VERNER'S LAW. A phonetic law of the Germanic group of Indo-flermanie languages, which was enunciated in 1875 by the Danish phi lologist Karl Verner Tt was the result of an investigation begun to explain certain ap parent irregularities in the operation of Grimm's law, and was not only important in itself. but established the principle of phonetic laws on a scientific basis, thus marking au epoch in the development of philology. The law may be stated as follows. The surd Germanic spirants, p, f, h, and a, which represent Indo-Germanic t, p, k, or q, g, ti and 8 respectively, became the sonant spirants (7, 7), y, gy, and 8, when the vowel im mediately preceding them did not, according to the original Indo-Germanie accent-system. bear the primary accent of the word. The sonant spirants, excepting gr, thus arising, are subject to the same changes in the various Germanic dia lects as those which represent Indo-Germanie dh, bits yh, and gh. The sonant z, however, is repre sented in German and Icelandic by r, while the sound-groups sp, st, sir, ss, ft, fs, its, and ht throughout the Germanic group were exempt from the operation of the law. As examples of Verner's law the following examples from Gothic and Old High German may be cited, together with the 'corresponding changes according, to Grimm's law: Sanskrit 'altar, Greek rarhp, Gothic fader, Old High German fetter, 'father,' but San skrit bhralar, Greek Opdvap, Gothic brOar, Old Thigh German beuoticr, 'brother;' Sanskrit septa, Greek 471-1-c1, Gothic and Old High German sibun, `seven,' but Greek KX1WTELV, Gothic Nifan, 'to steal,' Sanskrit atp(1/. Old FTigh German nefo, `grandson;' Sanskrit dekit, Greek ostois, Gothic tigns, Old Iligh German -zap. 'deende,' but San
skrit do.itt, Greek Ulm, Gothic tailvan. Old High German zchan., 'ten:' Pre-Germanic *senyais (cf. Sanskrit ayni. 'fire,' vrpti, `ram'), Gothic sinus, 'appearance.' but Greek ItehrELP, `to leave.' Gothic /cifolven, Old High German Man. `to lend;' Sanskrit intihiyas. Gothic airfire. Old high German micro, 'more' but Sanskrit `unite,' Gothic yanisan. old I figh German son, 'to be healed.' Verner's law seems to have been operative after the completion of the first Germanic sound-shifting, probably between B.C. 250 and .4.1). 400. The uniformity of its action has been greatly disturbed by analogy (q.v.), but, enough traces of it survive to justify the impor tant deduction that as late as the beginning of the Christian Era the Germanic languages re tained the Indo-Germanic system of free accent, according to which the primary accent might fall, as in Vedic Sanskrit, Greek, Lithuanian, and Russian, on any syllable of the word, in contrast to the Germanic established long be fore the earliest literary records, which confines the main accent to the A possible analogue has been sought in the change of Germanic s to r in Latin and Umbrian, but to a in Oscan (see ITALIC LANGUAGES ) , as Latin dearunt, 'of arnasiaru, 'of but Osean egma:..um. 'of Con sult: Verner, "Eine Ausnalmae der ersten in Kuhn, Zcitsehrift fiir verglei ehende Spraehforschung, vol. xxiii. (Berlin, 1875) ; Conway, Law in Italy (London, 1887). See GRIMM'S LAW ; PHILOLOGY; PHO NETIC LAW; TEUTONIC LANGUAGES.