Cowgill's law (Greek)

{{Short description|Proto-Greek sound law}}

{{one source|date=July 2024}}

{{Contains special characters|PIE}}

Cowgill's law says that a former {{IPA|/o/}} vowel becomes {{IPA|/u/}} between a resonant ({{IPA|/r/}}, {{IPA|/l/}}, {{IPA|/m/}}, {{IPA|/n/}}) and a labial consonant (including labiovelars), in either order. It is named after Indo-Europeanist Warren Cowgill.

Examples:

• {{langx|el|νύξ}} 'night' < PIE {{PIE|*nokʷts}} (cf. {{langx|la|nox}}, Vedic {{transliteration|sa|IAST|nák}} < {{lang|iir-x-proto|*nakts}}, {{langx|got|nahts}}, gen. sg. {{langx|hit|nekuz}})
• {{langx|el|φύλλον}} 'leaf' < PIE {{PIE|*bʰolyom}} (cf. {{langx|la|folium}})
• {{langx|el|μύλη}} 'mill' < PIE {{PIE|*mol-eh₂-}} (cf. {{langx|la|molīna}})
• {{langx|el|ὄνυξ}} 'nail' (stem {{langx|grk-x-proto|ónukh-}}) < early PG {{PIE|*onokʷʰ-}} < PIE {{PIE|h₃nogʷʰ-}} (cf. {{langx|ang|nægl}} < PGerm {{PIE|*nag-laz}})

Note that when a labiovelar adjoins an {{IPA|/o/}} affected by Cowgill's law, the new {{IPA|/u/}} will cause the labiovelar to lose its labial component (as in {{langx|el|núks}} and {{langx|el|ónuks/ónukh-}}, where the usual Greek change {{PIE|*kʷ}} > {{PIE|*p}} has not occurred).