Chapter II

THE CONSONANTS

1. Pronunciation of the Consonants.

§ 19. The MHG. consonant-system was represented by the following letters: b, c, ch, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, sch, t, v, w, (x), z, ȥ.

The letters k, l, m, n, p, t, w, (x) had nearly the same sound-values as in English. The remaining letters require special attention.

When the pronunciation of consonants merely differs in the intensity or force with which they are produced, they are called fortes or lenes according as they are produced with more or less intensity or force. In MHG. the consonants b, d, g were not voiced explosives like English b, d, g, but were voiceless lenes, and only differed from the fortes p, t, k in being produced with less intensity or force, see § 33. A similar difference in pronunciation existed between antevocalic and intervocalic v, s and final f, s, see § 33.

c and k represented the same sound. The latter was generally used at the beginning, and the former at the end of a syllable, as kunst, art; trinken, to drink, senken, to sink (trans.), pret. tranc, sancte.

ch had the same sound as in NHG. nacht, noch, as sprechen, to speak, pret. sprach; hōch, high.

f had a twofold pronunciation in the oldest HG. It was a labiodental when it arose from Germanic f (cp. OHG. fater, English father), and bilabial when it arose from Germanic p (cp. inf. OHG. slāfan, English sleep), but during the OHG. period the bilabial f became labiodental. The two kinds of f did not however completely fall together in pronunciation. f = Germanic f became a lenis initially before and medially between vowels, and was often written v in the former and generally v in the latter position, but remained a fortis—written f—when final. In MHG. it was also often written f initially before l, r, u, as fliehen, to flee, fride, peace, fünf, five, beside vliehen, vride, vünf. On the other hand f = Germanic p (§ 23, 1), which only occurred medially and finally, was a fortis and was always written f (ff), as slāfen, to sleep, pret. slief; tief, deep, schif (gen. schiffes), ship, offen, open. The two f sounds thus fell together when final, but the distinction between the two sounds was still preserved in MHG. in the intervocalic position, as hof, court, schif, ship, but gen. hoves, schiffes.

h before and after consonants was pronounced like ch, as fuhs, fox, naht, night, bevëlhen, to confide. In other cases it had the same sound as the h in English hat.

j had nearly the same sound as the y in English yet, as jār, year, junc, young; blüejen, to blossom.

q occurred only in combination with u as in English, as quëc, quick, alive, quëden, to say.

r was a trilled sound in all positions like Scotch r, as rōt, red, hart, hard, bërn, to bear, vater, father.

s was a lenis medially between vowels and probably also initially before vowels, but a fortis in other positions, as sun, son, wësen, to be, pret. was, bresten, to burst. It may be pronounced like the s in English sit.

sch was like the sh in English ship, as schif, ship, geschëhen, to happen, visch, fish.

v was a voiceless lenis, and may be pronounced like the v in NHG. voll. See f.

w was pronounced like the w in English wet, as wīn, wine, bliuwen, to strike.

z and ȥ were not distinguished in MHG. manuscripts, both being written z. Both z and ȥ (but ȥȥ medially between vowels when the first vowel was short) arose from Germanic t (see § 23). z had the sound-value of ts (= NHG. z): (a) always initially, as zīt, time; (b) medially and finally after consonants (l, m, n, r), as holz (gen. holzes), wood, hërze, heart, smërze, pain, ganz, whole; (c) finally after vowels (= Germanic tt) in those words which change final z to tz when it becomes medial, as schaz (gen. schatzes), OE. sceatt, money, treasure. MHG. intervocalic tz always arose from older tt, as setzen = OE. settan, to set. ȥ was a kind of lisped s and only occurred medially between and finally after vowels, as bīȥen, to bite, ëȥȥen, to eat, haȥ, hatred. It should be noted that good MHG. poets never rhymed pairs of words like was, was, and waȥ, what; missen, to miss, and wiȥȥen, to know.

ph and pf represent the same sound, viz. the pf in NHG. pfund, pound.

