--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "alex_lycos" <altamix@...> wrote:
> But this "au" from Gmc reflects an Latin "u" for instance: murus-->
maur mauer
> Doesn't it?
No. I'm talking of words with PGmc. *au or with early Germanic *au
from Lat. au. What you mention above is a different phenomenon: PGmc.
(or borrowed Latin) *u: (a long vowel), diphthongised in German (and
also in English, as a result of the Great Vowel Shift), e.g. PGmc.
*xu:saz > Ger. Haus, Eng. house. The two sounds partly merged in
German, but their normal English reflexes are completely different
(except in some cases where they were affected by umlaut):
PGmc. *au > OE e:a > ModE /i:/ (typically spelt <ea>);
PGmc. *u: > OE u: > ModE /aU/ (typically spelt <ou> or <ow>).
ModE cheap comes from OE ce:ap 'trade, bargain' < *kaup- (the names
Chapman, Koopman and Kaufmann have the same etymology).
Piotr