verner's law

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• (Philol.) A statement, propounded by the Danish philologist Karl Verner in 1875, which explains certain apparent exceptions to Grimm's law by the original position of the accent. Primitive Indo-European k, t, p, became first in Teutonic h, th, f, and appear without further change in old Teutonic, if the accent rested on the preceding syllable; but these sounds became voiced and produced g, d, b, if the accent was originally on a different syllable. Similarly s either remained unchanged, or it became z and later r. Example: Skt. saptā (accent on ultima), Gr. 'e`pta, Gothic sibun (seven). Examples in English are dead by the side of death, to rise and to rear.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a qualification of Grimm's law