§ 20. MHG. has the following double consonants medially between vowels: bb, gg; pp, tt, ck; ff, ss, ȥȥ; mm, nn; ll, rr. They were always pronounced long as in Italian and Swedish, as bit-ter, bitter, ëȥ-ȥen, to eat, küs-sen, to kiss, müg-ge, midge, rin-nen, to run. In NHG. double consonants are never long, they merely indicate that the preceding vowel is short.

§ 21. Phonetic Survey of the MHG. Consonants.

Labial. Dental. Guttural.

Voiceless explosives fortis p, pp lenis b, bb t, tt d k, ck g, gg

Spirants fortis f, ff lenis v s, ss, sch, ȥ, ȥȥ s h, (ch)

Nasals m, mm n, nn n (= ŋ)

Liquids l, ll; r, rr

Semi-vowels w, j (palatal)

To the above must be added the aspirate h and the affricatae (i.e. an explosive + a homorganic spirant) z (i.e. ts) and pf (ph).

2. Consonant Changes.

§ 22. The most characteristic difference between High German and the other West Germanic languages is the shifting which the consonants p, t, k, þ; pp, tt, kk, þþ; b (ƀ), d, g (ʒ); bb, dd, gg underwent partly in the prehistoric and partly in the historic period of Old High German. In the following treatment of what is generally called the High German sound-shifting only such points are considered as are of importance for the purposes of this book. See Old High German Primer, §§ 82-6.

§ 23. The voiceless explosives p, t, k underwent a two-fold treatment according to their position in the word: (1) Medially or finally after vowels; (2) Initially, medially and finally after consonants (l, m, n, r), and when doubled.

Note.— p, t, k remained unshifted in the combinations sp, st, sk as also t in the combinations tr, ht, ft.

1. Single p, t, k were shifted to the voiceless double spirants ff, ȥȥ, hh (also written ch) = MHG. ff (f), ȥȥ (ȥ), ch.

p > ff. OE. open, OHG. offan, MHG. offen, open; OE. slǣpan, OHG. slāffan, MHG. slāfen, to sleep; OE. ūp, OHG. MHG. ūf, up.

t > ȥȥ. OE. etan, OHG. ëȥȥan, MHG. ëȥȥen, to eat; OE. hātan, OHG. heiȥȥan, MHG. heiȥen, to call; OE. hwæt, OHG. hwaȥ, MHG. waȥ, what. In a few cases the ȥ, ȥȥ became s in MHG. before t or st, as pret. saste from saȥte: setzen, to set; beste, best, leste, last = OHG. beȥȥisto, leȥȥisto.

k > hh. OE. ic, OHG. ih, MHG. ich, I; OE. sprecan (specan), OHG. sprëhhan, MHG. sprëchen, to speak; OE. tācen, OHG. zeihhan, MHG. zeichen, token. This ch must not be confused with the MHG. h, ch which corresponded to Indo-Germanic k (= Germanic h), as ziehen, to draw, lead, pret. zōch, cp. Lat. dūcō, I lead, see § 34.

The double consonants were simplified in OHG. and MHG. according to § 32.

2. p, t initially, medially and finally after consonants (l, m, n, r), and when doubled, were shifted to the affricatae pf (also written ph), tz (generally written zz and z) = MHG. pf (ph), tz (z).

p > pf. OE. pund, OHG. MHG. pfunt, pound; OE. gelimpan, OHG. gilimpfan, MHG. gelimpfen, to be meet; OE. scieppan, OHG. skepfen, MHG. schepfen, to create. The pf became f after l and r already in OHG., as hëlfan, MHG. hëlfen, OE. helpan, to help; wërfan, MHG. wërfen, OE. weorpan, to throw.

t > z. OE. tunge, OHG. zunga, MHG. zunge, tongue; OE. heorte, OHG. hërza, MHG. hërze, heart; OE. sealt, OHG. MHG. salz, salt; OE. sittan, OHG. sizzen, sitzen, MHG. sitzen, to sit; OE. sceatt, OHG. scaz (gen. scazzes, scatzes), MHG. schaz (gen. schatzes), money, treasure.

k, kk (written ck) remained unshifted (except in High Alemanic), as OE. corn, OHG. MHG. korn, corn; OE. cnēo, OHG. kneo, MHG. knie, knee; OE. sincan, OHG. sinkan, MHG. sinken, to sink, pret. sanc; OE. þeccan, OHG. MHG. decken, to cover.

