x

ABBREVIATIONS, ETC.

The asterisk * prefixed to a word denotes a theoretical form, as MHG.
wärmen from *warmjan, to warm.

In representing prehistoric forms the following signs are
used:—
þ (= th in Engl. thin), ð
(= th in Engl. then), ƀ (= a bilabial
spirant, which may be pronounced like the v in Engl.
vine), ʒ (= g often heard in German
sagen), χ (= NHG. ch and the ch in
Scotch loch), ŋ (= n in Engl.
sunk).

1

GRAMMAR

INTRODUCTION

§ 1.

MIDDLE HIGH GERMAN

Middle High German (MHG.) embraces
the High German language from about the year 1100 to 1500. It is divided
into three great dialect-groups: Upper German, Franconian, and East
Middle German.

1. Upper German is divided into: (a) Alemanic, embracing High
Alemanic (Switzerland), and Low Alemanic (South Baden, Swabia, and
Alsace). (b) Bavarian, extending over Bavaria and those parts of
Austria where German is spoken.

2. Franconian (West Middle German), which is subdivided into Upper
Franconian and Middle Franconian. Upper Franconian consists of East
Franconian (the old duchy of Francia Orientalis) and Rhenish Franconian
(the old province of Francia Rhinensis), Middle Franconian extending
over the district along the banks of the Moselle and of the Rhine from
Coblence to Düsseldorf.

3. East Middle German, extending over: Thuringia, Upper Saxony, and
Silesia.

Since it is impossible to deal with all these dialects in an
elementary book like the present, we shall confine ourselves almost
exclusively to Upper German, and shall only deal with that period of
Middle High German which extends from about 1200 to 1300.

2

PHONOLOGY

CHAPTER I

THE VOWELS

§ 2.
MHG. had the following simple vowels and diphthongs:—

Note.—
ë represents primitive Germanic e (= Gr. ε, Lat. e, as in Gr. δέκα, Lat. decem, MHG.
zëhen, ten) and is generally written ë in Old and
Middle High German grammars, in order to distinguish it from the OHG.
umlaut-e (§ 10). The former
was an open sound like the e in English bed, whereas the
latter was a close sound like the é in French été.
ä was a very open sound nearly like the a in English
hat, and arose in MHG. from the i-umlaut of a (§ 10). Good MHG. poets do not rhyme
Germanic ë with the umlaut-e, and the distinction between
the two sounds is still preserved in many NHG. dialects. In like manner
the modern Bavarian and Austrian dialects still distinguish between
ä and ë. In the MHG. period ä, ë, and
e were kept apart in Bavarian, but in Alemanic and Middle German
ä and ë seem to have fallen together in ë or
possibly ä, as the two sounds frequently rhyme with each other in
good poets. MHG. texts do not always preserve in writing the distinction
between the old umlaut-e and the MHG. umlaut-ä, both being
often written e in the same text.

3

Pronunciation of the Vowels.

§ 3.
The approximate pronunciation of the above vowels and diphthongs was as
follows:—

To the above list should be added the MHG. e in unaccented
syllables, which mostly arose from the weakening of the OHG. full
vowels, as OHG. zunga, tongue, hirti,
shepherd, namo, name, fridu, peace =
MHG. zunge, hirte, name, fride; OHG.
habēn, to have, scōnī, beauty,
salbōn, to anoint, zungūn, tongues = MHG.
haben, schœne, salben, zungen. The e
in this position was pronounced like the -e in NHG. zunge,
name, friede, &c.

4

Phonetic Survey of the MHG. Vowel-system.

§ 4.

The OHG. Equivalents of the MHG. Vowels.

§ 5.
The following are the OHG. equivalents of the MHG. short vowels, long
vowels and diphthongs of accented syllables:—

1. The short vowels a, ë, e, i, o,
u = the corresponding OHG. short vowels, as tac,
day, gast, guest, bant, he bound,
gap, he gave = OHG. tag, gast,
bant, gab.

wëc, way, nëmen, to take, zëhen,
ten = OHG. wëg, nëman, zëhan.

geste, guests, lember, lambs,
vert, he goes = OHG. gesti, lembir,
ferit.

wiȥȥen, to know, hilfe, I help,
visch, fish = OHG. wiȥȥan, hilfu,
fisk.

got, God, wol, well, geholfen,
helped = OHG. got, wola, giholfan.

sun, son, wurm, worm, gebunden,
bound = OHG. sunu, wurm, gibuntan.

ä is the umlaut of a before certain consonant
combinations which prevented umlaut from taking place in OHG., as
mähte, powers, hältet, he holds,
wärmen, to warm = OHG. mahti, haltit,
warmen from *warmjan (§ 10).
It also occurs in derivatives ending in -līch and -līn, as
mänlīch, manly, tägelīch, daily,
väterlīn, dim. of vater, father; and in words which
originally had an i in the third syllable, the vowel of the
second syllable having become i by assimilation, as
mägede, maids, zäher(e), tears = OHG.
magadi, zahari.

5

ö is the umlaut of OHG. o, as löcher,
holes, möhte, I might = OHG. lohhir,
mohti; götinne, goddess, beside
got, God.

ü is the umlaut of OHG. u, as dünne,
thin, süne, sons, züge, I might draw
= OHG. dunni, suni, zugi.

2. The long vowels ā, ē, ī, ō, ū =
the corresponding OHG. long vowels, as sāt, seed,
slāfen, to sleep, nāmen, we took,
dāhte, he thought = OHG. sāt, slāfan,
nāmum, dāhta.

sēle, soul, mēre, more, lēren,
to teach = OHG. sēla, mēro, lēren.

wīp, wife, sīn, his, bīȥen, to
bite = OHG. wīb, sīn, bīȥan.

ōre, ear, tōt, death, kōs, I
chose = OHG. ōra, tōd, kōs.

hūs, house, tūsent, thousand,
dūhte, it seemed = OHG. hūs, dūsunt,
dūhta.

æ is the umlaut of OHG. ā, as lære,
empty, næme, thou tookest = OHG. lāri,
nāmi.

œ is the umlaut of OHG. ō, as schœne,
beautiful, hœher, higher, hœren, to
hear = OHG. scōni, hōhiro, hōren from
*hōrjan older *hausjan.

iu = (1) OHG. iu (diphthong), as liute,
people, kiuset, he chooses = OHG. liuti,
kiusit.

iu
= (2) the umlaut of OHG. ū, as hiuser, houses,
briute, brides = OHG. hūsir, brūti.

