Re: -ow

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Anthony Appleyard"
<a.appleyard@...> wrote:

> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...>

wrote:

> > Does the German pronunciation of former Slavic placenames within
> > Germany in -ow as /o:/ (but 'real' Slavic names as '-off')

indicate

> > that at the first time of contact, Slavic /v/ was still /w/ ('-

ow' -

> > > 'o:')?
>
> That would have been in the Slavic dialects that the Germans
> contacted, such as the language of the Obotrites. In the Slavic
> dialect of south Bulgaria, which St.Cyril contacted and invented

the

> Cyrillic alphabet for, /v/ was definitely /v/, since he spelt it

with

> Greek beta.

But did Greek beta go directly /b/ > /v/, or did it have an
intermediate stage /w/?

Torsten