Re: [tied] Re: Thuringen

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 13694
Date: 2002-05-11

 
----- Original Message -----
From: tgpedersen
To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, May 11, 2002 12:01 PM
Subject: [tied] Re: Thuringen

Are there any other examples of that (you might claim it happened in <teutsch>, of course, which BTW is a good candidate for <c^udi>).
 
The Slavic word was borrowed at a time when the Germanic form was still *þiud- (Slavic speakers substituted *tjud-, since their language had no /þ/). The voicelessness of the initial consonant of <deutsch>, as in Alemannic (Swiss) <tüütsch> is a dialectal phenomenon characteristic of southern HG (cf. Bavarian <tach> instead of <dach> from *þaka-). I do not know how <tausend> (for expected and dialectally widespread <dausend>, cf. OHG thu:sunt/du:sent) is explained by German experts; perhaps an interdialectal loan in MHG. The story of <thüringen> is different; Thuringia was called Düringen throughout the Middle Ages and well into the modern times, the modern official spelling <th> is "learned" (it refers to the earliest history of the country and to its Latin name) and the modern pronunciation is simply consistent with the spelling.
 
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> /D/ (edh) develops into /d/ in German.
 
Not "old" (pre-OHG) /ð/ (= PGmc *d), which you apparently had in mind, since you compared it to "suffixal" /ð/ (from Verner's Law, also represented in the list below). It underwent occlusion (> /d/) and regular devoicing (> /t/) already in OHG, also when geminated (-dd- > -tt-).
 
*daga- > tag/tac
*duxte:r > tohter
*dragan- > tragan
*fade:r > fater/vater
*wurda- > wort
*rauda- > ro:t
*kalda- > chalt
*guda- > got
*bidjan- (> *-dd-) > bitten
*þridjo:n- > thritto/dritto
*badja- > bett
 
Some dialects preserve /d/ (dag, dochter, etc.), but of course standard German doesn't. *-nd- was also changed to OHG -nt- (blint, bintan, stantan, lant), but -nd- was restored in MHG (I don't know much about the details; perhaps the devoicing was variable or incomplete after a nasal).