3. The diphthongs ei, ou, uo = the corresponding
OHG. diphthongs, as bein, bone, leiten, to
lead, schreip, I wrote = OHG. bein,
leiten, screib.

ouge, eye, houbet, head, bouc,
I bent = OHG. ouga, houbit, boug.

bruoder, brother, stuont, I stood,
vuor, I went = OHG. bruoder, stuont,
fuor.

ie = (1) OHG. ie (diphthong) older ia, ea,
ē (Germanic ē), as hier, here, miete,
pay, reward, gienc, I went = OHG. hier,
mieta, gieng.

6

ie
= (2) OHG. io (Germanic eu), as bieten, to
offer, liep, dear = OHG. biotan,
liob.

ie
= (3) the OHG. io which occurs in the preterite of the old
reduplicated verbs whose presents have ou, ō, uo
(§ 87), as inf. loufen, to
run, stōȥen, to push, ruofen, to call,
preterite lief, stieȥ, rief = OHG. liof,
stioȥ, riof.

ie
= (4) Upper German iu (OHG. io) before labials and
gutturals, as liup, dear, tiuf, deep,
siuch, sick, liugen, to tell a lie =
liep, tief, siech, liegen.

öu (eu) is the umlaut of OHG. ou, as
löuber, leaves, löufel, runner = OHG.
loubir, loufil.

üe is the umlaut of OHG. uo, as grüene,
green, güete, goodness, vüere, thou didst
go = OHG. gruoni, guotī, fuori.

Unaccented Vowels and Umlaut.

§ 6.
The two most characteristic differences between OHG. and MHG. are: (1)
the spread of umlaut (§ 10); (2) the
weakening and partial loss of vowels in unaccented syllables.

1. The Weakening of Unaccented Vowels.

§ 7.
The short vowels a, i, o, u, and the long
vowels ē, ī, ō, ū were weakened to e.
This e was pronounced like the final -e in NHG.
leute, see § 3. Examples
are:—

gëba, gift, hërza, heart, zunga,
tongue, taga, days = MHG. gëbe,
hërze, zunge, tage; heilag, holy,
neut. blindaȥ, blind, nëman, to take = MHG.
heilec, blindeȥ, nëmen.

kunni, race, generation, gesti, guests =
MHG. künne, geste; kuning, king,
beȥȥisto, best, dat. pl. gestim, to
7
guests, gen. pl. lembiro, of lambs, nimit,
he takes = MHG. künec, beȥȥest (beste),
gesten, lember(e), nimet.

haso, hare, nom. acc. pl. fem. blinto,
blind, gen. pl. tago, of days = MHG. hase,
blinde, tage; acc. sing. hason, hare = MHG.
hasen.

fridu, peace, dat. sing. gëbu, to a gift,
nimu, I take = MHG. fride, gëbe,
nime; dat. pl. tagum, to days, nāmum, we
took = MHG. tagen, nāmen.

Nom. sing. masc. blintēr, blind, unsēr,
our, habēn, to have, nëmēm, we may
take = MHG. blinder, unser, haben,
nëmen.

scōnī, beauty = MHG. schœne; sālīg,
blessed, nāmīm, we might take = MHG. sælec,
næmen.

salbōn, to anoint, suohtōs(t), thou
soughtest, dat. pl. gëbōm, hërzōm = MHG.
salben, suohtes(t), gëben, hërzen.

Gen. dat. acc. sing., nom. acc. pl. zungūn = MHG.
zungen.

§ 8.
The vowel in suffixal and derivative syllables was generally weakened to
e just as in the inflexional syllables, but in some suffixal and
derivative syllables which had a secondary accent the vowel was not
weakened to e. This was especially the case with derivatives in
-ære (denoting nomina agentis), -inne, -inc
(-ing), linc (-ling), diminutives in -īn and
-līn, abstract nouns in -nisse (-nusse,
-nüsse), -unge. In others the vowel fluctuated between the
full vowel and e, as in -isch beside -esch;
-ic (= OHG. -ag, and -ī̆g) beside -ec;
superlative of adjectives -ist (= OHG. -ist) beside
-est (= OHG. -ōst); -sal beside -sel.
Beside the full forms -līch, -rīch occurred the shortened
forms -lich, -rich.

The OHG. endings of the present participle -anti,
-enti, -ōnti, ēnti regularly became -ende,
but -ant occurs in a few old participles which had become nouns,
as heilant, Saviour, wīgant, warrior,
vīant beside vīent (vīnt), fiend,
8
enemy. Examples are: gartenære, gardener,
schepfære, creator, schrībære, scribe.

küneginne, queen, vriundinne, female
friend, wirtinne, mistress.

edelinc, son of a nobleman, hendelinc,
glove, vingerlinc, ring; müedinc, unhappy
man.

magedīn, little girl, vingerīn, ring;
kindelīn, little child, vogelīn, little
bird.

hindernisse, hindrance, verdërbnisse,
destruction, vinsternisse, darkness,
vancnüsse, captivity.

beȥȥerunge, improvement, handelunge,
action, mëldunge, announcement.

himelisch, heavenly, irdisch, earthly,
kindisch, childish, beside -esch.

heilic (OHG. heilag), holy, honic (OHG.
honag, honig), honey, künic (OHG.
cuning, cunig), king, manic (OHG.
manag), many a, sælic (OHG. sālīg),
blessed, beside -ec.

oberist beside oberest, highest.

kumbersal, distress, trüebsal, gloom,
wëhsal beside wëhsel, change.

bitterlīch, bitterly, sicherlīch, surely,
wīslīch, wisely, beside -lich.

Dietrīch, Heinrīch, beside -rich.

The OHG. pronominal ending of the nom. sing. fem. and the nom. acc.
pl. neuter remained unweakened, as OHG. blintiu = MHG.
blindiu (§ 55).

2. The Loss of Unaccented Vowels.

§ 9.
The weakened e regularly disappeared:—

1.
After l and r in dissyllables with short stems, as
ar, older are (OHG. aro), eagle, acc. gen.
dat. arn, beside name, name, namen;
wol, older wole (OHG. wola), well;
gar (OHG. garo), ready, milch (OHG.
milih), milk, zal (OHG. zala),
number; kil, quill, gen. kil(e)s, dat.
kil,
9
pl. nom. acc. kil, dat. kil(e)n, beside tac,
day, gen. tages, dat. tage, pl. nom. acc.
tage, dat. tagen; bërn, to bear,
stëln, to steal, nern, to rescue, pres.
sing. stil, stils(t), stilt; ner, ners(t), nert,
beside hœren, to hear, pres. sing. hœre,
hœres(t), hœret.

