GRASSMAN'S LAW. A phonetic law, for mulated by Hermann Grassmann (q.v.) in 1863, regarding the aspirated mutes or explosives of the Indo-Germanic consonant system. This law he defined thus: If an Indo-Germanic root had origi nally two aspirated mutes, only one aspirate was retained, the other losing its aspiration. There seems to be no law as to which aspirated mute shall be retained. Examples of the phenomenon explained by the law are very numerous. Thus there may be cited Skt. kumbha, Gk. aciii.cfios; Av. xumba, pot; Skt. gabhasti, arm; Lat. habere, to have; Lat. fingere, to form; Goth. aeigan, to knead; Skt. &Thu: Gk. rfaus, arm; Skt. budhna, Gk. 7rv9l..*: Lat. fundus, bottom; Skt. sahaW, Gk. new for Gk. * gPC-CTELV : gXEtY, to have; Gk. OA: plural rpixer, hair; Skt. clohitar : Gk. Ovywrifp, Goth. claiihtar, daughter; and many others. The law appears very clearly in the re duplication of Sanskrit and Greek verbs which have an initial aspirate mute. Thus Skt.
dati, pleases: perfect cachanda; Skt. bhavati, Gk. Obei, becomes: perfect babhuva, 71"45v, ; Skt. bhujati, Gk. cpthyec, bends, flees: perfect bubhoja, and the like. By the operation of onomatopoeia, inflection, assimilation, and so forth, many words violate the principle involved in Grassmann's law, as Skt. jharjhara, drum, kumbh.abhis, with pots, Gk. Xtecuffilvac, to be stoned, Ovelc, aunt, beside the literary 7770ic. The San skrit grammarians were already familiar with this principle, and the Greek scholar Buttmann (q.v.) also had made such explanations as rpOetv, OpOetv, from *OpEcp-, before Grassmann, who, however, by his exact enunciation of the law, is rightly accredited with the full discovery of the principle. See PHONETIC LAW.