§ 24. þ became d, and þþ became tt, as OE. þorn, OHG. MHG. dorn, thorn; OE. brōþor, OHG. MHG. bruoder, brother. OE. smiþþe, OHG. smitta, MHG. smitte, smithy; OE. moþþe, late MHG. motte, moth.

§ 25. The voiced explosives b, d, g, and the voiced spirants ƀ, ʒ did not undergo the same universal shifting as the voiceless explosives. ƀ, ʒ became b, g. b, g remained, and d became t, as OE. brōþor, OHG. MHG. bruoder, brother; OE. bēodan, OHG. biotan, MHG. bieten, to offer; Goth. giban (= giƀan), OHG. gëban, MHG. gëben, to give. OE. dohtor, OHG. MHG. tohter, daughter; OE. bēodan, OHG. biotan, MHG. bieten, to offer; OE. dēad, OHG. MHG. tōt, dead. OE. gōd, OHG. MHG. guot, good; OE. flēogan, OHG. fliogan, MHG. fliegen, to fly.

§ 26. The double consonants bb, dd, gg = OHG. pp (bb), tt, cc (gg), and MHG. pp (bb), tt, ck (gg), as OE. sibb, OHG. sippa (sibba), MHG. sippe (sibbe), relationship; OE. cribb, OHG. krippa (kribba), MHG. krippe (kribbe), crib. OE. biddan, OHG. bitten, MHG. bitten, later biten, to request; OE. þridda, OHG. dritto, MHG. dritte, later drite, third. OE. brycg, OHG. brucca (brugga), MHG. brücke (brügge), bridge. The fluctuation in the writing of pp and bb, ck and gg is merely orthographical, and does not represent a difference in pronunciation. Both pairs were used to express the lenes medially between vowels. For other examples see § 31.

§ 27. The summary of the consonantal changes in §§ 23-6 may be expressed as follows:—

West Germanic. MHG.

p; t; k; þ = ff (f), pf; ȥȥ (ȥ), z; ch; d.

pp; tt; kk; þþ = pf; tz (z); ck; tt.

b (ƀ); d; g (ʒ) = b; t; g.

bb; dd; gg = pp (bb); tt; ck (gg).

§ 28. The following sound-changes took place in primitive Germanic:—Every labial + t became ft; every guttural + t became ht; every dental + t became ss, which was simplified to s after long vowels. This explains the frequent interchange in MHG. between pf, b and f; between k, g and h; and between ȥȥ, ȥ and ss, s in forms which are etymologically related.

pf, b—f. schepfen, to create: geschaft, creature; gëben, to give: gift, gift; wëben, to weave: English weft.

k, g—h. würken, to work: pret. worhte; denken, to think: pret. dāhte; mugen (mügen), to be able: pret. mohte; bringen, to bring: pret. brāhte.

ȥȥ, ȥ—ss, s. gieȥen, to pour: güsse, inundation; wiȥȥen, to know: pret. wisse (wiste): wīs, wise; muoȥ, must: pret. muose (muoste); ëȥȥen, to eat: ās, carrion. Preterites like wiste, muoste were formed after the analogy of preterites like worhte, dāhte, where the t was regular.

§ 29. The guttural nasal ŋ (written n) only occurred in the combinations nk (nc) and ng. It disappeared before h (= prim. Germanic χ) in primitive Germanic with lengthening of a preceding short vowel, as vāhen from prim. Germanic *faŋχanan, to seize, catch, beside p.p. gevangen; and similarly hāhen, to hang, p.p. gehangen; pret. brāhte, dāhte, dūhte, beside bringen, to bring, denken, to think, dunken, to seem.

