födian

Updated: May 25, 2025

This assimilatory change was regular, i.e., every accented long o followed by an i in the following syllable automatically developed to long ö; hence tothi "teeth" became töthi, fodian "to feed" became födian. At first there is no doubt the alternation between o and ö was not felt as intrinsically significant.

Edward Sapir - Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech