Development of Germanic *k in High German



One of the standard sound change in Old High German (OHG) is *k > _ch_
(presumably [x] or [X]). This gives many correspondences whereby
non-High German dialects have [k] where Standard German (StdG) has a
fricative:

English (E) _book_: Dutch (Du) _boek_: StdG _buch_
E _seek_: Du _zoeken_: StdG _suchen_

But StdG also has many instances of [k] in these positions, while
Zu"rich German (ZG), Mediaeval High German (MHG) and OHG have _ch_ or
_kch_:

E _think_: Du _denken_: StdG _denken_: ZG _da"nkche_
E _thank_: Du _dank_: StdG _Danke_: ZG _danche_
E _come_: Du _kummen_: StdG _kommen_: ZG _chum-_ (inf _choo_): MHG
_chumme_ (imper)
Du _kind_: StdG _Kind_: ZG _Chind_: OHG _chind_
E _cat_: StdG _Katze_: ZG _Chatz_

(I must apologise if I've got some of these forms wrong - I suspect
I've messed up a few Dutch vowels - but I'm pretty sure that the
consonants in question are right.)

How did this happen? Does StdG derive from a High German dialect which
underwent a reversing sound change [X] > [k]? Or does StdG contain a
mixture of High German and Low German vocabulary?

StdG particularly seems to avoid the _ch_ in the initial position - I
can't think of a single StdG word with initial _ch_ [x] from this
source. StdG does show some mixed words where a _k_ (usually initial)
represents a Western Germanic _*k_, but another consonant has undergone
the typical High German changes, such as _Katze_, _Kirche_ and
_Ku"che_.

ZG has [X] or [kX] even in modern loanwords like _chumulus_ 'cumulus'
and _Kchanton_ 'Canton', though I'm not aware of ever having heard
_chomputer_. I once heard a Swiss man say _Ru"che_ for 'back' but I
think he was either very drunk or mentally ill, and appeared not to
understand when I told him I was eating _Lammru"cken_; I don't know
which Kchanton he was from.

I look forward to hearing a thorough analysis on this matter.

Samuel
Do"r da" da? Ja, da" do"r da.

.



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