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

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.

--
grüess
mach

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