Re: [tied] Re: Allofamy, allofams

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 45252
Date: 2006-07-05

On 2006-07-05 16:06, tgpedersen wrote:

> The three verbs I know of with supposedly Verner variation
> *-Vng-/*-Vnx- -> *-Vng-/*-V:x- are
> *gang-/*ga:-
> http://www.angelfire.com/rant/tgpedersen/Hng.html
> *hang-/*ha:-
> http://www.angelfire.com/rant/tgpedersen/Hng.html
> *fang-/*fa:-
> http://www.angelfire.com/rant/tgpedersen/HbHpHg.html

Verner's law applies in the last two (PGmc. *xanx-/*xanG- and
*fanx-/*fanG-), but not in the first pair! PGmc. *Ge:- didn't have a
final velar (never mind the misleading spelling of Mod.Ger. gehen, where
the <h> is orthographic, not etymological!).

PGmc. *n before a velar fricative was lost in all Germanic languages but
it caused the nasalisation of the preceding vowel. The resulting *a~:
was still nasal in Anglo-Frisian, producing long /o:/ just like the
outcome of *ans (OE go:s), *amf (OE so:ft), *anþ (OE to:þ). This is why
we have OE ho:n < *xanxan- (pp. hangen), fo:n < *fanxan- (pp. fangen),
but ga:n (pp. ga:n, no Verner). The *x in *xanxan, *fanxan was lost in
post-AFris. times and only when followed by a vowel (cf. 2sg. fe:hst
'thou catchest' but gæ:st 'thou goest').

Piotr