1 (Lat. ol

12 OLD HIGH GERMAN PRIMER
thought, cp. O.Lat. tongeo, I know. Every prim. Germanic &
in accented syllables was of this origin. Cp. 19.
NOTE. The a in the above and similar examples was still a nasalized
vowel in prim. Germ., as is seen by its development to 6 in OE. The I
( 37) and u ( 39) were also nasalized vowels in prim. Germanic.
37. e became i under the following circumstances :
1. Before a nasal + consonant, as Goth. OE. OS. bindan,
OHG. bintan, to bind, cp. Lat. of-fendimentum, chin-cloth,
of-fendix, knot, band, Gr. ireyOcpog, father-in-law ;
Goth, fimf, OHG. fimf, finf,/w.
Gr. TT^KT,
This explains why OHG.
bintan, to bind, and helfan, to help, belong to the same ablautseries.
See 178.
This i became I under the same conditions as those
by which a became a ( 36), as Goth. J>eihan, OS. thlhan,
OHG. dlhan, OE. tSeon, from *J>irjx
anan >
older *)>er)x
anan >
to thrive. The result of this sound-law was the reason why
the verb passed from the third to the first class of strong
verbs ( 176), cp. the isolated pp. OS. gi-thungan, OE. getSungen,
full-grown.
2. When followed by an i, I, or j in the same or the next
syllable, as Goth. OS. OHG. 1st, OE. is, from *isti, older
*esti, cp. Gr. IOTI, is', OHG. irdin, earthen, beside erda,
earth', Goth, midjis, OE. midd, OS. middi, OHG. mitti,
Lat. medius, from an original form *medhjos, middle; OS.
birid, OHG. birit, he bears, from an original form *bh6reti,
through the intermediate stages *t6reai, *fc6rifli, *tJiri3i,
beside inf. beran.
3. In unaccented syllables, as OE. fet, older foet, from
*fotiz, older *fotez,/ee/, cp. Lat. pedes, Gr. iro^es.
38. i, followed originally by an a, o or e in the next