On Tue, 12 Aug 2003 15:54:31 +0000, ghozzis <
ghozzis@...> wrote:
>Hello!
>I do not understand why in German we have a "d" in "Bruder" and a "t"
>in "Vater"! In Latin, it is "FraTer" and "PaTer" and in
>English "BroTHer" and "FaTHer". What happened in German?
>Can someone explain it?
The PIE ending had *-t- (suffix *-ter, *-tor, *-tr). In Germanic, this
*-t- can develop into either:
1. *þ (by Grimm's law)
2. *d (by Verner's law)
3. *t (when both Grimm and Verner are blocked)
The distribution of Grimm/Verner depends on the accent: in *p&2té:r
"father", the stress was on the second syllable, so we have Germanic
*fadEr, in *bhrá:to:r "brother", the stress was on the first syllable, so
we have Germanic *bró:þor. In the word *dhug(h)&2té:r, reduced to
*dhukté:r in the dialect ancestral to Germanic, Verner's law was blocked by
the consonant cluster, and the result is Germanic *dohtEr. In the word
"sister" [PIE *swéso:r, *swésr-], the /t/ was introduced to split the
cluster /sr/ (as in the word "stream" < *srauma-).
The Germanic languages have:
*d *d *þ *t *t
Goth fadar -- bro:þar swistar daúhtar
ON faðir mo:ðir broðir systir do:ttir
OE fæder mo:dor bro:ðor sweostor dohtor
OS fadar mo:dar bro:thar swëstar dohtar
OHG fater muoter bruoder swëstar tohter
Du vader moeder broeder zuster dochter
=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...