Germanic Spirant Law - Reflex in Verb-noun Alternations

Reflex in Verb-noun Alternations

The effect of the Germanic spirant law can also be very neatly observed by comparing certain verbs with related nouns. A prominent example is the Indo-European verbal noun suffix *-tis, which survived and remained productive in Germanic, but other suffixes with *-t- were also in use.

Germanic English Frisian Dutch German
*gebanan – *giftiz give – gift jaan – jifte geven – gift geben – Gift
*pleganan – *plihtiz play – plight pliigje – plicht plegen – plicht pflegen – Pflicht
*weganan – *gawihtiz weigh – weight wage – gewicht wegen – gewicht wiegen – Gewicht
*habjanan – *haftaz (have) hawwe – hebben – -haftig haben – Haft
*kleubanan – *kluftiz cleave – cleft kleauwe – kloft klieven – klucht klieben – Kluft
*maganan – *mahtiz may – might meie – macht mogen – macht mögen – Macht

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