Grimm's law

Grimm's law
the statement of the regular pattern of consonant correspondences presumed to represent changes from Proto-Indo-European to Germanic, according to which voiced aspirated stops became voiced obstruents, voiced unaspirated stops became unvoiced stops, and unvoiced stops became unvoiced fricatives: first formulated in 1820-22 by Jakob Grimm, though the facts had been noted earlier by Rasmus Rask.

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      description of the regular correspondences in Indo-European languages formulated by Jacob Grimm in his Deutsche Grammatik (1819–37; “Germanic Grammar”); it pointed out prominent correlations between the Germanic and other Indo-European languages of Europe and western Asia. The law was a systematic and coherent formulation, well supported by examples, of patterns recognized as early as 1814 by the Danish philologist Rasmus Kristian Rask. It is important for historical linguistics because it clearly demonstrates the principle that sound change is a regular phenomenon and not a random process affecting only some words, as had been thought previously.

      Grimm described two consonant shifts involving essentially nine consonants. One shift (probably a few centuries before the Christian era) affected the Indo-European consonants and is evident in English, Dutch, other Low German languages, and Old Norse. The other shift (about the 6th century AD) was less radical in scope and affected the Germanic consonants, resulting in the consonant system evident in Old High German and its descendants, Middle High German and Modern High German (standard German). According to the law, the ancient unvoiced p, t, k became the English unvoiced f, th, h and the Old High German f, d, h, producing such correlations as that between the initial consonants of Greek pod-, English fod, and Old High German fuo. The law further stated that the ancient voiced b, d, g became the English unvoiced p, t, k and the Old High German spirant stops f, ts, kh; hence, the correlation between Latin duo, English “two,” and modern German zwei (pronouncedtsvai”). Also, the originally voiced bh, dh, gh became the English voiced b, d, g and the Old High German p, t, k; compare Sanskrit bhárati, English “bear,” and the Upper German dialects of Old High German ki-peran (later standard German ge-bären). The Old High German examples show the second shift in addition to the first, which is seen in English.

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  • 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 …   Wikipedia

  • Grimm's law — Law Law (l[add]), n. [OE. lawe, laghe, AS. lagu, from the root of E. lie: akin to OS. lag, Icel. l[ o]g, Sw. lag, Dan. lov; cf. L. lex, E. legal. A law is that which is laid, set, or fixed; like statute, fr. L. statuere to make to stand. See… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Grimm's law — n. [after Jakob Grimm (see GRIMM Jakob (Ludwig Karl)) in honor of his formulation (1822) of parallels noted by himself & RASK Rasmus Christian] the statement of a series of systematic prehistoric changes of reconstructed Indo European consonants… …   English World dictionary

  • Grimm's law — Grimm s′ law′ n. ling. a statement of the regular pattern of consonant correspondences presumed to represent changes from Proto Indo European to Germanic, according to which voiced aspirated stops became voiced obstruents, voiced unaspirated… …   From formal English to slang

  • Grimm's law — noun a sound law relating German consonants and consonants in other Indo European languages • Hypernyms: ↑sound law * * * ˈgrimz noun Usage: usually capitalized G & often capitalized L Etymology: after Jacob Grimm died 1863 German philologist 1 …   Useful english dictionary

  • Grimm's law — /ˈgrɪmz lɔ/ (say grimz law) noun an account of the systematic nature of a series of shifts in the consonants of Germanic languages compared with those of other Indo European languages, developed by Jakob Grimm during 1820–22 on the basis of work… …  

  • GRIMM'S LAW —    as enunciated by J. L. Grimm, is the law regulating the interchange of mute consonants in languages of Aryan origin, aspirates, flats, and sharps in the classical languages corresponding respectively to flats, sharps, and aspirates in Low… …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

  • Grimm's law — noun Etymology: Jacob Grimm Date: 1838 a statement in historical linguistics: Proto Indo European voiceless stops became Proto Germanic voiceless fricatives (as in Greek pyr, treis, kardia compared with English fire, three, heart), Proto Indo… …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Grimm's law — noun Linguistics the observation that certain consonants undergo regular changes in the Germanic languages which are not seen in others such as Greek or Latin. Origin from the name of the 19th cent. German philologist and folklorist Jacob Grimm …   English new terms dictionary

  • Law — (l[add]), n. [OE. lawe, laghe, AS. lagu, from the root of E. lie: akin to OS. lag, Icel. l[ o]g, Sw. lag, Dan. lov; cf. L. lex, E. legal. A law is that which is laid, set, or fixed; like statute, fr. L. statuere to make to stand. See {Lie} to be… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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