Strengalthochdeutsch

German Etymology From de streng strict Althochdeutsch Old High German, coined by Jakob Grimm in his Deutsche Grammatik of 1822. Proper noun langname de linguistics archaic An Upper German form of Old High German in which West Germanic *b, *d, *g have been shifted to p, t, k in all positions (except possibly after nasals). Usage notes The term has widely fallen out of use, or is now applied in quotations marks. This is because it implies that such forms are the “expected” result of the High German consonant shift, which is far from certain. Old High German ⟨p, k⟩ for *b, *g are frequent in stem-initial position only; stem-internal forms are much less common. In Middle High German, the latter practically disappear, initial ⟨k⟩ becomes very rare, and only initial ⟨p⟩ remains usual. This picture seems to reflect the West Germanic allophony of *b, *d, *g (with *d being a plosive, *b, *g fricatives in many positions).