From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
West Germanic gemination is a sound change that took place in all West Germanic languages, around 300 AD. All single consonants except /r/ were geminated (doubled) after a short vowel and before /j/; sometimes also before /w/, /r/, and /l/. A similar change occurred in the history of Old Norse, but was much more limited, applying only after /k/ and /g/. This change particularly affected the infinitives of the first conjugation of weak verbs, which ended in /jan/. By historical times (c. 800-900 AD), all of the West Germanic languages except Old Saxon had dropped the /j/. The /j/ also triggered i-Mutation, as well as palatalization in Old English and Old Frisian. Examples:
| Gothic (no gemination) |
Old Saxon |
Old English |
|
| bidjan |
biddian |
biddan |
"ask" |
| hugjan |
huggian |
hycgan |
"think" |
| leitils |
luttil |
lȳtel |
"little" |
| akrs |
akkar |
æcer |
"field, land" |
