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A West Germanic Reflex of the Verschärfung

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2026

Edgar G. Polomé
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Extract

It has been established by Henry Lee Smith Jr. and Edgar H. Sturtevant that the Germanic Verschärfung is due to the original presence of laryngeals. Both, however, seem to have been puzzled by the appearance of this phenomenon after u, in cases like Swed. rugg ‘shaggy hair’ and Norw. dial. rugga ‘carpet of shaggy hair’ beside ON rǫgg, rǫggr ‘long coarse wool’. According to Sturtevant, ‘we may assume that in Swed. rugg the Verschärfung has spread from the form with IH rъHW- > IE rəhw- to a related form with rhu- > IE ru-.' He holds that ‘a similar explanation is available for the vocalism of Goth, skuggwa “mirror”, bluggwans “struck”, OIcel. tryggr “true”, etc.’ but seems reluctant to admit that IH ihy and uhw should have yielded IE ihy and uhw (whence the Germanic Verschärfung), since nothing appears to warrant the hypothesis that ‘an IH voiceless laryngeal when preceded and followed by the same semivowel behaved in the same way as a voiceless laryngeal after ъ and before a semivowel.’ Sturtevant's explanation, however, offers no solution for the baffling alternate development of IH uhw- in Indo-European pointed out by Smith and attested by ON rȳja ‘to pluck wool', with a long vowel, like ON brū ‘bridge’, trū, trūa ‘faith’, būa ‘to dwell’, alongside of ON bryggja ‘pier, bridge’, tryggja, tryggva ‘to make firm’, byggja ‘to inhabit’. Though stating that this phenomenon, found throughout Indo-European, is particularly evident in Germanic and should explain ū in the 2d class of strong verbs (type of OE sūpan), Smith does not inquire any further into its origin. He merely enumerates a few possibilities, among which two deserve special notice: the alternate development might be due either to ‘an accent shift in certain classes of words which returned the accent to the root vowel after the reduction of the diphthong in time for the laryngeal to lengthen the u in pre-IE times’ or to a particular ‘syllabification of roots containing laryngeals’.

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Type
Research Article
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Language , Volume 25 , Issue 2: Apr-June , June 1949, pp. 182 - 189
Copyright
Copyright © 1949 Linguistic Society of America

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References

1 Lg. 17.93–8 (1941).

2 The Indo-Hittite laryngeals §75f–j (Baltimore, 1942; hereafter abbreviated IHL).

3 IHL §75h.

4 Lg. 17.97.

5 Falk–Torp, Norwegisch-dänisches etymologisches Wörterbuch 121 (Heidelberg, 1910–11; abbreviated FT), assume ON i as stem vowel on account of certain Scaldic verses. Noreen, Geschichte der nordischen Sprache3 §243 (Strassburg, 1913; abbreviated Gesch.), seems to confirm this on account of OGutn. biggui (Hauggrän bikui). Nevertheless it seems preferable to regard u as original. Cf. Schnieders, Die einheimischen nicht komponierten schwachen Verben der jan-Klasse im Altnordischen 42 (Göttingen, 1938).

6 The original u vocalism may be preserved in the 3d sg. conj. pret. bygge (beside b(i)ϕgge). The stem vowel is probably taken over from the sg. biō (with regular e-grade? cf. Prokosch, búti ‘to be’, whose vocalism7 represents IH *bhuh-, the double zero grade of the base *bheweh-, with secondary accent shift to the stem.8

7 The long vowel also appears in Skt. (aor.) ábhūt, Gk. (aor.) ἔϕῡ, which Hirt regards as ‘eigentlich ein Imperfektum’ to an athematic present which seems to be preserved in OE bēom < IH *bhewъh- (cf. Skt. bhávitum); see Hirt, Indogermanische Grammatik 4.178 (Heidelberg, 1928; abbreviated Idg. Gr.), and Nachträge 512 in Thumb's Handbuch des Sanskrit2 (Heidelberg, 1930).

