Re: Umlaut

Georg Moritz wrote:
> From the keyboard of Yanick Champoux [12.01.08,18:50]:
>   
>> *dieresis* or *diæresis   *A diacritical mark (* ¨ *) optionally used in
>> English, oftentimes replaced by a hyphen. In English, the dieresis is used on
>> a second identical vowel to indicate a change in pronunciation of that vowel
>> or indicate it is pronounced in a separate syllable. It is sometimes referred
>> to as an « umlaut » when used with a single character or in a « diphthong. »
>> Examples: reëlecting, reëncoding, coöperation, coördination.
>>     
>
> Actually the term "umlaut" in german denotes a "shifted" vowel. If you do
> a transition from "u" -> "e" biased towards "i" and stopping in the middle,
> you have the "ü", which can be written as diphtong also: "ue". The "e" in
> "ue" was often placed above the "u" in old german writing (where the "e"
> was written like "n", but with a sharp bend instead of a curve before the
> last falling stroke). The four strokes necessary for that "e" were reduced
> to two, and those to dots, hence the two points above the "ü".
>
> So, the umlaut is a shortened form of a "diphtongy" denoting a shifted vowel,
> and *not* a diaeresis ("ue" is not a diphtong, but an umlaut ;-)
>   

    Yup, I became aware of that yesterday when I shared my new golden 
nugget of trivia with my wife.  Being both German *and* a linguist, she 
promptly corrected my inaccuracies.  But she left out the part about the 
'e' mutating into the two little dots that we know and love nowadays, 
which I think is the coolest part of the whole story, so thanks for 
that! :-)


Joy,
`/anick