The guttural nasal disappeared in an unstressed syllable when preceded by an n in a stressed syllable in the course of the OHG. and MHG. period, as OHG. honag, MHG. honec, beside OHG. honang, honey; OHG. kunig, MHG. künec, beside OHG. kuning, king; OHG. pfennig, MHG. pfennic, beside OHG. pfenning, MHG. pfenninc, penny. And similarly with dental n, as senede beside senende, longing, yearning.

§ 30. Strong verbs, which have a medial v (f), d, h, s in the present, have respectively b, t, g (ng), r in the second person sing. pret. indicative, the preterite plural indicative, the pret. subjunctive and the past participle. This interchange of consonants is called Verner’s Law, see OHG. Primer, §§ 72, 87:—

Inf. Pret. Pl. P.P.

v(f)—b. heven, to raise huoben gehaben.

d—t. mīden, to avoid miten gemiten.

snīden, to cut sniten gesniten.

h—g. dīhen, to thrive digen gedigen.

ziehen, to draw zugen gezogen.

slahen, to strike sluogen geslagen.

h—ng (§ 29). hāhen, to hang hiengen gehangen.

vāhen, to catch viengen gevangen.

s—r. rīsen, to fall rirn gerirn.

kiesen, to choose kurn gekorn.

This law has, however, many exceptions in MHG. owing to levelling having taken place with the infinitive, present indicative and preterite singular, as risen, gerisen beside rirn, gerirn.

The same interchange of consonants exists between strong verbs and their corresponding causative weak verbs, as līden, to go: leiten, to lead; hāhen, to hang: hengen, to hang (trans.); ge-nësen, to be saved: nern, to save; and in nouns, &c., as hof (gen. hoves), court: hübesch, courtly; tōt (gen. tōdes), death: tōt (gen. tōtes), dead; swëher, father-in-law: swiger, mother-in-law; hase: English hare.

§ 31. The doubling of consonants took place under certain well-defined rules partly in prim. Germanic and partly in prim. West Germanic, see the Author’s Hist. Germ. Grammar, §§ 202, 213-14. Examples of words which had double consonants in prim. Germanic are: kopf, head; napf (OE. hnæp, gen. hnæppes), basin; boc (OE. bucca), buck, gen. bockes; rinnen, to run; swimmen, to swim; vol (gen. volles), full; vërre, far; gewisser, certain.

The chief cases in which double consonants arose in prim. West Germanic were:—

1. The assimilation of ƀn, ʒn, pn to bb, gg, pp = MHG. pp, ck (gg), pf, as knappe: knabe, boy; rappe: rabe, raven; rocke: rogge, rye; tropfe, drop: triefen, to drip.

2. p, t, k were doubled before a following r or l. The doubling regularly took place in the inflected forms, and was then extended to the uninflected forms by levelling, as apfel (OE. æppel), apple; kupfer (Lat. cuprum), copper; bitter (Goth. báitrs), bitter, see § 23 note; lützel (OS. luttil), little; acker (Goth. akrs), field; wacker (OE. wæccer), watchful. See § 23, 2.

3. All single consonants, except r, were doubled after a short vowel when there was originally a j in the next syllable. The bb, dd, gg; pp, tt, kk, which thus arose, became pp (bb), tt, ck (gg); pf, tz, ck in MHG. (§§ 23, 2, 26), as sippe (sibbe), Goth. sibja, relationship; bitten, later biten, Goth. bidjan, to request; tretten (wv.): trëten (sv.), to tread; brücke (brügge), bridge; ecke (egge), edge; mücke (mügge), midge; rücke (rügge), ridge, back. schepfen, Goth. skapjan, to create; hitze, heat: heiȥ, hot; netzen, to wet: naȥ, wet; setzen, Goth. satjan, to set; sitzen, to sit: pret. saȥ, p.p. gesëȥȥen; decken, to cover: dach, cover; lücke, gap: loch, hole. zellen, later zeln, to count: zal, number. vremmen, later vremen (OE. fremman), to perform. henne, hen: hane, cock.

