' (pronounced ) | Greek: ''nuks, nukt-,'' Latin: ''nox, noct-,'' Sanskrit: ''naktam'', Russian: ''ночь'' (''noch''), Lithuanian: ''naktis'' |
The most recalcitrant set of apparent exceptions to Grimm's Law, which defied linguists for a few decades, eventually received explanation from the Danish linguist Karl Verner (see the article on Verner's law for details).
Correspondences to PIE
The Germanic "sound laws", combined with regular changes reconstructed for other Indo-European languages, allow one to define the expected sound correspondences between different branches of the family. For example, Germanic (word-initial)
★ b- corresponds regularly to Latin
★ f-, Greek '', Sanskrit '', Slavic, Baltic or Celtic ''b-'', etc., while Germanic
★ f- corresponds to Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, Slavic and Baltic ''p-'' and to zero (no initial consonant) in Celtic. The former set goes back to PIE
★ (faithfully reflected in Sanskrit and modified in various ways elsewhere), and the latter set to PIE
★ p- (shifted in Germanic, lost in Celtic, but preserved in the other groups mentioned here).
See also
★ Verner's law
★ High German consonant shift
★ Glottalic theory
★ Observations named after people
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