Georg Moritz wrote:
From the keyboard of Yanick Champoux [12.01.08,18:50]:
*dieresis* or *diæresis *A diacritical mark (* ¨ *) optionally used in
English, oftentimes replaced by a hyphen. In English, the dieresis is used on
a second identical vowel to indicate a change in pronunciation of that vowel
or indicate it is pronounced in a separate syllable. It is sometimes referred
to as an « umlaut » when used with a single character or in a « diphthong. »
Examples: reëlecting, reëncoding, coöperation, coördination.
Actually the term "umlaut" in german denotes a "shifted" vowel. If you do
a transition from "u" -> "e" biased towards "i" and stopping in the middle,
you have the "ü", which can be written as diphtong also: "ue". The "e" in
"ue" was often placed above the "u" in old german writing (where the "e"
was written like "n", but with a sharp bend instead of a curve before the
last falling stroke). The four strokes necessary for that "e" were reduced
to two, and those to dots, hence the two points above the "ü".
So, the umlaut is a shortened form of a "diphtongy" denoting a shifted vowel,
and *not* a diaeresis ("ue" is not a diphtong, but an umlaut ;-)
Yup, I became aware of that yesterday when I shared my new golden
nugget of trivia with my wife. Being both German *and* a linguist, she
promptly corrected my inaccuracies. But she left out the part about the
'e' mutating into the two little dots that we know and love nowadays,
which I think is the coolest part of the whole story, so thanks for
that! :-)
Joy,
`/anick