8 In Germanic perhaps on account of the durative aspect of the verb. Cf. OS būan ‘wohnen, bleiben’: Sehrt, Vollständiges Wörterbuch zum Heliand 65 (Göttingen, 1925); OE būan ‘to dwell, inhabit, live’: Bosworth–Toller, Anglo-Saxon dictionary 132 (Oxford, 1898); ON būa ‘sich aufhalten, ansässig sein, etc.‘: FT 88.

9 IH *druwhó-, cf. OPruss. druwis ‘Glaube’: Trautmann, Altpreussische Sprachdenkmäler 324 (Göttingen, 1910); to the base *dréwh-, according to Smith, Lg. 17.98. Goth. triggws shows an analogical restoration of the full-grade vowel.

10 Cf. Hirt, Idg. Gr. 5.272 (1929).

11 Cf. Barber, Vorgeschichtliche Betonung der germanischen Substantiva und Adjektiva 41, 65, 118, 153, 171 (Heidelberg, 1932). The denominative verb trūa, OHG trūēn (but OLFrc. OS trūon!) of the 3d weak class probably owes its ū to the substantive; cf. OPruss. druwīt ‘glauben’, Goth. gatrauaiþ (2 Cor. 10.7).

12 Cf. Hirt, Idg. Gr. 2.62, 96 (1921); Kuiper, Notes on Vedic noun-inflexion 9 (Amsterdam, 1942).

13 Streitberg Festgabe 267 (Leipzig, 1924).

14 Trautmann, Baltisch-slavisches Wörterbuch 247 (Göttingen, 1923).

15 Stang, Slavisches und baltisches Verbum 46, 49 (Oslo, 1942).

16 Cf. Hirt, Idg. Gr. 5.316–7.

17 Lg. 17.96. There is no reason why we should assume an IH origin for the w, which appears only in some WGmc. dialect forms, e.g. OE trūwa beside trūa. It may be a mere glide which developed at a later date between ū and a; cf. Girvan, Angelsaksisch Handboek §109 (Haarlem, 1931). For OHG cf. Braune, Ahd. Gr.6 §110 A. 2 (Halle, 1936).

18 Noreen, Abriss der urgermanischen Lautlehre 162 (Strassburg, 1894).

19 FT 1097; van Blankenstein, Untersuchungen zu den langen Vokalen in der e-Reihe 90 (Göttingen, 1911). These and others derive it from *snōwan (cf. OE snōwan ‘to hurry’); but an ON phonetic evolution ō > ū does not seem plausible; cf. already Streitberg, Urgerm. Gr. 75 (Heidelberg, 1896). Moreover, there is definite evidence of Gmc. ū; cf. ON snūÐr (m.) ‘twist, twirl', also ‘quickness’; OE snūd ‘swiftness’.

20 Noreen, Abriss 162. The OSwed. verb belongs to the 2d weak class; cf. Wissmann, Nomina postverbalia in den altgermanischen Sprachen 61 (Göttingen, 1932).

21 FT 335–6; Boisacq, Dict. étym. de la langue grecque3 1064 (Heidelberg, 1936; abbreviated B); Walde-Pokorny, Vgl. Wb. d. idg. Spr. 1.585 (Berlin, 1927–30; abbreviated WP).

22 Van der Meer, Historische Grammatik der niederländischen Sprache l.§47 A. 3 (Heidelberg, 1927); Schönfeld, Historische Grammatica van het Nederlands4 §46 Opm. 3 (Zutphen, 1947).

23 WP 2.167 f.; Walde-Hofmann, Lat. etym. Wb. 333 (Heidelberg, 1938; abbreviated LEW); Feist, Vgl. Wb. d. gotischen Spr.3 106 (Leiden, 1939).

24 Mikkola, loc.cit. (in fn. 13) 269. Cf. also OSwed. bryggja (Smith, Lg. 17.97).

25 Smith, Lg. 17.96.

26 Krenn, Zeitschr. für (Orts) Namenforschung 12.47 (1936).

27 Cf. WP 1.749.

28 FT 330–1; Franck-van Wijk, Etymologisch Wordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal2 205 (de Haag, 1912; abbreviated Fr. v. W.); Feist 216.

