Philol. [G., f. um- about + laut sound.] A change in the sound of a vowel produced by partial assimilation to an adjacent sound (usually that of a vowel or semivowel in the following syllable); MUTATION 4 b.
[1844. T. H. Key, Alphabet, 169. The Influence of Assimilation. Footnote, Sometimes called by Germans ‘umlaut.’]
1852. Trans. Philol. Soc., 25 June, V. 200. The cognate languages clearly exhibit the fact, that the umlaut in these words has been produced by the weak vowel of a lost suffix.
1873. Earle, Philol. Eng. Tongue (ed. 2), § 127. The Umlaut of the Indo-European languages is a phenomenon of a different order. Here the vowel of the after-member of the word influences that which has gone before.
attrib. 1873. Earle, Philol. Eng. Tongue (ed. 2), § 128. Nowhere is any structural signification attached now to an Umlaut form, except [etc.]. Ibid. (1879), (ed. 3), § 381. The modern s being imposed upon the old umlaut plural.
1879. Encycl. Brit., X. 519/2. In most [German] Midland manuscripts no special signs for the Umlaut vowels are used, except e.
Hence Umlauted a., modified by umlaut; containing a vowel or vowels modified in this way.
1852. Trans. Philol. Soc., 25 June, V. 200. In particular the umlaut-ed plurals appear not to have yet found a fitting explanation in English grammars.
1879. Earle, Philol. Eng. Tongue (ed. 3), § 381. It should be observed that there is no natural connection between Umlauted forms and Plurality.
