Re: OT: Gruess (was Comma gets a cure -- in German?)

Quoting "J. 'Mach' Wust" <j_mach_wust@...>:

> On Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:52:32 +0200, Benct Philip Jonsson wrote:
> ...
> >I know about modern High German monophthongization, but
> >aren't there instances of Allemannic diphthongization too.
>
> The only one I'd know of is "Liecht" 'light', which has diphthongized from
> original "lîht" (shortened in modern standard German to "Licht").
>
> >BTW too bad _uo_ didn't stick as a spelling for /u:/ the
> >same way _ie_ did for /i:/ -- probably because _uo_ was
> >written as an _u_ with a ring above rather than as two
> >letters in linear sequence. Also _o_ with a small _v_
> >above occurred!
>
> Old people still use to write a line or something like a brevis above each
> small letter U, a reflex of that original ring above. However, it is written
> on any U, so it has been reanalyzed as a mere graphical distinction from
> small letter N. It was especially common in the handwriting forms of
> Blackletter that were used until mid 20th century.
First time I came across that it confused me a lot because I took them to be
umlauts.

--
Andreas Johansson