29 On account of ONorw. glyggr; cf. Noreen, Altisl. Gr.4 §358, §392.3.

30 Cf. Barber 17.

31 FT 917; WP 1.479; Holthausen, Altengl. etym. Wb. 176 (Heidelberg, 1934).

32 Smith, Lg. 17.96. But OE scuwa has an unaccountable short u; cf. Brunner, Altengl. Gr. §173 A. 2 (Halle, 1942).

33 Mikkola, loc.cit. 268.

34 Barber 153.

35 FT 1040; Fr. v. W. 605; WP 2.548. ON tyggva ‘to chew’ is usually connected with this group on the assumption of a rather isolated dissimilation of palatal k′ to a following -gg-: cf. Pédersen, KZ 32.255; Brugmann, Grdr.2 1.285, 853 (Strassburg, 1897); Grammont, Traité de phonétique2 291 (Paris, 1939). But it might equally well be a rime word (cf. esp. Swed. kugg: tugga), as proposed by Wood, Modern Philology 5.279 f.

36 Noreen, Abriss 162; FT 1307; WP 1.642.

37 Noreen, ibid.; but cf. FT 657, 661.

38 Cf. FT 1044; Fr. v. W. 606.

39 The g is the normal WGmc. reflex of Gmc. *-ʒw-; cf. OE singan, Goth. siggwan.

40 WP 2.512–3. The Gmc. forms with g are often ascribed to a -k- enlargement: cf. B 1006; Walde, Lat. etym. Wb.2 758 (Heidelberg, 1910); FT 1103; Feist 465; Specht, Ursprung der idg. Deklination 33, 202 (Göttingen, 1944).

41 FT 744; Fr. v. W. 445; WP 2.311.

42 PBB 13.504 ff. (1888). Not all of this material can still be considered valuable.

43 Smith, Lg. 17.94–5; Sturtevant, IHL §75.

44 Hendriksen, Untersuchungen über die Bedeutung des Hethitischen für die Laryngaltheorie 87 n. 1 (Copenhagen, 1941).

45 Cf. numerous cases of spontaneous development of g < w in LG dialects; Sarauw, Niederdeutsche Forschungen 1.222 ff., 251, 347 (Copenhagen, 1921).

46 Urgermanisch3 65 (Strassburg, 1913), where he also claims that ‘jeder aus labiovelarem gh entstandene gw erscheint nur als w, ohne dass der vorgerm. Akzent eine Rolle spielte’. But cf. OE weċġ ‘wedge’, OHG wecki, MDu. wegghe < *wogwh-yo-.

47 Études indo-européennes 1.40 (Kraków, 1935).

48 Sturtevant, IHL §71d.

49 Trautmann, Bsl. Wb. 294; cf. also Toch. B suwo ‘pig’.

50 Cf. OE hogg ‘pig’, MDu. bagghe ‘gruntling, young pig’, MGH mocke ‘sow’, etc.: Martinet, Gémination consonantique d'origine expressive dans les langues germaniques 182 (Paris, 1937).

51 Trautmann, Bsl. Wb. 191; cf. also fn. 41.

52 With loss of the laryngeal between non-syllabics; cf. Sturtevant, IHL §73.

53 Bugge, loc.cit. (in fn. 42) 505. MDu. meusie, Gk. , Lith. , etc. show an unaccountable u, unless we admit that the laryngeal was lost before -s- without compensatory lengthening on account of the syllabic division . Perhaps the same happened in Gk. διαδύσσ∊σθαι· ἕλκ∊σθαι Hesych., if Sturtevant (IHL §36k) is right in connecting it with Hitt. túḫḫs- ‘to take off, take away; bring to an end’ < IH *duxs-.

54 Neckel, in the Nachträge to Van der Meer's Hist. Gr. d. niederl. Spr. 253 (Heidelberg, 1927), dismissing de Vries's objections (Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsche Taal- en Letterkunde 40.110). Cf. also van Haeringen, Supplement (to Fr. v. W. 1936) 164.

