Grimm's law (also known as the First Germanic Sound Shift or the Rask's-Grimm's rule) named for Jacob Grimm, 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. In the study of Historical linguistics and phonetic change a chain shift is a type of sound shift in which a group of sounds all change at about the same time Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm ( Hanau, January 4, 1785 &ndash September 20, 1863 in Berlin) German Philologist Proto-Germanic, or Common Germanic, is the hypothetical common ancestor ( Proto-language) of all the Germanic languages such as modern English The 1st millennium BC encompasses the Iron Age and sees the rise of successive empires It establishes a set of regular correspondences between early Germanic stops and fricatives and the stop consonants of certain other centum Indo-European languages (Grimm used mostly Latin and Greek for illustration). The Germanic languages are a group of related languages that constitute a branch of the Indo-European (IE Language family. A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a Consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the Vocal tract. Fricatives are Consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly 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[1]:
- Proto-Indo-European voiceless stops change into voiceless fricatives. In the study of Historical linguistics and phonetic change a chain shift is a type of sound shift in which a group of sounds all change at about the same time A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a Consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the Vocal tract. Fricatives are Consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together
- Proto-Indo-European voiced stops become voiceless stops.
- Proto-Indo-European voiced aspirated stops become voiced fricatives; ultimately, in most Germanic languages these voiced fricatives become 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. Proto-Germanic, or Common Germanic, is the hypothetical common ancestor ( Proto-language) of all the Germanic languages such as modern English
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. Sound change includes any processes of Language change that affect pronunciation ( phonetic change) or sound system structures ( Phonological change Linguistics is the scientific study of Language, encompassing a number of sub-fields The "law" was discovered by Friedrich von Schlegel in 1806 and Rasmus Christian Rask in 1818, and later elaborated (i. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich (later von) Schlegel ( March 10, 1772 - January 12, 1829) was a German Poet Year 1806 ( MDCCCVI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Rasmus (Christian Rask (ʁɑsmus ʁɑsɡ̊ ( November 22, 1787 - November 14, 1832) Danish scholar and Philologist, was Year 1818 ( MDCCCXVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common e. extended to include standard German) in 1822 by Jacob Grimm, the elder of the Brothers Grimm, in his book Deutsche Grammatik. Standard German ( German: Hochdeutsch) is the standard varieties of the German language used as a Written language, in formal contexts Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm ( Hanau, January 4, 1785 &ndash September 20, 1863 in Berlin) German Philologist The Brothers Grimm ( German: Die Gebrüder Grimm) Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm,
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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, 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, Icelandic: þriðji | Ancient Greek: τρίτος (tritos), Latin: tertius, Gaelic treas, Irish: tríú, 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, Irish: cú |
| *kʷ→hw | English: what, Gothic: ƕa ("hwa"), Danish hvad, Icelandic: hvað, Faroese hvat, Norwegian: hva | Latin: quod, Gaelic: ciod, Irish: cad, Sanskrit: ka-, kiṃ, Russian: ко- (ko-), Lithuanian: ką' |
| *b→p | English: warp; Swedish: värpa; Dutch: werpen; Icelandic, Faroese: varpa, Gothic wairpan | 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, Irish: deich, Sanskrit: daśan, Russian: десять (desyat'), Lithuanian: dešimt |
| *g→k | English: cold, Dutch: koud, German: kalt, Icelandic, Faroese: kaldur, Danish: kold, Norwegian: kald, Swedish: kall, | Latin: gelū |
| *gʷ→kw | English: quick, Frisian: quick, queck, Dutch: kwiek, Gothic: qius, Old Norse: kvikr, Icelandic, Faroese: kvikur, Swedish: kvick, Norwegian kvikk | Lithuanian: gyvas |
| *bʰ→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: братръ (bratru) |
