Reconstruction talk:Proto-Germanic/wulfaz

Explanation for unexplained formation

The explanation for *wulfaz rather than the expected *wulhwaz could be that in this word, *hw (/xʷ/ or /ʍ/) sounded similar to *f (/ɸ/) and so the phoneme switched. Say /ˈwul.xʷaz/ or /ˈwul.ʍaz/, then say /ˈwul.ɸɑz/. Hrabnaz (talk) 08:28, 10 January 2022 (UTC)

(Notifying Rua, Wikitiki89, Benwing2, Mnemosientje, The Editor's Apprentice): —Svārtava ^{[t•c•u•r]} 08:54, 10 January 2022 (UTC)

wulfaz < wulpaz < wulqos

fimf < femf < pemp < pempe < penqe

Although in else words q > hw --Manfariel (talk) 14:59, 25 May 2022 (UTC)

Kroonen’s suggestion

In Kroonen’s Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, under the entry for *wulfa-, he says:

In Germanic, the expected form would be **wulhwaz, but the *kʷ was changed into *p as in *fimfe ‘5’ < *penkʷe and *werpan- ‘to throw’ < *uérgw-e-. This change seems to have taken place after resonants in words with initial labials. See also *wulgi- ~ *wulbjo-.

Qovqa (talk) 12:01, 13 July 2022 (UTC)