Similarities and differences Germanic languages ​​with other IE (Indo-European) languages

Germanic languages ​​are part of the Indo-European family. That`s why they have both similarities and differences with other IE (Indo-European) languages.

There is no doubts, all the IE languages have shared words for certain animals, plants, topographical formations, and certain meteorological phenomena. Such words help us geographically locate the IE peoples. They almost all have a word for snow, corn, and wolf.

Of course, some shared words can be illusory. All the IE languages have shared or cognate words for wind, heart, lung, foot, night, sun, moon, and so on—implying that the IE peoples all had hearts, lungs, and feet, and that they all lived on Earth. These words tend to be conservative, constituting a core vocabulary.

I have examined the material of the German languages in the system of Indo-European language family, and concluded that we are dealing with sound correspondences.

German scholar Jacob Grimm, following the Danish linguist Rasmus Rask (whose work, being written in Danish, was less accessible to most European scholars), pointed out in the second edition of his comparative grammar of Germanic that there were a number of systematic correspondences between the sounds of Germanic and the sounds of Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit in related words. It was very important step for the development of comparative philology.

The specifically Germanic features of the sound system may be best of all illustrated by the so called the First Consonant Shift (or the Germanic Consonant Shift). This phenomenon was first observed by  the  Danish scholar Rasmus Rusk, and later on it was described by  the German linguist Jacob Grimm (hence one more name of this phenomenon, «The Grimm’s Law»).

Grimm’s Law states the correspondences between the consonants of the Germanic languages on the one hand and all the other Indo-European languages on the other hand.

According to this law certain Indo-European consonants underwent changes in the Germanic languages and appeared  in them  as quite different sounds.  J. Grimm singled out three stages in the development of these consonants.

 

First. Indo-European voiceless stops [p], [t], [k] developed in the Germanic languages into voiceless fricatives [f], [0], [h].

Indo-European	Germanic
Russ. приятель	NE friend
Russ. пята; L.pedis	NE foot; G.fuβ
Gr. kardia; L.cordis	NE heart; G. Herz
Russ. кров	OE hrōf (NE roof)
Russ. три; L.tres	NE three
Russ. тысяча	NE thousand
Russ. терновник	NE thorn

 

 

 

 

Second. Indo-European voiced stops [b], [d], [g] developed in the Germanic languages into voiceless stops [p], [t], [k].

Indo-European	Germanic
Russ. болото; Lith. bala	NE pool; G. Pfuhl
Russ. два; L.dua	OE twa (NE two)
Russ. еда; L.edere	NE eat
L. ego	OE ic (NE I)
Russ. горе	NE care

 

Third. Indo-European voiced aspirated stops [bh], [dh], [gh] developed in the Germanic languages into voiced non-aspirated stops [b], [d], [g].

 

This stage of Grimm’s Law cannot be illustrated by many examples as the voiced aspirated stops can be found only in Sanskrit.

Indo-European	Germanic
Skr. bhratar	NE brother
Skr. vidhava	NE widow
Skr. madhu	NE mead

 

Exceptions.

 

If a deaf obstruent precedes «s», the transition to a deaf spirant doesn’t occurs. The apparent explanation for this - dissimilation sounds.

Indo-European	Germanic
Lat. Spuere	NE.spew, Goth.: speiwan, Gol.: spuien;
Lat. stāre, Irish.stad, San. sta, русск.: стоять; Icelandic.skorta, San. krdhuh,Lat. curtus, Irish.: gearr, Latvian.: skurdus («короткий»)	NE stand, Gol.staan,Germ. stehen,;

 

 

In the work of the next 50 years the idea of sound change was made more precise, and, in the 1870s, a group of scholars known collectively as the Junggrammatiker (“young grammarians,” or Neogrammarians) put forward the thesis that all changes in the sound system of a language as it developed through time were subject to the operation of regular sound laws. Though the thesis that sound laws were absolutely regular in their operation (unless they were inhibited in particular instances by the influence of analogy) was at first regarded as most controversial, by the end of the 19th century it was quite generally accepted and had become the cornerstone of the comparative method. Using the principle of regular sound change, scholars were able to reconstruct “ancestral” common forms from which the later forms found in particular languages could be derived. By convention, such reconstructed forms are marked in the literature with an asterisk. Thus, from the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European word for “ten,” *dekm, it was possible to derive Sanskrit dasa, Greek déka, Latin decem, and Gothic taihun by postulating a number of different sound laws that operated independently in the different branches of the Indo-European family.

On base of this low we can make a conclusion, that if the language has such correspondences it can be classified as Indo European language. So did Jacob Grimm in 1822.

In 1816, German linguist Franz Bopp made an important discovery. He systematized grammar material in different languages and set the age-old relationship of the Indo-European languages.

Bopp showed that the inflection of verbs in various Indo-European languages are the same, that can serve as proof of kinship languages. Compare verbs in Sanskrit and in the Gothic language:

Singular Plural

1l. svap-imi sleep svap-imah sleep

2 l. svap-isi sleep svap-ita sleep

3 l. svap-iti sleeps sva-anti sleep

1 liter. giba give gibam give

2 l. gibis give gibiþ give

3 l. gibiþ gives giband give

So, we can say about grammar correspondences between Germanic and Indo-European languages.

Another proof.  In the historical period in the Germanic languages exist two synthetic forms of the time - the present and the past, or preterit. Special - regular, assigned to the value of the form of expression, there was no future, and the future value of time is expressed in different ways. This feature is inherited from Proto-Indo-European

It is also possible to find common lexical isoglosses - border distribution of general phenomena in related languages (dialects), for example, kinship terms, names of body parts, the names of the gods, the names of the elements of the landscape and natural phenomena, the names of animals - wild and domestic, plant names, names of household inventory.

In the vocabulary of all the Germanic languages allocated ancient layer that goes back to the Indo-European era. By applying the comparative historical method was found genetic identity of this ancient language. The backbone of the words in the German language, the most common practice in the life and fellowship of man, are tokens Indo-European origin.

Nouns

- Relationship terms: Skr. mātar, Greek. mātēr, Lat. māter, Rus. Мать yes. mōdor, it. Mutter,

- The names of animals, plants, artifacts: Lat. piscis, Rus.пескарь, Goth. fisks, Eng. fish, it. Fisch;  Russian. grain, Lat. granum, Goth. kaurn, Eng. corn, it. Korn;  Russian.  зерно, Skr. domah, Greek. dōma, Lat. domus, Goth. timrjan build, Eng. timber forest products, it. Zimmer room

- Parts of the body: Skr. nāsā, Lat. nasus, p. nose, Eng. nose, it. Nase, Greek. kardíā, Lat. cor (cordis), Rus.сердце, Goth. hairto, Eng. heart, him. Herz,

- Natural events: Russ. водаr, Skr. udan, Greek. hydōr, Lat. unda wave, goth. wato, Eng. water, it. Wasser; Russian. ночь, Skr. nakti, Greek. nyx, Lat. nox, Goth. nahts, yes. niht, it. Nacht

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Creative thinking.

What correspondences can be found between the Germanic and other Indo-European 
languages?

 

 

 

Made by:

Alexandra Zavodskaya