Note 205 — Chapter IV · PHONOLOGY AND SEMATOLOGY. (continued 2)

According to the current theory the sonant or vocalic n, l, and r develop out of a consonantal n, l, r. Fick (Bezzenberger’s “Beiträge,” iv., 1878) has shown that Greek aorists like ἔδρακε or παθών owe their α-vowel to this cause. The accentuation of the last syllable occasioned the loss of the vowel of the present-stem (which Fick proves to represent the oldest form of the verb), and out of the resulting ἔδρκε or πθών grew ἔδρακε and παθών. The corresponding Swarabhakti vowel in Teutonic is u (cfer. ἑκατόν, i.e. ἑκαντόν for ἑκντόν, and Gothic hund (our hundred), ἄρκτος, and Gothic vulfs, -ματός and Gothic participial -munds). According to the Indian grammarians the Sanskrit ṛi = ¼ a + ½ r + ¼ a (Greek ᾰρᾰ).