Ablaut

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Ablaut refers to the system of root vowel alternations in Proto-Indo-European and its daughter languages.

There existed the following variants or "grades" of ablaut:

The results of this alternation can be seen in the following related words of modern English (listed in the same order as the above grades): sit, sat, seat, soot, nest; and also in the English strong verb system.

Synonyms

Origin

The term ablaut was borrowed from German Ablaut, coinded by Jacob Grimm in the early part of the 19th century.

Other languages

French métaphonie German Ablaut (de)