| *dʰ→d | English: door, Frisian: doar, Dutch: deur, Gothic: daúr, Icelandic, Faroese: dyr, Danish, Norwegian: dør, Swedish: dörr | Irish: doras, Sanskrit: dwār, Russian: дверь (dver'), Lithuanian: durys |
| *gʰ→g | English: goose, Frisian: goes, Dutch: gans, German: Gans, Icelandic: gæs, Faroese: gás, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish: gås | Russian: гусь (gus') |
| *gʷʰ→gw→w | English: wife, Proto-Germanic: wiban (from former gwiban), Old Saxon, Old Frisian: wif, Dutch: wijf, Old High German: wib, German: Weib, Old Norse: vif, Icelandic: víf, Faroese: vív, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian: viv | Tocharian A: kip, B: kwípe (vulva) |
- Note: Some linguists dispute the origin of the word "wife". Tocharian or Tokharian is one of the branches of the Indo-European language family. The vulva (from Latin, vulva, plural vulvae or vulvas; see etymology) is the region of the external genital organs Calvert Watkins has assumed the root word is Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰíbʰ-. Calvert Watkins is a Professor Emeritus of Linguistics and the Classics at Harvard University and professor-in-residence at UCLA. [1]
This is strikingly regular. Each phase involves one single change which applies equally to the labials (p, b, bʰ, f) and their equivalent dentals (t, d, dʰ, þ), velars (k, g, gʰ, h) and rounded velars (kʷ, gʷ, gʷʰ, hw). 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, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish: spy, Icelandic: spýja, Faroese: spýggja | Latin: spuere |
| *st | English: stand, Dutch: staan, German: stehen, Icelandic, Faroese: standa, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish: stå | Latin: stāre, Irish: stad, Sanskrit: sta, Russian: стать (stat'), Lithuanian: stoti |
| *sk | English: short, Old Norse and Icelandic: skorta, Old High German: scurz | Sanskrit: krdhuh, Latin: curtus, Irish: gearr, Lithuanian: skurdus |
| *skʷ | English: scold, Old Norse: skäld, Icelandic: skáld, Dutch: schelden | Irish: scioll |
- Note: Some linguists dispute the origin of the word "scold", but Julius Pokorny among others proposed *skwetlo is the assumed root. Julius Pokorny ( 12 June 1887 – 8 April 1970) was a scholar of the Celtic languages, particularly Irish, and a supporter
Furthermore, the voiceless stop *t also did not become a fricative if preceded by *p, *k, or *kʷ (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 [ˈauhta]) | Ancient Greek: οκτώ (oktō), Latin: octō |
| *kʷt→h(w)t | English: night, Old High German: naht, Old Frisian, Dutch, German: nacht, Gothic: nahts, Icelandic: nótt (pronounced [ˈnouht]) | Greek: nuks, nukt-, Latin: nox, noct-, Sanskrit: naktam, 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). In Linguistics, the Germanic spirant law or Primärberührung is a specific historical instance of assimilation which occurred at an early stage in the Karl (Adolph Verner ˈʋaɐ̯ˀnɐ (born 7 March, 1846 in Århus; died 5 November, 1896 in Copenhagen) was a Danish Verner's law, stated by Karl Verner in 1875 describes a historical Sound change in the Proto-Germanic language whereby voiceless fricatives *
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 pʰ-, Sanskrit bʰ-, Slavic, Baltic or Celtic b-, etc. Sanskrit (sa संस्कृता वाक् saṃskṛtā vāk, for short sa संस्कृतम् saṃskṛtam) is a historical The Slavic languages (also called Slavonic languages) a group of closely related Languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic" a branch of the greater Indo-European Language family. , 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 *bʰ- (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
- The Tuscan gorgia, a similar evolution differenciating the Tuscan dialects from Standard Italian. Verner's law, stated by Karl Verner in 1875 describes a historical Sound change in the Proto-Germanic language whereby voiceless fricatives * In Historical linguistics, the High German consonant shift or second Germanic consonant shift was a phonological development ( Sound change) which took place The glottalic theory holds that Proto-Indo-European had ejective stops, p’ t’ k’ but not the murmured ones bʱ dʱ gʱ The Tuscan gorgia (Italian Gorgia toscana, "Tuscan throat" is a phonetic phenomenon which characterizes the Tuscan dialects in The Tuscan Dialect ( dialetto toscano) or the Tuscan Language ( lingua toscana) is an Italian dialect spoken in
References
- ^ Campbell, Lyle (2004). Historical linguistics, 2nd ed. , Cambridge: MIT Press, 49. ISBN 0262532670.