55 Fr. v. W. 680; WP 2.616.

56 FT 1191; Fr. v. W. 682; Trautmann, Bsl. Wb. 291.

57 If not borrowed from MLG; cf. WP 2.609.

58 Cf. Kuryłowicz, Études indoeuropéennes 29, 46 ff.; Sturtevant, IHL §78.

59 Cf. Sturtevant, IHL §70a, §73. Hitherto also Lat. īnstaurāre ‘to renew, restore’; cf. FT 1152; B 902 f.; LEW 705 f.; Feist 454 f.

60 Knuttel, Woordenboek der nederlandsche Taal, Vol. 14, col. 2430 (1936).

61 Fr. v. W. 635; van Haeringen, Supplement 156.

62 The meaning ‘tidy, neat’ of the same word must probably be ascribed to Scandinavian influence. Similarly, Eng. snug ‘neat, smart, tidy, comfortable’ originally meant ‘trimmed’ (OED 9.1.341b); it appears at the end of the 16th century in nautical language, and seems to be borrowed from MSwed. snygg ‘trimmed’ < ‘short-haired’, ultimately cognate with ON (past pple.) snoÐinn ‘bald’ (cf. ON snϕggr, snǫggr ‘shorn, smooth-haired‘). See Torp–Falk, Wortschatz der germanischen Spracheinheit 524 (= Part 3 of Fick's Vergleichendes Wb. d. idg. Spr.4 [Göttingen, 1909], abbreviated Fick 3); Fr. v. W. 634; Skeat, Concise etym. dict. of the Engl. lang. 498 (Oxford, 1911); Holthausen, Altengl. etym. Wb. 305 (Heidelberg, 1934).

63 With the same semantic evolution as OHG sniumi ‘hurrying, quick, sly’ (Fick 3.524); explained differently but not more convincingly by FT 1099.

64 Martinet, Gémination consonantique 175 f.

65 Cf. Fick 3.523; FT 1103; Trautmann, Bsl. Wb. 272; WP 2.696; Feist 440 f.

66 Bugge, loc.cit. (in fn. 42) 509. It has been attempted to analyze the word as a compound of the adjective hart ‘hard’ + a diminutive trugili ‘little trough’ (Weigand-Hirt, Deutsches Wb., Vol. 1, col. 815 [Giessen, 1909]; FT 1289). But the French loan troine ‘worthless,’ lit. ‘of deal’ (Roman de la Rose line 11092; cf. Godefroy, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française 8.83a [Paris, 1895]) < Franconian *trug-ino- (Bugge, Romania 3.159), as well as the Walloon trōl ‘privet’ (Bloch–von Wartburg, Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française 2.344 f. [Paris, 1932]) < Franconian *trugil, proves the original meaning of the second part to have been ‘(little) tree’. Cf. also Swed. try, dial. tryg ‘honeysuckle’.

67 B 202 f.; Trautmann, Bsl. Wb. 61; LEW 385; WP 1.804 ff.; Feist 480.

68 Schade, Altdeutsches Wb. 809a (Halle 1872–82); Fick 3.466.

69 Here belongs OE scȳr ‘hut’ (Meritt, OE glosses 51, No. 55.1 [New York, 1945]), which is not listed in the dictionaries.

70 FT 1040; WP 2.548.

71 With the same suffix -ílo- as OHG hartrugil: cf. Kluge, Nominale Stammbildungslehre der altgerm. Dialekte3 §56 (Halle, 1926); Wilmanns, Deutsche Grammatik 2.269 f. (Strassburg, 1896). As regards its accentuation, cf. Gk. ὀπτίλοι· ὀϕθαλμοί Hesych.; πτίλορ ‘down’ (derived from the zero grade of πέτομαι), cf. Chantraine, Formation des noms en grec ancien 248 f. (Paris, 1933).

72 FT 335 f.; B 476–7; WP 1.396.