Abstract
Jacob Grimm (Deutsche Grammatik, I, p. 964), without attempting an explanation, described the mutated vowels 'which caused the plural forms of indicative and subjunctive to fall together' as 'missbriuchlich.' For a long time the view was generally held that the umlaut in the plural forms of the indicative was due to analogy with the corresponding forms of the subjunctive. This view was definitely stated, among others, by K. Weinhold in his Mittelhochdeutsche Grammatik (21883), ? 409 ff., and H. Osthoff in P.B.B., xv, 1891, p, 212. It was challenged by 0. Brenner ('Der umlaut der praeteritopraesentia,' P.B.B., xx, 1895, p. 84), who at the same time suggested that the mutated forms, in the first instance, were due to phonetic change caused by the pronouns wir, ir, si, whenever they followed the verb, and were then also used when the pronouns preceded the verb. His theory, though meeting with approval in many quarters, was by no means generally accepted. V. Michels in the first edition (1900) of his Mittelhochdeutsches Elementarbuch gave the older theory (? 222) and has kept to it down to the last edition (? 279) published in 1921. Similarly W. Wilmanns in his Deutsche Grammatik (1906), II, ? 53, 5, explained the mutated indicative forms by levelling with the corresponding sub-
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