188 Wisconsin Academy of /Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 



getlier. Thus we arrive at curite (curte). The Anglo-Saxon i or 

 y corresponds to Old High German i, which develops from ce 

 of Latin words, e, g. pina=:pcena. As ciira appears under an 

 older form coira, coera, which oe (whose sound, in Latin we do 

 not know) easily passed into u or i ; cl. fcedus and Jidus; moe- 

 nia and mwiire ; it is possible that in the lingua vulgaris the 

 pronunciation of cura fluctuated between ccera and cira. Any 

 one acquainted with the vowel scale in the dialects of a mod- 

 ern language will not be surprised at such a supposition. For 

 the change of the dental i into the guttural c we would account 

 by the shifting of one consonant to another of the same class, 

 which was favored here by the initial c (assimilation). A 

 similar assimilation we find in ^ohxs^ for the older ^o^Aos:: ; cf. 

 also panca, Tze/me {nipTe), quinque, fimf etc. Tliis change 

 has been explained physiologically and occurs quite frequent- 

 ly ; it is probable that in the Eoman folk speech c and t were 

 hardly distinguished* (cf. Aeol. x7jU0(: and Dor. tyjUu:;—xs7uo^), 

 so that the ear of the Teutonic barbarian was more liable to 

 mistake the one for the otber.f 



The Anglo-Saxon guttural appears usually as c (rarely as k), 



* See M. Miiller, Science of Language, 2 Series, p. 182. Grimm, W. B. 

 V, 5, K 6. 



f Other words in which we find c (k) and t (d) interchanged, are: Wih 

 peraht, Wilpert, Wilperc ; O. H. G. hart, hare andharug; Tuisco, Tuisto; 

 schlenkern, schlendern; schlank, slender ; Hekenstal, Hetonstal ; Schalk- 

 jar, Schaltjar; Mikwoch, Mitwoch; Schwiibisch-Augsburg. Woerterb. 

 von Birlinger, (Miinchen 1864). In a dialect of Modern Greek we find a 

 peculiar change from r to x in the nom. and ace. neuter, of ixs7uo^. 



See Geldart, Modern Greek, p. 121 ; (Oxford, 1870). In the CantiUne de 

 Sainte Eulalie of the IX century, as also in the Vie de Saint Liger of the 

 'K cent., yid f^nCi veintre ^or veiacre {vencre)—vaincre. In the latter poem 

 we find cartres (castres) Lat. carceres. " Le c de career parait plutut 

 s'etre change en 't par un simple adoucissement euphonique " (Dissimi- 

 lation). G. Paris, Romania, Vol. I, p. 313. It seems to me that the forms 

 d^■dra^■ and rfiYra?" of which G.Paris (Romania, Vol. I, p. 290) saj'S: "Je 

 ne sais pas comment expliquer ces formes" — arose from di&rai by as- 

 similation. 



