The Spelling of Proto-Germanic /f/ in Old High German

Abstract

In the present German orthography, /f/ is represented not only by the letter f (and ph in words of foreign origin) but also by v (e.g. vier, Vater, Frevel, Nerv). The alternation of f and v occurs even in words of the same origin, e.g. fiir-vor, fiillen-voll. This convention is a residue of a spelling tradition more than a millennium old. The practice of denoting the Germanic /f/ by other symbols besides f is found in the oldest German written records known to us. The Latin alphabet, which was employed for writing down old German texts, had only one symbol for both the vowel /u/ and the voiced spirant /v/, which had developed from the semivowel /w/. The forms of the letter in both functions were V in the majuscule, u in the minuscule script. When the minuscule form v was employed, it was merely a graphic variant of u and again served for denoting the vowel as well as the consonant. Likewise in old German manuscripts, this grapheme was used for two phonemes. It again denoted the vowel /u/; but the consonant it represented was the voiceless spirant /f/. Since the Latin symbols f and ph were also adopted, several symbols came to be used for /f/ in Old High German.