The Great consonant shift refers to the first of two historical shifts in the way consonants were pronounced and written. This was followed by a second consonant shift in high German.

First (great) consonant shift

The first consonant shift between Indo-European

Indo-European

Indo-European may refer to:* Indo-European languages** Aryan race, a 19th century and early 20th century term for those peoples who are the native speakers of Indo-European languages...

 and Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

, Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

, Celtic

Celtic languages

The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic"; a branch of the greater Indo-European language family...

, and Teutonic was fully accomplished by the first century AD: This shift affected four series of Indo-European consonants:

• Labials bh, b, p
• Dentals dh, d, t
• Palatals gh', g', k'
• Velars gh, g, k

Second consonant shift

The second consonant shift affected High German dialects between the 5th century to the 8th century AD. For example, when comparing German and English:

• zu - to
• schlafen - sleep
• Tochter - daughter
• du - thou
• dein - thine

External links

• A collection of sound changes