Grimm's law

Grimm's Law

G0271700 (grĭmz)n. A formula describing the regular changes undergone by Indo-European stop consonants represented in Germanic, essentially stating that Indo-European p, t, and k became Germanic f, th, and h; Indo-European b, d, and g became Germanic p, t, and k; and Indo-European bh, dh, and gh became Germanic b, d, and g.

[After Jakob Ludwig Karl Grimm.]

Grimm's law

(ɡrɪmz) n (Linguistics) the rules accounting for systematic correspondences between consonants in the Germanic languages and consonants in other Indo-European languages; it states that Proto-Indo-European voiced aspirated stops, voiced unaspirated stops, and voiceless stops became voiced unaspirated stops, voiceless stops, and voiceless fricatives respectively[formulated by Jakob Grimm]

Grimm's′ law′

n. 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 stops became voiceless stops, and voiceless stops became voiceless fricatives: first formulated 1820–22 by Jakob Grimm.

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Noun

Grimm's law - a sound law relating German consonants and consonants in other Indo-European languagessound law - a law describing sound changes in the history of a language

Grimm's law

Grimm's law,

principle of relationships in Indo-European languages, first formulated by Jakob Grimm in 1822 and a continuing subject of interest and investigation to 20th-century linguists. It shows that a process—the regular shifting of consonants in groups—took place once in the development of English and the other Low German languages and twice in German and the other High German languages. The first sound shift, affecting both English and German, was from the early phonetic positions documented in the ancient, or classical, Indo-European languages (Sanskrit, Greek, Latin) to those still evident in the Low German languages, including English; the second shift affected only the High German languages, e.g., standard German. Grimm's law shows that the classical voiceless stops (k,t,p) became voiceless aspirates (h,th,f ) in English and mediae (h,d,f ) in German, e.g., the initial sounds of Latin pater, English father, German Vater, and in the middle of Latin frater, English brother, German Bruder. It also shows that the classical unaspirated voiced stops (g,d,b) became voiceless stops (k,t,p) in English and voiceless aspirates (kh,ts,f) in German, e.g., the initial sounds of Latin decem, English ten, German zehn, and that the classical aspirated voiced stops (gh,dh,bh) became unaspirated voiced stops (g,d,b) in English and voiceless stops (k,t,p) in German, e.g., the initial sounds of Sanskrit dhar, English draw, German tragen.

Grimm's law

Grimm's Law

Grimm's law

Grimm's′ law′

Grimm's law

Grimm's law,

Grimm's law

Words related to Grimm's law

noun a sound law relating German consonants and consonants in other Indo-European languages

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