Graßmann's Law (Linguistics)

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The Grassmann law (also: Aspiratendissimilationsgesetz ) is one of the mathematician and linguist Hermann Grassmann (1809 to 1877) for the Indo-European linguistics proven 1863 phonetic Dissimilationsregel .

statement

The law applies to ancient Indian as well as ancient Greek and states: In the event of an indirect succession of two aspirated plosives , the first loses its breath .

The rule is especially evident in the reduplication of verbal roots . From ved. dhā- (3rd class) e.g. B. the present stem is not * dhá-dhā-mi (1st person singular), but dádhāmi . In ancient Greek, the rule concerns the tenues (toneless) aspiratae θ th, φ ph, χ kh and h (spiritus asper). The form, which corresponds to the Vedic example except for the reduplication vowel, is τί-θη-μι, tí-thē-mi 'I set' originated from * θί-θη-μι, thí-thē-mi . The present tense ἔχω, ékhō 'I have' has also lost its older initial h , * ἕχω, hékhō . However, h has been preserved in the future tense hω, héxō 'I will have' from * hékhsō, because the ξ, x resulting from * khs is not breathed and therefore Graßmann's condition is not fulfilled. The Indian and Greek aspirate dissimilation took place independently of one another, in Greek only after the transition from * dh, * bh, * gh> th, ph, kh .

Examples from ancient Greek

  • θ άπτω (stem: θαφτ-) (I am burying; Pres.) vs. τ άφην (I was buried, aorist)
  • φ εύγω (I flee; Pres.) vs. π έφευγα (I fled, perfect)

See also

literature

  • Neville Edgar Collinge: The laws of Indo-European . Amsterdam [etc.] 1985, ISBN 90-272-2102-2 , pp. 47-61: Grassmann's law.
  • Jerzy Kurylowicz (term): Indo-European grammar. I, 2: Phonology. Heidelberg 1986, ISBN 3-533-03487-9 , p. 112 ff.
  • Manfred Mayrhofer: Sanskrit grammar with comparative language explanations. 3rd edition Berlin, New York 1978 (Göschen Collection 2207), ISBN 3-11-007177-0 , §30.2.
  • Michael Meier-Brügger: Indo-European Linguistics. 8th edition Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-11-017243-7 , L348.
  • Sergej Romaschko: From the life of a phonetic law. Grassmann's law, its origin and its fate. Historiographia Linguistica 27 (2000), pp. 1-22.
  • Harald Wiese: A journey through time to the origins of our language. How Indo-European Studies explains our words. Logos Verlag Berlin, 2007, ISBN 978-3-8325-1601-7 .

Individual evidence

  1. On the aspirates and their simultaneous presence in the initial and final parts of roots. About the original presence of roots, the initial and final of which contained an aspirate . In: Journal for Comparative Linguistic Research. Volume 12, 1863, pp. 81-109, 110-138.
  2. See: Alexander Lubotsky : A Ṛgvedic word concordance. Part 1: AN . New Haven 1997, p. 740, ISBN 0-940490-12-9 .