2.
After liquids and nasals in trisyllabic and polysyllabic forms with long
stems, as sælde (OHG. sālida), blessedness,
hērsen, hërsen (OHG. hērisōn), to rule,
zierde (OHG. ziarida), adornment, wandelte
(OHG. wantalōta), I wandered, zwīfeln (OHG.
zwīfalōn), to doubt, wundern (OHG.
wuntarōn), to wonder, schœnste (OHG.
scōnisto), most beautiful, diente, diende
(OHG. dionōta), I served; dienest, service,
gen. dienstes; engel, angel, gen. engel(e)s,
dat. engel(e), pl. nom. acc. gen. engel(e), dat.
engel(e)n, and similarly with words like acker,
acre, lūter, clear, buosem, bosom,
heiden, heathen; grœȥer (OHG. grōȥiro),
greater, fem. dat. sing. grœȥer (OHG. grōȥiru);
dat. sing. blindem(e), blind, guotem(e),
good = OHG. blintemu, guotemu; gen. pl.
blinder(e) = OHG. blintero. After the analogy of forms
with long stems it was also dropped in forms with short stems, as pl.
nagel, nails, vogel, birds, beside
nagele, vogele; wider beside widere (OHG.
widaro), wether, dat. sing. disem(e), this,
vadem(e), thread, gen. vadem(e)s.

There was however a strong tendency in MHG. for the medial vowel to
disappear in trisyllabic forms with long stems irrespectively as to
whether they contained a liquid or a nasal, as market,
market, gen. marktes; rīchsen (OHG.
rīchisōn), to rule, ahte (OHG. ahtōta),
he observed, wartte, warte (OHG. wartēta),
he waited, vrāgte beside vrāgete (OHG.
frāgēta), he asked, dancte beside dankete
(OHG. dankōta), he thanked. See § 92.

3.
In the medial syllable of trisyllabic forms with long stems having
liquids or nasals in successive syllables, as dīme beside
dīneme (OHG. dīnemu), dat. of dīn, thy;
10
eime beside ein(e)me (OHG. einemu), dat. of
ein, one; hērre, hërre (OHG. hēriro),
master; minre beside minner(e) (OHG.
minniro), less; tiurre (OHG. tiuriro),
dearer.

4.
Finally after a nasal, and medially after a nasal before a following
t, in forms with short stems, as han(e), cock,
nam(e), name, sun (OHG. sun, sunu),
son, won(e), I dwell; man(e)t, he
admonishes, won(e)t, he dwells, scham(e)t,
he shames, nim(e)t, he takes, nëm(e)t, ye
take; pret. won(e)te, scham(e)te. In these and similar
forms the e was often restored through the influence of forms
which regularly preserved the e.

Note.—
The e, when not preceded by a nasal, was sometimes dropped in
verbal forms ending in t. This was especially the case in
wirst, wirt older wirdes(t), wirdet;
siht, he sees, sëht, ye see, older
sihet, sëhet; and often in forms like gilt,
vint, spricht, sticht beside giltet,
vindet, sprichet, stichet.

5.
The superlative of adjectives often has double forms, the one with the
loss of the medial e, and the other with the loss of the final
e, as beste, best, ērste, first,
grœste, greatest, leste, last,
min(ne)ste, least, wir(se)ste, worst, beside
beȥȥest(e), ērest(e), grœȥest(e),
leȥȥest(e), minnest(e), wirsest(e), OHG.
beȥȥisto, ēristo, grōȥisto, leȥȥisto,
minnisto, wirsisto.

6.
In the unstressed forms of dissyllables, as adv. ane, abe,
mite, obe beside the prepositions an, on,
ab, of, mit, with, ob, over;
dat. sing. dëme, wëme, ime, beside dëm,
wëm, im; unde, and, wande,
for, because, beside und (unt),
wan(d); hërre, vrouwe, beside hër,
vrou before proper names and titles.

7.
The e in the unaccented verbal prefixes be-, ge-
often disappeared before l, n, r, as blīben,
to remain, glīch, like, glit, member,
glouben, to believe, gnāde, favour,
gnanne, namesake, gnuoge, many,
grade, quick, grëch, straight,
11
beside belīben, gelīch, gelit, gelouben,
genāde, genanne, genuoge, gerade,
gerëch; it disappeared before vowels during the OHG. period, as
bange, anxious: ange, anxiously,
gëȥȥan p.p. of ëȥȥan, to eat, gunnan, MHG.
gunnen, günnen, to grant.

3. Umlaut.

§ 10.
By umlaut is meant the modification (palatalization) of an accented
vowel through the influence of an ī̆ or j which originally
stood in the following syllable. The only vowel which underwent this
change in OHG. was a, which became close e (§ 2, note).

The change is first met with in OHG. monuments about the middle of
the eighth century. In the ninth century the process was practically
complete except when the a was followed by certain consonant
combinations which prevented umlaut from taking place. These consonant
combinations were:—

1.
ht, hs, or consonant + w, as maht,
power, pl. mahti; wahsit, he grows, inf.
wahsan; bi-scatwen from *-scatwjan, to
shade.

2.
In Upper German before l + consonant, before hh, ch
(= Germanic k), and often before r + consonant, and
before h (= Germanic h), as Upper German
haltit beside Upper Franconian heltit, he holds,
inf. haltan; UG. altiro beside UF. eltiro,
older; UG. sachit beside UF. sehhit, he
quarrels, inf. sachan, Goth. sakan; UG. warmen
beside wermen, Goth. warmjan, to warm; UG.
slahit beside slehit, he strikes, inf. OHG.
slahan, Goth. slahan.

3.
In words ending in -nissi, -nissa, or -līh, as
firstantnissi, understanding; infancnissa,
assumption; kraftlīh, strong; tagalīh,
daily.

