22 Phonology [§§ 57-60 CHAPTER III THE PRIMITIVE GERMANIC VOWEL-SYSTEM § 67. From what has been said in §§ 36-52, we arrive at the following vowel-system for the prim. Germanic language:— Short vowels a, e, I, u Long „ æ, ē, ī, ō, ū Diphthongs ai, au, eu NOTE.—æ was an open e-sound like OE. æ. ē was a close sound like the e in NHG. reh. The origin of this vowel has not yet been satisfactorily explained. It is important to remember that it is never the equivalent of Indo-Germanic ē (§ 48) which appears as æ in prim. Germanic. See §§ 75, 77. § 68. This system underwent several modifications during the prim. Germanic period, i.e. before the parent language became differentiated into the various separate Germanic languages. The most important of these changes were:— §59. a + ijx became āx, as Goth. OS. OHG. fāhan, O.Icel. fa, OE. fōn, from *fanxanan, to catch, seize, cp. Lat. pangō, I fasten; Goth, þāhta (inf. þagkjan), OS. thāhta, OHG. đāhta, OE. þōhte from older *þaijxta, *þaijxtō·, / thought, cp. O.Lat. tongeō, / know. Every prim. Germanic a in accented syllables was of this origin. Cp. § 42. NOTE.—The a in the above and similar examples was still a nasalized vowel in prim. Germanic, as is seen by its development to ō in OE. The ī (§ ΘΟ) and 5 (§ 62) were also nasalized vowels in prim. Germanic. § 60. e became i under the following circumstances:— i. Before a nasal + consonant, as Goth. OS. OE. bindan, O.Icel. binda, OHG. bintan, to bind, cp. Lat. of-fendimen- turn, chin-cloth, of-fendix, knot, band, Gr. περθβρό?, father-in- law, Lat.ventus, Goth, winds, O.Icel. vindr, OS. OE. wind,