Grimm's Law
Preserved but no longer current.
The law of the permutation of consonants in the principal Aryan languages, first formulated by Jacob L. Grimm, the Ger- man philologist, in 1822. Thus, what is p in Greek, Latin, or Sanskrit, becomes/in Gothic, and b or/in the Old High German; what is t in Greek, Latin, or Sanskrit becomes th in Gothic, and din. Old High German; etc. Thus changing p into /, and t into tht "pater" becomes "father.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Grimm's Law” mean?
The law of the permutation of consonants in the principal Aryan languages, first formulated by Jacob L. Grimm, the Ger- man philologist, in 1822. Thus, what is p in Greek, Latin, or Sanskrit, becomes/in Gothic, and b or/in the Old High German; what is t in Greek, Latin, or Sanskrit becomes th in Gothic, and din. Old High German; etc. Thus changing p into /, and t into tht "pater" becomes "father.
Is “Grimm's Law” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.