Umlaut must have taken place earlier in the spoken language than it
is expressed in late OHG. and early
12
MHG. manuscripts, because the ī̆ which caused the umlaut was
weakened to e in MHG. (§ 7)
and j had disappeared except between vowels. The vowels and
diphthongs which underwent umlaut in MHG. are a, o,
u, ā, ō, ū, ou, uo. The umlaut
of all these sounds was completed by about the year 1200.

a > e: gast, guest, pl. geste
(OHG. gesti); lamp, lamb, pl. lember (OHG.
lembir); inf. graben, to dig, pres. second and
third pers. sing. grebes(t), grebet (OHG. grebis,
grebit); lanc, long, beside lenge (OHG.
lengī), length; brennen, Goth. brannjan,
to burn; bette (OHG. betti), bed.

a > ä: From the twelfth century onwards the umlaut
of a also occurs—often beside forms without umlaut—in
words containing the consonant combinations which prevented umlaut from
taking place in OHG., as pl. mähte (OHG. mahti),
powers; geslähte (OHG. gislahti), race,
generation; wähset (OHG. wahsit), he grows;
wärmen (OHG. warmen, older *warmjan), to
warm; Upper German älter (OHG. altiro), older;
kälte (OHG. kaltī), coldness; hältet (OHG.
haltit), he holds; äher (OHG. ahir), ear
of corn; slähet (OHG. slahit), he strikes. It
also occurs in derivatives ending in -līch, -līn, as
mänlīch, manly, schämelīch, shameful,
tägelīch, daily, väterlīch, fatherly,
väterlīn, dim. of vater, father. It is likewise met
with in MHG. words which originally had an i in the third
syllable, the vowel of the second syllable having become i by
assimilation, as frävele (OHG. frafali), bold, pl.
mägede (OHG. magadi), maids, pl. zäher(e)
(OHG. zahari), tears. See § 2, Note.

o > ö: Although ö, the umlaut of o, is
common in MHG. and still commoner in NHG., yet all words containing this
umlaut are really new formations due to levelling or analogy, because
primitive Germanic u (§ 15)
did not become o in OHG. when followed by an ī̆ or
j in
13
the next syllable. Examples are: boc, he-goat, beside dim.
böcklīn (OHG. pochilī); dorf, village,
beside pl. dörfer; got, God, beside götinne,
goddess; hof, court, beside hövesch,
courtly; loch (OHG. loh), hole, beside pl.
löcher (OHG. lohhir); tohter, daughter,
beside dim. töhterlīn; pret. subj. möhte (OHG.
mohti), I might; törste (OHG. torsti), I
might dare.

u > ü: dünne (OHG. dunni),
thin; künne (OHG. kunni), race,
generation; pl. süne (OHG. suni), sons;
tür (OHG. turi), door; pret. subj. züge
(OHG. zugi), inf. ziehen, to draw.

Note.—
In Upper German certain consonant combinations often prevented umlaut
from taking place where it might be expected. Of these the principal
are:—

1. Before a liquid + consonant,
as hulde (OHG. huldī), favour; schuldec
(OHG. sculdīg), guilty; gedultec (OHG.
gidultīg), indulgent; burge (OHG. burgi),
dat. of burc, city; sturbe (OHG. sturbi),
pret. subj. of stërben, to die; wurfe (OHG.
wurfi), pret. subj. of wërfen, to throw, cp.
2 above.

2. u fluctuates with
ü when followed by a nasal + consonant, as dunken, to
seem, umbe, about, wunne, joy, beside
dünken, ümbe (OHG. umbi), wünne. This
fluctuation is especially common in the pret. subjunctive, as
bunde, sunge, beside bünde, sünge, inf.
binden, to bind, singen, to sing.

3. u fluctuates with
ü when followed by gg, ck, pf, tz,
ȥȥ, st, ch, and g, as brugge,
brügge, brucke, brücke, bridge;
mugge, mügge, mucke, mücke, midge;
drucken, drücken, to press; hupfen,
hüpfen, to hop; schupfen, schüpfen, to
push; nutzen, nützen, to use; pret. subj.
fluȥȥe, flüȥȥe; schuȥȥe, schüȥȥe, inf.
flieȥen, to flow, schieȥen, to shoot; pl.
bruste, brüste, breasts; kuchen,
küchen, kitchen; pret. subj. fluge, flüge,
inf. fliegen, to fly.

ā > æ: lære (OHG. lāri), empty;
mære (OHG. māri), renowned; sæjen (OHG.
sājan), to sow; pret. subj. næme (OHG.
nāmi), pl. næmen (OHG. nāmīm), inf. nëmen,
to take.

14

ō > œ: hœher (OHG. hōhiro),
higher; hœhest (OHG. hōhisto), highest;
hœren (OHG. hōren, from older *hōrjan), to
hear; schœne (OHG. scōni), beautiful.

ū > iu: pl. briute (OHG. brūti),
brides; hiuser (OHG. hūsir), houses.

Traces of the umlaut of ū, written iu
(= ǖ), occur in late OHG. monuments of the tenth century.
It is common in the writings of Notker († 1022), as hiute
older hūti, skins; chriuter older chrūtir,
herbs. In other writings of the tenth to the twelfth century the
umlaut of ū is seldom found. Umlaut did not take place in Upper
German before a following m, as rūmen from *rūmjan,
to make room; sūmen from *sūmjan, to
tarry.

ou > öu, often written eu, rarely oi,
öi: löufel (OHG. loufil), runner;
löuber (OHG. loubir), leaves.

Umlaut of ou did not take place in the combination ouw
= OHG. ouw, auw, West Germanic aww, primitive
Germanic awj, as frouwe (OHG. frouwa, prim.
Germanic *frawjō-), woman; ouwe (OHG. ouwa,
auwia, prim. Germanic *a(ʒ)wjō-), meadow;
frouwen (OHG. frouwen, prim. Germanic *frawjan),
to rejoice, and similarly douwen, to digest,
drouwen, to threaten, strouwen, to strew.
Forms like fröuwen, döuwen, dröuwen,
ströuwen were analogical formations due to the influence of the
pres. second and third pers. singular and the preterite which regularly
had umlaut; see the Author’s Historical German Grammar,
§ 232.

Umlaut of ou did not take place in Upper German before labials
and g, as erlouben, to allow, gelouben,
to believe, houbet, head, koufen, to
buy, troumen, to dream, toufen, to
baptize, bougen, to bend, ougen, to
show, beside Middle German erlöuben, gelöuben,
höubet, köufen, tröumen, töufen,
böugen, öugen.

uo > üe: grüene (OHG. gruoni),
green; güete (OHG. guotī), goodness;
vüeȥe (OHG. fuoȥi), feet; pret. pl. subj.
15
vüeren (OHG. fuorīm), we might go, inf.
varn, to fare, go; buoch, book, dim.
büechlīn; muoter, mother, dim.
müeterlīn.

The MHG. Equivalents of the OHG. Vowels.

§ 11.
OHG. had the following short vowels, long vowels, and
diphthongs:—

The following are the MHG. equivalents of the above simple vowels and
diphthongs in accented syllables:—

1.
The short vowels: Apart from the changes caused by umlaut, viz. a
to ä, o to ö, u to ü (§ 10), and of ë to e before
certain consonants, the OHG. short vowels remained in MHG., as

a = (1) MHG. a, as OHG. fater, father,
tag, day, faran, to go = MHG. vater,
tac, varn.

a
= (2) MHG. ä, in words containing the consonant combinations
which prevented umlaut from taking place in OHG., as OHG. mahti,
powers, kaltī, coldness, ahir, ear of
corn, warmen, to warm = MHG. mähte,
kälte, äher, wärmen, see § 10.

e = MHG. e, as OHG. gesti, guests,
lembir, lambs, brennen, to burn = MHG.
geste, lember, brennen.

