Slavic Liquid Metathesis and Pleophony - Historical Evidence

Historical Evidence

There are glosses of Slavic words that show no effect of liquid metathesis in foreign-language sources, such as when the late 8th century Greek chronicler Theophanes writes Slavic names as Άρδάγαστος and Δαργαμηρός (OCS versions of these names would be Radogostъ and Dragoměrъ). Liquid metathesis can be seen in various borrowings preserved in toponymics; Latin Arba > Serbo-Croatian Rȃb, Latin Albōna > Serbo-Croatian Làbīn, Latin Scardōna > Serbo-Croatian Skràdīn etc. Very illustrative of the process is the name of the King of the Franks Carolus Magnus, died 814, which was borrowed initially as *karlju to become the proper word for king in all Slavic languages (Bulgarian and Macedonian крал, Serbo-Croatian and Slovenian kralj, Polish król, Czech král and Russian король).

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