ablaut
noun
- term used in linguistics to designate a systematic vowel change within words to express grammatical contrasts such as tense or number
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈɑbˌlaʊt/ / /ˈɑpˌlaʊt/ / /ˈæbˌlaʊt/
noun
Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó Proto-Germanic *ab Old High German ab Middle High German ab German ab German ab- Proto-Indo-European *ḱlew- Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *ḱlutós Proto-Germanic *hlūdaz Proto-West Germanic *hlūd Old High German lūt Middle High German lūt German Laut German Ablautbor. English ablaut Borrowed from German Ablaut (“sound gradation”), which is from ab- or ab (“down, off”), + Laut (“sound”). Ab is used here in the sense of “deviating, varying” as in Abgott (“god other than the true God”), Abart (“different sort, variety, anomality”).
- The substitution of one root vowel for another, thus indicating a corresponding modification of use or meaning; vowel permutation, distinct from the phonetic influence of a succeeding vowel.
“I declare to you that Literature was not written for schoolmasters, nor for schoolmistresses. I would not exchange it for a wilderness of schoolmasters. It should be delivered from them, who, with their silly Ablauts and ‘tendencies,’ can themselves neither read nor write.”
verb
Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó Proto-Germanic *ab Old High German ab Middle High German ab German ab German ab- Proto-Indo-European *ḱlew- Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *ḱlutós Proto-Germanic *hlūdaz Proto-West Germanic *hlūd Old High German lūt Middle High German lūt German Laut German Ablautbor. English ablaut Borrowed from German Ablaut (“sound gradation”), which is from ab- or ab (“down, off”), + Laut (“sound”). Ab is used here in the sense of “deviating, varying” as in Abgott (“god other than the true God”), Abart (“different sort, variety, anomality”).
- To undergo a change of vowel.
“This root must once have ablauted, given the associated nominal derivatives prthii- 'broad', prthivl- 'earth'. However, it does not ablaut at all in its verbal forms.”
“What we find is that one cannot predict which members of V a given member of E will cause to ablaut”
- To cause to change a vowel.