ë = (1) MHG. ë, as OHG. wëg, way,
hëlfan, to help, stëlan, to steal = MHG.
wëc, hëlfen, stëln.

ë
= (2) MHG. e, before st, sch, and palatal g,
as OHG. nëst, nest, swëster, sister = MHG.
nest,
16
swester; and similarly, gestern, yesterday,
deste, all the more, weste, I knew,
dreschen, to thrash, leschen, to go out,
degen, warrior; and also in a few words before a following
l, as helm, helmet, vels, rock,
welch, which, &c.

i = MHG. i, as OHG. fisk, fish, nimu,
I take, wiȥȥan, to know = MHG. visch,
nime, wiȥȥen.

o = (1) MHG. o, as OHG. got, God, p.p.
giholfan, helped, tohter, daughter = MHG.
got, geholfen, tohter.

o
= (2) MHG. ö, as OHG. lohhir, holes, mohti,
I might = MHG. löcher, möhte.

u = (1) MHG. u, as OHG. sunu, sun,
son, butum, we offered, buntum, we
bound = MHG. sun, buten, bunden.

u
= (2) MHG. ü, as OHG. dunni, thin, suni,
sons = MHG. dünne, süne.

2.
The long vowels: Apart from the changes caused by umlaut, viz. ā
to æ, ō to œ, and ū to iu (§ 10), the OHG. long vowels remained in MHG.,
as

ā = (1) MHG. ā, as OHG. sāt, seed,
slāfan, to sleep, dāhta, I thought = MHG.
sāt, slāfen, dāhte.

ā
= (2) MHG. æ, as OHG lāri, empty, nāmi, I
might take = MHG. lære, næme.

ē = MHG. ē, as OHG. ēra, honour,
lēren, to teach, sēla, soul = MHG.
ēre, lēren, sēle.

ī = MHG. ī, as OHG. sīn, his, wīb,
woman, snīdan, to cut = MHG. sīn,
wīp, snīden.

ō = (1) MHG. ō, as OHG. ōra, ear,
tōd, death, kōs, I chose = MHG. ōre,
tōt, kōs.

ō
= (2) MHG. œ, as OHG. hōhiro, higher, hōren,
to hear, scōni, beautiful = MHG. hœher,
hœren, schœne.

ū = (1) MHG. ū, as OHG. hūs, house,
rūm, room, dūhta, it seemed = MHG.
hūs, rūm, dūhte.

17

ū
= (2) MHG. iu, as OHG. hūsir, houses, brūti,
brides = MHG. hiuser, briute.

3.
The diphthongs:

ei = MHG. ei, as OHG. bein, bone,
leiten, to lead, sneid, I cut = MHG.
bein, leiten, sneit.

ie (older ia, ea = Germanic ē) = MHG.
ie, as OHG. hier, here, mieta,
reward, hielt, I held, hieȥ, I
called, slief, I slept = MHG. hier,
miete, hielt, hieȥ, slief.

io (eo) = Germanic eu (§ 16), and the io (eo) in the
preterites of the old reduplicated verbs whose presents have ou,
ō, uo (§ 87).

io (eo)
= MHG. ie, as OHG. liob, dear, biotan, to
offer = MHG. liep, bieten; OHG. liof, I
ran, stioȥ, I pushed, riof, I called =
MHG. lief, stieȥ, rief.

iu = MHG. ǖ written iu, as OHG. liuti,
people, kiusit, he chooses = MHG. liute,
kiuset.

ou (older au) = (1) MHG. ou, as OHG. ouga,
eye, boug, I bent, loufan, to run =
MHG. ouge, bouc, loufen.

ou (older au)
= (2) MHG. öu (eu), as OHG. loubir, leaves,
loufil, runner = MHG. löuber, löufel.

uo = (1) MHG. uo, as OHG. bruoder, brother,
muoter, mother, stuont, I stood = MHG.
bruoder, muoter, stuont.

uo
= (2) MHG. üe, as OHG. gruoni, green, fuoȥi,
feet, = MHG. grüene, vüeȥe.

Ablaut (Vowel Gradation).

§ 12.
By ablaut is meant the gradation of vowels both in stem and suffix,
which was chiefly caused by the primitive Indo-Germanic system of
accentuation. See the Author’s Historical German Grammar,
§ 23.

18

The vowels vary within certain series of related vowels, called
ablaut-series. In MHG. there are six such series, which appear most
clearly in the stem-forms of strong verbs. Four stem-forms are to be
distinguished in a MHG. strong verb which has vowel gradation as the
characteristic mark of its different stems:—(1) the present stem,
to which belong all the forms of the present, (2) the stem of the first
or third person of the preterite singular, (3) the stem of the preterite
plural, to which belong the second person of the preterite singular and
the whole of the preterite subjunctive, (4) the stem of the past
participle.

By arranging the vowels according to these four stems we arrive at
the following system:—

Note.—1.
On the difference between ei and ē, see § 17; ou and ō, § 18; and
in Series III i and ë, § 14; u and o,
§ 15.

2. Strong verbs belonging to
Series II have iu in the indicative pres. singular; and strong
verbs belonging to Series III-V with ë in the infinitive have
i in the indicative pres. singular (§§ 14, 16).

Examples.

For further examples see the various classes of strong verbs §§
76–86. Class VII of strong verbs embracing the old
reduplicated verbs (§ 87) has been
omitted from the ablaut-series, because the exact relation in which the
vowel of the present stands to that of the preterite has not yet been
satisfactorily explained.

Other Vowel Changes.

§ 13.
Most of the following vowel changes took place in prehistoric times; but
as they play an important part in the verbs and word-formation, &c.,
we shall give them here.

§ 14.
ë (= Indo-Germanic e) became i in the prehistoric
period of all the Germanic languages:—

1.
Before a nasal + consonant, as OE. wind, OHG. MHG.
wint, Lat. ventus, wind; OHG. fimf,
finf, Gr. πέντε,
five. This explains why verbs like MHG. binden, to
bind, rinnen, to run, singen, to sing,
belong to the same ablaut-series as hëlfen, to help,
wërden, to become.

