1 (Lat. ol

GRAMMAR 35
80. In West Germanic all single consonants, except r,
were doubled after a short vowel before a following j. This
j was mostly retained in OS., but was generally dropped in OE.
and OHG., as OS. sellian, OE. sellan, OHG. sellen, Goth.
saljan, to give up ; OS. fremmian, OE. fremman, OHG.
fremmen, Goth. *framjan, O.Icel. fremja, to perform ;
gen.
sg. OS. kunnies, OHG. kunnes, Goth, kunjis, of a race]
OHG. frauwa, frouwa, from *frawj6j-, woman ( 90).
fcj, dj, and gj became bb, dd, and gg, as OS. sibbia,
Goth, sibja (t>), relationship] OS. biddian, OE. biddan,
Goth, bidjan (d"),
to
request, pray; OS. huggian, Goth,
hugjan to (g),
think.
OS. skeppian, OE. scieppan, Goth, skapjan, to create;
OS. settian, OE. settan, Goth, satjan, to set; OS. rekkian,
OE. recc(e)an, to relate, Goth, uf-rakjan, to stretch forth.
For the OHG. treatment of West Germanic bb, dd, gg ;
pp, tt, and kk, see 84, 85.
81. p, t, and k were also doubled in West Germanic
before a following r, as OHG. kupfar, copper, from Lat.
cuprum; OS.OHG.snottar, OE. snottor, Goth, snutrs, wise;
OS. OHG.bittar, OE. bittor, O.Icel. bitr, bitter; OE. waeccer,
OHG. wackar, O.Icel. vakr, watchful. These consonants
were also sometimes doubled before 1, as OE. aeppel, OHG.
aphul, O.Icel. epli, apple; OS. luttil, OHG. lutzil, little.
THE HIGH GEBMAN SOUND-SHIFTING
82. The most striking feature in which High German
differs from the other West Germanic languages
is the
general shifting which certain consonants underwent. This
process had its beginning before the period of the oldest
D 2