Definition of: Grimm's Law

A statement by J. L. K. Grimm (earlier enunciated by Rasmus Rask) of the development of the consonants from Indo-European into Germanic. Among the commonest consonantal changes are: Indo-European voiceless plosives (p, t, k), represented by Sanskrit pitár, Greek treis, Latin centum, becoming voiceless fricatives (f, th, h), as seen in English father, three, hundred; Indo-European aspirated voiced plosives (bh, dh, gh), represented by Sanskrit bhrātar, Sanskrit dhā, Latin hostis (IE ghostis), to unaspirated voiced plosives (b, d, g), as in English brother, do, guest; Indo-European voiced plosives (b, d, g), represented by Latin cannabis, Greek damaein, Latin ager, to voiceless plosives (p, t, k), as in English hemp, tame, acre. A further development in High German accounts for the difference between English pound, German pfund; English ten, German zehn, English make, German machen; English that, German das. See VERNER'S LAW.