[gothic-l] Germanic/Gothic phonology and Wright's grammar

[gazariah]

I notice that Wright's Grammar of the Gothic Language (62) describes
a Primitive Germanic change of /u/ to /o/ if (long or short) /a, o/
or (always long) /e/ follows in the next syllable, unless the change
is blocked by an intervening nasal or /i, j/. This is what gives OE,
OS /god/ OHG /got/ from IE */ghutom/ but cf. OHG /gutin/ where the
change is blocked.

Further on (70) is a Gothic (not common Germanic) change of /o/
to /u/, resulting in /guth/.

There is a similiar development for IE /eu/: some of its reflexes
become /iu/ by a common Germanic change, then the rest become /iu/
too, by a specifically Gothic change.

I am not a specialist in Germanic, and I'm wondering why Wright is
describing a change as Primitive Germanic and then simply reversing
it for Gothic. Why not say that /u/ to /o/ happened in WGmn and NGMc,
but not in Gothic? I suppose this could be related to the dating of
IE and Germanic /e/ to Gothic /i/.

More geneally, what is the reputation of Wright's grammars? They were
published a long time ago, and I'm sure they're rather dated. But are
they regarded as generally reliable? Wright (with or without his
wife) published a whole series of manuals on Germanic grammar, yet I
seldom see any reference to them.

Gazariah


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