In MHG. the double consonants in verbs were often simplified through the levelling out of forms which regularly had a single consonant, e.g. regular forms were: vremmen, to perform, sing. vremme, vremes(t), vremet, pl. vremmen, vremmet, vremment, pret. vremete, p.p. gevremet, then the stem-form with single m was levelled out into all the forms, and similarly with many other verbs, as denen, to stretch; seln, to hand over; weln, to choose; wenen, to accustom; legen beside lecken (leggen), to lay; and the strong verbs biten, to beg; ligen beside licken (liggen), to lie down.

§ 32. Double consonants were simplified:—

1. When they became final, as boc, buck, kus, kiss, man, man, schif, ship, stum, dumb, vël, hide, beside gen. bockes, kusses, mannes, schiffes, stummes, vëlles; pret. maȥ, ran, traf, beside mëȥȥen, to measure, rinnen, to run, trëffen, to hit.

2. Before other consonants, as pret. dacte (dahte), nante (nande), kuste, beside decken, to cover, nennen, to name, küssen, to kiss.

3. After consonants, as pret. sante (sande) from *santte, wante (wande) from *wantte, beside senden, to send, wenden, to turn.

4. After long vowels and diphthongs, as pret. sing. leite from *leitte, pret. pl. māȥen, trāfen, vielen, beside leiten, to lead, mëȥȥen, to measure, trëffen, to hit, vallen, to fall. This simplification of double consonants took place during the OHG. period, as slāfan, to sleep, heiȥan, to call, loufan, to run, zeichan, token, beside older OHG. slāffan, heiȥȥan, louffan, zeihhan.

§ 33. In MHG. the lenes b, d, g became the fortes p, t, c (k) when they ended a syllable, that is when they came to stand finally, or medially before a voiceless consonant. Traces of this law existed already in OHG. The interchange between the lenes and fortes includes two independent processes, viz. the change of the medial lenes b, d, g to the final fortes p, t, k, and the change of the final f, s to the medial intervocalic lenes v and to what is written s (cp. also NHG. lesen, las). It must be noted that in MHG. the interchanging pairs of consonants were all voiceless and that the difference merely consisted in the intensity or force with which the sounds were produced. This is quite different from NHG. where the interchange is between voiced and voiceless sounds except in the case of f which is voiceless in all positions in native words. Examples are: gëben, to give, gelouben, to believe, wërben, to turn, beside pret. gap, geloupte, warp; gen. lībes, lambes, beside nom. līp, life, lamp, lamb. binden, to bind, wërden, to become, beside pret. bant, wart; gen. kindes, tōdes, beside nom. kint, child, tōt, death. biegen, to bend, singen, to sing, zeigen, to show, beside pret. bouc, sanc, zeicte; gen. tages, bërges, beside nom. tac, day, bërc, mountain. nëve, nephew, beside niftel, niece; gen. hoves, brieves, beside nom. hof, court, brief, letter. kiesen, to choose, lësen, to gather, lœsen, to loose, beside pret. kōs, las, lōste; pl. hiuser, beside sing. hūs, house.

§ 34. Final ch after vowels interchanged with medial h, as schuoch, shoe, gen. schuohes; hōch, high, gen. hōhes; nāch, near, adv. nāhe; pret. geschach, sach, beside geschëhen, to happen, sëhen, to see.

The medial combinations lh, rh were written lch, rch when they came to stand finally, as bevëlhen, to confide, pret. bevalch; gen. schëlhes, twërhes, beside nom. schëlch, twërch, askew, see § 19. h (= ch) and ch often disappeared in unstressed syllables and particles, as ē̆t, only, hīnte, hīnt, to-night, niet, not, dur, through, beside ëht, hīnaht, niht, nieht, durch.