2.
Before other consonants when followed by an ī̆ or j
in the next syllable, and further in OHG. when followed by an u
in the next syllable, as OHG. MHG. ist, Gr. ἐστί, is; OHG. fihu, Lat.
pecu, cattle; ërde (OHG. ërda),
earth, but irdīn, earthen; ligen (OHG.
liggen from *ligjan), to lie down, sitzen
(OHG. sitzen from *sitjan), to sit, but p.p.
gelëgen (OHG. gilëgan), gesëȥȥen (OHG.
gisëȥȥan). This explains why strong verbs belonging to the fourth
(§§ 12, 82) and fifth (§§ 12, 83)
ablaut-series have i throughout the present singular, and
similarly in verbs belonging to the third (§§ 12, 81) series with
ë in the infinitive, as

20

§ 15.
u, followed originally by an ā̆, ō̆, or ē in
the next syllable, became o when not protected by a nasal +
consonant or an intervening ī̆ or j; hence the interchange
between u and o in the preterite plural and past
participle of verbs belonging to the second ablaut-series (§§ 12, 78), as
bugen (OHG. bugum), we bent, p.p. gebogen
(OHG. gibogan); in the p.p. of verbs belonging to the third
ablaut-series (§§ 12, 81), as gebunden (OHG. gibuntan), but
geholfen (OHG. giholfan); in weak verbs as fürhten
(OHG. furhten from *furhtjan), to fear, beside
pret. vorhte (OHG. forhta); hügen (OHG.
huggen from *hugjan) beside hogen (OHG.
hogēn), to think; in preterite presents like durfen
(OHG. durfum), we dare, beside pret. dorfte (OHG.
dorfta); in many nouns and adjectives, as wolle (OHG.
wolla), wool, beside wüllīn, wullīn,
woollen; wolf (stem *wulfo-), wolf, beside
wülpinne, she-wolf; vol, full, beside
vülle (OHG. fullī), fulness; golt,
gold, beside guldīn, golden.

§ 16.
From primitive Germanic eu were developed two different
diphthongs in OHG., viz. eu became eo (cp. § 15), later io, when originally
followed by an ā̆, ō̆, or ē in the next syllable,
and this io was regularly developed to ie
21
in MHG.; whereas eu became iu in OHG. when originally
followed by an ī̆, j or u in the next syllable, and
this iu became ǖ (written iu) in MHG., even after
the ī̆, j or u had been weakened to e. This
law explains the difference between the diphthong ie in the
infinitive and the simple vowel iu (= ǖ) in the
three persons singular of the present indicative of verbs belonging to
the second ablaut-series (§§ 12,
78), as

Cp. further tief (OHG. tiof), deep, beside OHG.
tiufī, depth; lieht (OHG. lioht), a
light, beside liuhten (OHG. liuhten from
*liuhtjan), to light.

Note.—
The iu in the above and similar examples must not be confounded
with the iu in the OHG. and MHG. combination iuw which
arose from prim. Germanic eww (= euw), and
ewj, as triuwe (OHG. triuwi, Goth. triggws),
true; triuwen, trūwen, to trust, pret.
triuete, triute, trūte; riuwe (OHG.
riuwa), regret, bliuwen (OHG. bliuwan, Goth.
bliggwan), to strike, and similarly, briuwen, to
brew, kiuwen, to chew, riuwen, to
regret; niuwe (OHG. niuwi, Goth. niujis, prim.
Germanic stem-form *newja-), new. This iu before
w never interchanged with MHG. ie from prim. Germanic
eu, and explains why the strong verbs bliuwen, &c.
have iu in all forms of the present.

§ 17.
Accented primitive Germanic ai (= Goth. ái) became
ē in OHG. before r, w, Germanic h (cp.
§ 23, 1), and finally; in MHG.
it appears also as ē before the same consonants and finally, as
mēre, mēr (OHG. mēro, Goth. máiza),
more, lēren (OHG. lēren, Goth. láisjan),
to teach; sēle (OHG. sēla, older sēula,
Goth. sáiwala), soul; snē (OHG. snēo, Goth.
snáiws), snow, gen. OHG. and MHG. snēwes;
spīwen, to spit, pret. spē (OHG. spēo, Goth.
spáiw); dīhen, to thrive, pret. dēch (OHG.
dēh, Goth. dáih); wē (OHG. wē, Goth.
wái), woe!; in all other cases ai became ei
in both OHG. and MHG., as stein
22
(Goth. stáins), stone, heiȥen (OHG. heiȥan,
Goth. háitan), to call; snīden, to cut,
pret. sneit (OHG. sneid, Goth. snáiþ). This
accounts for the difference between the ei and ē in the
preterite singular of strong verbs belonging to the first ablaut-series
(§§ 12, 76).

§ 18.
Primitive Germanic au became ō in OHG. before the
consonants d, t, ȥ, s, n, r,
l, and Germanic h (cp. 23, 1). Before other consonants and finally
au became ou in the ninth century. Hence the difference
between ō and ou in the preterite singular of strong verbs
belonging to the second ablaut-series (§§ 12, 78), as:—

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,
23
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,
24
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.

25

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.

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.

26

§ 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;
27
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,
28
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:—

§ 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
29
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:—

This law has, however, many exceptions in MHG. owing to levelling
having taken place with the infinitive,
30
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,
31
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,
32
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.

33

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),
34
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.

35

§ 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.

36

ACCIDENCE

CHAPTER III

DECLENSION OF NOUNS

§ 41.
MHG. nouns have two numbers: singular and plural; three genders:
masculine, feminine, and neuter, as in OHG. and NHG., from which the
gender of nouns in MHG. does not materially differ; four cases:
nominative, accusative, genitive, and dative. Traces of an old locative
occur in what is called the uninflected dative singular of hūs,
house, beside hūse, and in proper names like
Engellant beside Engellande. The vocative is like the
nominative.

In MHG., as in the older periods of the other Germanic languages,
nouns are divided into two great classes, according as the stem
originally ended in a vowel or a consonant, cp. the similar division of
nouns in Latin and Greek. Nouns whose stems originally ended in a vowel
belong to the vocalic or so-called strong declension. Those whose stems
originally ended in -n belong to the so-called weak or
n-declension. All other consonantal stems are generally put
together under the general heading, ‘Minor Declensions’. In OHG. nouns
whose stems originally ended in a vowel are subdivided into the
a-declension including pure a-stems, ja-stems, and
wa-stems; the ō-declension including pure ō-stems,
jō-stems, and wō-stems; the ī̆-declension, and the
u-declension. All the nouns belonging to the u-declension
went over into other
37
declensions in MHG. (cp. §§ 43, 44, 49). But as all
final vowels either disappeared (some of them already in OHG.) or were
weakened to e in MHG. (see §§ 7,
8), it is no longer practicable to retain the
OHG. subdivision fully without entering into the oldest and in many
cases into the prehistoric period of the language, which would be quite
out of place in a MHG. grammar. The old ‘Minor Declensions’ had begun to
pass over into the vocalic, especially into the i- and a-,
declensions in the oldest OHG. The remnants of the old inflexions
preserved in MHG. will be noted in the following paragraphs. The neuter
nouns whose stems originally ended in -os, -es (cp.
§ 47) are in this Primer included in
the strong declension.

