The First Consonant Shift (Grimm’s Law)

It was formulated by Jacob Grimm in the early 19^th. It consists of three major consonant changes.

Firstly, the aspirated voiced stops appeared in Latin as voiced fricatives and in Germanic as unaspirated voiced stops:

IE aspirated voiced stops > voiced fricatives > Germanic voiced stops

bh > f > b dh > f > d gh > h > g

Latin frater – Mod E brother Latin fingere – Mod E dough Latin hortus – Mod E yard (ON garDr)

bh dh gh

b d g

Sanscrit bhrator – Gothic bropar

dhrsnoti – OE dear (to dare)

rudhiras – OE read (red)

Secondly, the voiceless stops retained in Latin became voiceless fricatives.

IE voiceless stops > Germanic voiceless fricatives

p > f t > th k > h

Latin pater – Mod E father Latin tress – Mod E three Latin cornu – Mod E horn

p t k

f p h

Ukrainian п’ять - Gothic fimf

Latin tres - OE pri

Ukrainian котрий - Gothic hwapar

OE hwxper

Thirdly, the voiced stops also retained in Latin became voiceless stops.

IE voiced stops > Germanic voiceless stops

b > p d > t g > k

Latin tur b a – Mod E thor p (found in place names) Latin d ens/ d entis – Mod E t ooth Latin a g er – Mod E a c re

b d g

p t k

R. болото – OE pol (pool)

Lat. duo – OE twa (two)

Lat. genu – OE cneo (knee)

Greek agros – OE xcer (acre)

These correspondences between Latin and English are important as English borrowed many words from Latin so that the same word etymologically may have come into English through two different channels, once through Germanic and a second time through Latin. In the following pairs the 1^st word is Germanic and the second Latin:

brother / fraternal yard / horticulture three / trinity

horn / cornucopia tooth / dentist acre / agriculture

Exceptions to Grimm’s Law:

1) sp

st the second element didn't change

sk

Rus. стать – Gothic standan

Latin hostis – Mod E guest

2) pt

kt the 1^st elements are changes, but t is not

Sanscrit na kt a – Gothic na hts (ніч)