How to Learn the Basic Word List 229
In other Teutonic languages, ]? has changed directly to t, or via 6 to d.
This is illustrated by many common words, such as our definite
article the, with its plural equivalent de in Swedish, Danish and Dutch,
and die in German; the English that with its neuter equivalent det in
Swedish and Danish, or dot in Dutch, the English they and theirs,
with modern Scandinavian equivalents, de and deras (Swedish), deres
(Danish), or the English thou with its equivalent Swedish,Danish, and
German du.
German equivalents of English words with the initial consonants J>
or 6, i.e. either sound represented by th in English spelling, start
with d
Dank3 thanks Dingy thing
das, that denken, think
dann, then drei, three
day theie Durst,, thirst
dick, thick Distel, thistle
Dieb, thief Dorn, thorn
dunn, thin Dor/, thorp (= village)
In two ways English has changed as some of the Scandinavian
dialects have done One is that a sound which was SK in Old English
(then spelt sc) has now become SH, as in German, where the spelling
convention is SCH, e.g shade—Schatten, shame—Scham, (to) shed
—scheiden A partial change of this kind has occurred in Swedish, in
which the symbol SK, except when it precedes the back vowels a,
d, or o, is pronounced J, i e skepp has the same initial sound as its
equivalent ship The following words illusuate the English shift from
sk to sh. In the Swedish equivalents on the left, the symbols have their
original (hard) value Those of the right are paper survivals, the initial
sound being the same as in English:
SWEDISH ENGLISH SWEDISH ENGLISH
skaka shake skepp ship
skal shell skida sheath
skall shall skimma shimmer
skam shame skina shine
skarp sharp skjuta shoot
sko shoe skold shield
skrika shriek
skur shower
In the evolution of modern English there has also been a weakening
of the guttural g like the weakening of the guttural k illustrated by the
words now spelt with the arbitrary combination sh This has had an