A. The Vocalic or Strong Declension.

1. Masculine Nouns.

§ 42.
First declension.—To this declension belong all masculine
nouns which form their plural in -e only. It includes: (a) the
old masculine a-stems; (b) the old masculine wa-stems
which lost their final -w after long vowels in OHG., as
sē, sea, gen. sēwes, pl. sēwe, and similarly
bū, dwelling, rē (also neuter), corpse,
snē, snow, see § 36;
and (c) the old masculine i-stems which could not have umlaut in
the plural (§ 44).

38

On the interchange between fortis and lenis, as in tac,
day, lop, praise, sant, sand,
hof, court, gen. tages, lobes,
sandes, hoves, see § 33.

Like tac are also declined the old consonantal stems
vīent, enemy, and vriunt, friend, but pl.
vriunde beside the old plural vriunt.

Like kil are declined all monosyllabic masculine nouns having
a short stem-vowel and ending in -l or -r (§ 9, 1).

Like engel are declined masculine polysyllabic nouns ending in
-el, -em, -en, -er, when their stem-syllable
is long, as mantel, mantle, ātem, breath,
morgen, morning, acker, field. Those in
-em, -en generally retain the e in the dative
plural. Polysyllabic nouns with short stem-syllables fluctuate between
the retention or loss of the e, as gen. sing. vogeles or
vogels, dat. sing, and nom. acc. pl. vogele or
vogel, and similarly vadem, thread, rëgen,
rain, sumer, summer, see § 9, 2.

§ 43.
Second declension.—To this declension belong all masculine
nouns whose nom. and acc. singular end in -e, which is the only
difference between this and the first declension. It includes: (a) the
old masculine ja-stems; (b) many old u-stems with short
stem-syllable, as fride (OHG. fridu), peace,
site (OHG. situ), custom, and similarly
huge, thought, mëte, mead, sige
beside sic, victory, wite, wood (see § 36); (c) the old short i-stem
wine, friend; and (d) the old masculine wa-stem
schate (gen. schat(e)wes beside schates),
shadow.

§ 44.
Third declension.—To this declension belong all masculine
nouns which form their plural in -e and with
39
umlaut of the stem-vowel. It includes: (a) the old masculine
i-stems; (b) the old masculine u-stem sun (OHG.
sunu, sun), son; and (c) the two old consonant
stems fuoȥ, foot, zant (gen. zandes),
zan, tooth.

The singular of nouns of this declension was inflected like the
a-stems (§ 42) already in
OHG. And owing to the weakening of the case-endings of the plural in
passing from OHG. to MHG. (§ 7), the
only difference in the two declensions is the presence or absence of
umlaut in the plural. The old masculine i-stems which could not
have umlaut in the plural accordingly came to be inflected entirely like
the old masculine a-stems, as schrit, step,
snit, cut, biȥ, bite, pl. schrite,
snite, biȥȥe. A further consequence of the singular
being inflected alike in both declensions is that the old a-stems
began to have umlaut in the plural after the analogy of the
i-stems, as gedenke, thoughts, nägele,
nails, wägene, wagons, beside gedanke,
nagele, wagene.

Nouns ending in the fortis p, t, c, or f
(= Germanic f) regularly change the fortis to lenis in the
inflected forms, as korp, basket, walt,
wood, slac, blow, brief, letter, gen.
korbes, waldes, stages, brieves.

§ 45.
The old consonant stems vater, father, bruoder,
brother, often remain uninflected in the singular, as gen.
vater, bruoder beside vaters, bruoders (cp.
§ 9, 2). In the plural they
take umlaut, as veter, brüeder. The old consonant stem
man, man, is either declined like tac (§ 42) or remains uninflected throughout,
as

40

The nom. plural man, now written mann, is still
preserved in counting, as hundert mann, a hundred men.

2. Neuter Nouns.

§ 46.
First Declension.—To this declension belong all neuter
nouns which have their nominative case singular and plural alike. It
includes three different types of nouns: (a) The old neuter
a-stems like wort, word, venster,
window. (b) The old neuter ja-stems like
künne, race, generation, bette, bed,
netze, net. The characteristic of this type of noun is
that it has umlaut in all forms of the singular and plural when the
stem-vowel is capable of it (cp. § 31, 3). And (c) the old neuter
wa-stems (cp. § 36) like
knie, knee, gen. kniewes.

41

(a) On the interchange between the fortes p, t,
c and the lenes b, d, g, as in grap,
grave, gëlt, money, dinc, thing, gen.
grabes, gëldes, dinges, see § 33.

Like venster are declined the neuter polysyllabic nouns ending
in -el, -em, -en, -er, as luoder,
bait, wāfen, wāpen, weapon; schapel,
garland, gadem, house, wëter,
weather. On the endings, see §§ 9, 42.

(b) Like künne is also declined the old neuter u-stem
vihe (OHG. fihu), cattle.

(c) Like knie are declined mël, meal, rē
(also masc.), corpse, smër, fat, strō,
straw, tou, dew, wē, woe, gen.
mëlwes, rēwes, smërwes, strōwes,
touwes, wēwes, see § 36.

§ 47.
Second declension.—To this declension belong all neuter
nouns which form their plural in -er and by umlaut of the
stem-vowel when it is capable of it. This class of nouns corresponds to
the Latin neuters in -us, as genus, gen. generis,
pl. genera. The -er (OHG. -ir) was originally a
stem-forming suffix which came to be regarded as a plural ending. In the
oldest period of the language only about half-a-dozen nouns belonged to
this class, but during the MHG. period nearly twenty neuter
a-stems passed into this declension, and in NHG. the number has
increased to about a hundred.

On the loss of the e in the gen. and dat. plural, see § 9, 2.

Other examples are: ei (pl. eiger, eijer,
eier, § 35),
42
egg, huon, hen, kalp, calf,
rat, wheel, rint, bullock, tal,
dale.

