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May 25, 2012
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Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—G

Grimm's Law

A law discovered by Jacob L. Grimm, the German philologist, to show how the mute consonants interehange as corresponding words occur in different branches of the Aryan family of languages. Thus, what is p in Greek, Latin, or Sanskrit becomes f in Gothic, and b or f in the Old High German; what is t in Greek, Latin, or Sanskrit becomes th in Gothic, and d in Old High German; etc. Thus changing p into f, and t into th, “pater” becomes “father.”

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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