§ 35. Initial j became or was written g before a following i, as gihet, he assures, beside inf. jëhen, pret. jach, and similarly jësen, to ferment, jëten, to weed. In the verba pura forms with and without the intervocalic glide j existed side by side in OHG. and MHG., as blüejen (OHG. bluojen) beside blüen (OHG. bluoen), to bloom; and similarly dræjen, to twist, müejen, to trouble, sæjen, to sow, beside dræn, müen, sæn. In a few words forms with and without intervocalic j (g) existed side by side, as gen. blīges beside nom. blī, lead; eijer, eiger beside eier, eggs; frījen, frīgen beside frīen, to free; meige, meie, May; nerigen, nerjen beside nern, to save, rescue; swerigen, swerjen beside swern, to swear; gen. zwīges, zwīes, nom. zwī, twig; gen. zweiger, zweier, of two.

§ 36. In OHG. w became vocalized to o when it came to stand at the end of a word or syllable, and then generally disappeared after long vowels, but the medial w regularly remained in OHG. and MHG. when it was at the beginning of a syllable, as blā (OHG. blāo, blā), blue, gen. blāwes; snē (OHG. snēo, snē), snow, gen. snēwes; strō (OHG. strao, strō by contraction), straw, gen. strōwes; knie (OHG. kneo), knee, gen. kniewes, OHG. knëwes; schate (OHG. scato), shadow, gen. schat(e)wes; pret. blou, hiu, kou, beside bliuwen, to strike, houwen, to hew, kiuwen, to chew; fal (OHG. falo), fallow, gen. falwes; gar (OHG. garo), ready, gen. garwes; mël (OHG. mëlo), meal, gen. mëlwes; smër (OHG. smëro), fat; pret. smirte, ströute, beside smirwen, to smear, ströuwen, to strew. See § 9, r.

The w element sometimes disappeared in the initial combinations qua-, quā-, quë-, qui-, quī- partly with and partly without influencing the quality of the following vowel, as pret. sing. kam, kom beside quam, he came, pret. pl. kōmen, kāmen beside quāmen; kāle beside quāle, torture; këc beside quec, alive; korder, körder beside quërder, bait; komen, kömen, kumen beside quëmen, to come; pres. sing. kume, küm(e)s(t), kum(e)s(t), küm(e)t, kum(e)t = OHG. quimu, quimis, quimit; kücken beside quicken, to enliven; kīt beside quīt = quidet, he says.

§ 37. Medial -ibe-, -ide-, -ige- were sometimes contracted to ī; and medial -age-, -ege- to ei, as gīst, thou givest, gīt, he gives, beside gibes(t), gibet; quīst, thou sayest, quīt, he says, beside quides(t), quidet; līst, thou liest down, līt, he lies down, beside liges(t), liget. meit beside maget, maid; seist, thou sayest, seit, he says, beside sages(t), saget; leist, thou layest, leit, he lays, beside leges(t), leget; eislīch beside egeslīch, terrible; gein beside gegen, against.

§ 38. Intervocalic h often disappeared when the first vowel was long, and then the two vowels underwent contraction, as hān, to hang, vān, to catch, vlēn, to implore, hō (adv.), high, beside hāhen, vāhen, vlēhen, hōhe. Other contracted forms will be found in the Glossary.

§ 39. The final r disappeared after long vowels in monosyllables when the next word began with a consonant, but was often restored analogically, as dā (OHG. dār), there: dārinne, therein; wā (OHG. wār), where: wārinne, wherein; hie (OHG. hiar): hierunder, hereunder; adv. mē (OHG. mēr), more; ē (OHG. ēr), formerly; sā (OHG. sār), at once.

§ 40. Medial t (§ 25) became d after nasals in late OHG. and early MHG., as senden, to send, gen. blindes (nom. blint, blind), pret. nande, he named, rūmde, he left, beside early MHG. senten, blintes, nante, rūmte. It also occasionally became d after l, as halden beside halten, to hold, solde beside solte, pret. of suln, shall.

ACCIDENCE