| the statement of the regular pattern of consonant correspondences presumed to represent changes from Proto-Indo-European to Germanic, according to which voiced aspirated stops became voiced obstruents, voiced unaspirated stops became unvoiced stops, and unvoiced stops became unvoiced fricatives: first formulated in 1820–22 by Jakob Grimm, though the facts had been noted earlier by Rasmus Rask. |
Grimm's Law  (grĭmz)  n. A formula describing the regular changes undergone by Indo-European stop consonants represented in Germanic, essentially stating that Indo-European p, t, and k became Germanic f, th, and h; Indo-European b, d, and g became Germanic p, t, and k; and Indo-European bh, dh, and gh became Germanic b, d, and g. [After Jakob Ludwig Karl Grimm.] |
Grimm's law
description of the regular correspondences in Indo-European languages formulated by Jacob Grimm in his Deutsche Grammatik (1819-37; "Germanic Grammar"); it pointed out prominent correlations between the Germanic and other Indo-European languages of Europe and western Asia. The law was a systematic and coherent formulation, well supported by examples, of patterns recognized as early as 1814 by the Danish philologist Rasmus Kristian Rask. It is important for historical linguistics because it clearly demonstrates the principle that sound change is a regular phenomenon and not a random process affecting only some words, as had been thought previously.
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