grimm's law (Meaning)
grimm's law (n)
a sound law relating German consonants and consonants in other Indo-European languages
Synonyms & Antonyms of grimm's law
No Synonyms and anytonyms found
grimm's law Sentence Examples
- Grimm's law describes the systematic sound changes that occurred in Germanic languages, shifting Proto-Indo-European consonants forward in their place of articulation.
- According to Grimm's law, voiced aspirates in Proto-Indo-European shifted to voiceless aspirates, voiceless aspirates to voiceless fricatives, and voiceless fricatives to voiceless stops.
- The voiceless stops /p/, /t/, and /k/ in Proto-Indo-European shifted to the voiceless fricatives /f/, /θ/, and /x/ in Germanic languages, as exemplified by Latin "piscis" becoming English "fish."
- Grimm's law also affected voiced stops, with Proto-Indo-European /b/, /d/, and /g/ shifting to voiceless stops /p/, /t/, and /k/ in Germanic languages, as seen in the change from Latin "frater" to English "brother."
- The voiced aspirates Proto-Indo-European /bh/, /dh/, and /gh/ shifted to voiceless aspirates /ph/, /th/, and /kh/ in Germanic languages before later losing their aspiration.
- Grimm's law is one of the most important rules in Germanic historical linguistics, explaining many sound correspondences between Germanic and other Indo-European languages.
- The shifts described by Grimm's law affected both initial and medial consonants in Proto-Indo-European words, leading to distinctive patterns in Germanic languages.
- Grimm's law is named after Jacob Grimm, a German linguist who first described the sound changes in the early 19th century.
- Germanic languages that exhibit the effects of Grimm's law include English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Icelandic, and Gothic.
- Grimm's law is a valuable tool for etymologists and historical linguists in reconstructing Proto-Indo-European vocabulary and tracing the evolution of Germanic languages.
FAQs About the word grimm's law
a sound law relating German consonants and consonants in other Indo-European languages
No synonyms found.
No antonyms found.
Grimm's law describes the systematic sound changes that occurred in Germanic languages, shifting Proto-Indo-European consonants forward in their place of articulation.
According to Grimm's law, voiced aspirates in Proto-Indo-European shifted to voiceless aspirates, voiceless aspirates to voiceless fricatives, and voiceless fricatives to voiceless stops.
The voiceless stops /p/, /t/, and /k/ in Proto-Indo-European shifted to the voiceless fricatives /f/, /θ/, and /x/ in Germanic languages, as exemplified by Latin "piscis" becoming English "fish."
Grimm's law also affected voiced stops, with Proto-Indo-European /b/, /d/, and /g/ shifting to voiceless stops /p/, /t/, and /k/ in Germanic languages, as seen in the change from Latin "frater" to English "brother."
