Graßmann's Law (Linguistics)
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. ἐ τ άφην (I was buried, aorist)
- φ εύγω (I flee; Pres.) vs. π έφευγα (I fled, perfect)
See also
- Sound shift
- Second sound shift
- Verner's law
- First sound shift (Grimm's law)
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
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ See: Alexander Lubotsky : A Ṛgvedic word concordance. Part 1: AN . New Haven 1997, p. 740, ISBN 0-940490-12-9 .