PROBLEMS IN GERMANIC PHILOLOGY 291 



Since both questions have a bearing on the reconstruction of the 

 Early Teutonic language, and since, as far as I can see, all Germanic 

 philologists at present agree in not admitting the primary claim of 

 the Gothic language, it may be worth our while to enter upon a more 

 detailed investigation. 



Let us consider first the case of West Germanic (and Norse) e and 

 o. We are concerned here with the phenomena which Jakob Grimm 

 designated as " Vokalbrechung " (that is, vowel-fraction), namely, 

 with the fact that the Gothic vowels i and u are frequently repre- 

 sented by e and o in the other Germanic languages, as, 



Goth, niman, nimi]>, nimam. 



O. H. G. neman, nimit, nemam; or, 



Goth, hulpun, hulpans. 



O. H. G. hulfun, gi-holfan. 



Jakob Grimm took it for granted that Gothic in these cases 

 exhibited the older forms and that the vowels e and o, found in Old 

 High German and the other Germanic dialects, were of a more recent 

 date. He was unable, however, to say why in some cases i and u 

 were retained and in other cases altered in West Germanic and Old 

 Norse. The credit of furnishing a satisfactory explanation of the 

 " Brechung " belongs to Adolf Holtzmann, who in 1841 l explained the 

 change as a form of " Umlaut," depending on the vowel of the next 

 syllable. Gothic i and u remain unchanged before syllables containing 

 the vowel i or u, but they are changed to e and o before syllables 

 containing a or o or one of the diphthongs ai and au. Therefore Goth. 

 nimfy, filu, budun, hulpun = O. H. G. nimit, filu, butun, hulfun; but 

 Goth, niman, budans, hulpans O. H. G. neman, gi-botan, gi-holfan. 

 Only before n + Cons., the Gothic vowels remain unchanged also 

 in the other Germanic languages, e. g. Goth, bindan, bundun, bundans 

 = O. H. G. bintan, buntun, gi-buntan. 



This simple rule explains the change between i and e and between 

 u and o in the verb completely, with the exception of one case which 

 I shall mention later on. As regards the declension, the rule cannot 

 be applied without assuming a number of secondary changes due 

 to analogy. Yet the number of exceptions is not greater than with 

 the other theories that have been advanced in order to explain the 

 phenomena of "Brechung." 



This "a-Umlaut" is, in Holtzmann's opinion, the oldest kind of 

 "Umlaut" (i. e. mutation) found in the Germanic languages. He 

 further remarks that the a after liquids in final syllables does not 

 affect the stem-vowel. The o in O. H. G. fogal is not due to the 



1 Holtzmann's article Ueber den Umlaut appeared first in the Heidelberger 

 Jahrbilcher, and was later on published as a separate pamphlet. His views are 

 more easily accessible in his Audeutsche Grammatik, Leipzig, 1870. 