3. Feminine Nouns.

§ 48.
First declension.—To this declension belong all feminine
nouns having their nominative case singular and plural alike. It
includes: (a) the old feminine ō-stems, as gëbe,
gift, sēle, soul, zal, number; (b)
the old feminine jō-stems, as küneginne, künegin,
künegīn, queen, and similarly vriundinne,
friend, gütinne, goddess; (c) the old feminine
wō-stems with and without w, as brāwe, brā,
brow, pl. brā beside weak pl. brāwen; diuwe,
diu, servant; (d) the old feminine abstract nouns in
-ī, as vinster (OHG. finstrī), darkness,
schœne (OHG. scōnī), beauty; and (e) the old
consonant stem, swester, swëster, sister.

On the endings in nouns declined like zal, number,
dol, pain, wal, choice, nar,
food, schar, flock, and vinster, see
§ 9, 1, 2.

The gen. plural had the ending of the weak declension already in the
oldest period of the language. Through the nom. singular and the gen.
and dat. plural having the same endings as the feminine weak declension
(§ 53), ō-stems began in OHG.
to be inflected after the analogy
43
of the weak declension, especially in the plural. This process spread
considerably in MHG. with concrete nouns, but not often with abstract
nouns.

§ 49.
Second declension.—To this declension belong all feminine
nouns which form their plural in -e and have umlaut in the
stem-vowel. It includes: (a) the old feminine i-stems; (b) the
old u-stem hant, hand; and (c) several old
consonantal stems, see below.

In jugent (OHG. jugund, pl. jugundi),
youth, gen. dat. jugende beside jugent, pl.
jugende, the original -i being in the third syllable did
not cause umlaut in the stem-syllable; and similarly tugent,
valour.

hant, hand, originally belonged to the
u-declension, which explains forms like gen. sing, and plural
hande beside hende, dat. pl. handen beside
henden. The old gen. plural has been preserved in NHG.
allerhand, and the dat. plural in abhanden,
beihanden, vorhanden, zuhanden.

Several old consonant stems went over partly or entirely into this
declension, viz. maget, meit (§ 37), maid, pl. mägede or
meide; kuo, cow, pl. küeje or küewe
(OHG. kuoi), sū, sow, pl. siuwe (OHG.
sūi); both these nouns generally remained uninflected in the gen.
and dat. singular. naht, night, has gen. and dat. singular
naht beside nähte; pl. nom. acc. gen. naht beside
nähte, dat. nahten beside nähten, cp. also NHG.
weihnachten, MHG. zën wīhen nahten. The MHG. adverbial
gen. nahts, dës nahtes
44
was formed after the analogy of dës tages. Like naht were
also inflected brust, breast, and burc,
citadel.

muoter, mother, and tohter, daughter,
remain uninflected in the singular. In the plural they have umlaut:
müeter, töhter.

B. The Weak Declension (N-Stems).

§ 50.
The weak declension contains a large number of masculine and feminine
nouns, but only four neuter nouns, viz. hërze, heart,
ōre, ear, ouge, eye, and wange,
cheek; these nouns, especially hërze, sometimes form their
nom. acc. plural after the analogy of nouns like künne (§ 46). The original case endings of the weak
declension had disappeared in the oldest period of the language except
in the nom. singular (masc. -o, fem., and neut. -a), the
gen. pl. (ōno) and dat. pl. (-ōm). Owing to the weakening
of the -o, -a to -e in MHG. the nom. singular
became alike in all genders. And similarly the endings -ōno,
-ōm and the endings of the other oblique forms were all weakened
to -en in MHG. (§ 7), so that
the element which originally formed part of the stem came to be regarded
as a case ending.

On the loss of the final and medial e in nouns like ar,
eagle, bir (fem.), pear, gevangen(e),
prisoner, beside the inflected forms arn, birn,
gevangen from *gevangen-en through the intermediate stage
*gevangenn, see § 9,
1, 2.

§ 51.

1. Masculine Nouns.

§ 52.

2. Neuter Nouns.

§ 53.

3. Feminine Nouns.

C. Declension of Proper Names.

§ 54.
Names of persons ending in e in the nominative follow the weak
declension. Masculine names of persons take -es in the genitive,
-e in the dative, and -en in the accusative after the
analogy of the strong adjectives. The accusative ending -en was
sometimes extended to the
46
dative, and the dative ending -e to the accusative. And sometimes
both these cases were without endings. Names of countries ending in
-lant often have no ending in the dative, as Engellant
beside Engellande, see § 41.
Feminine names of persons ending in a consonant take -e in the
genitive, dative and accusative, but occasionally remain uninflected
throughout.

CHAPTER IV

ADJECTIVES

A. The Declension of Adjectives.

1. The Strong Declension.

§ 55.
The MHG. adjectives are declined as strong or weak. They have three
genders, and the same cases as nouns. The endings of the strong
declension are partly nominal and partly pronominal. The nominal endings
are: the accusative feminine singular, as blinde like gëbe
(§ 48); and the genitive singular
masculine and neuter, as blindes like tages, wortes
(§§ 43, 46). All the other endings are pronominal. The
so-called uninflected form of adjectives in the nom. singular masculine
and feminine
47
and the nom. acc. neuter is a remnant of the time when adjectives and
nouns were declined alike, see the Author’s Hist. Germ. Grammar, §§
399-400. The strong declension includes three different types of
adjectives, all of which are declined alike: (a) The old a-stems,
as blint, infl. form blinter, blind; bar,
bare, guot, good, heilec, holy,
hol, hollow, michel, great, vinster,
dark, and similarly with a very large number of adjectives,
including the past participles of strong and weak verbs. (b) The old
ja-stems, as lære (OHG. lāri), infl. lærer,
empty; dünne, thin, enge, narrow,
grüene, green, niuwe, new, reine,
pure, schœne, beautiful, senfte,
soft, wilde, wild, and many others, including the
present participles of strong and weak verbs. The ja-stems only
differ from the a-stems in having -e in the uninflected
form and umlaut in the stem-syllable when it is capable of it. (c) The
old wa-stems, as blā (OHG. blāo, blā), infl.
form blāwer, blue; gar (OHG. garo), infl.
form garwer (see §§ 9, 1,
36), ready; grā, grey,
val, fallow, gël, yellow, kal,
bald, &c., all of which have w in the inflected
forms.

The adjectival i- and u-stems had come to be declined
like the ja-stems in the prehistoric period of the language, but
a few remnants of such adjectives have survived in MHG. in forms without
the final -e beside those with it, as bereit,
bereite, ready, dic, dicke, thick,
gāch, gæhe, quick, grīs, grīse,
old, grey, hēr, hēre, high,
noble, rasch, resche, quick, rīch,
rīche, noble, swā, swære, heavy,
was, wasse, sharp.