Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/717

* UMLATJFT. 623 UNALASKA. he was editor of the Deutsche Rundschau fiir Ueoyniiiliic und SlaCistil::. tJMLAUT, oom'lout (Ger., sound-change). In comparative philology, the change undergone by a vowel or diphthong through the influence of a following vowel. It is, therefore, essentially a process of regressive vowel-assimilation. It oc- curs frequently throughout the Indo-Germanic linguistic group, although it is a characteristic only of the Germanic languages. As examples of umlaut, occasionally called mutation by English writers, may be cited Avesta vohu, 'good,' moiu, 'soon,' but" Sanskrit ra.s», inaksii ; .Armenian keam, 'I live,' but Sanskrit jirami; BfEotian Greek Tpcir^SSas. 'table,' but Attic rpdirtfa; Attick Greek Tj^vo-fs, 'half,' beside tJ^o-us; Latin nihil, 'nothing,' from ne hilum, 'not a thing;' Vulgar Latin vixiUum, 'banner,' hutumen, 'pitch.' but Latin vexiltum, bitumen; Old Irish cloth, -famous,' but Greek kvt6s; Old Church Slavic bidr 'm I'l, 'watchful,' beside budrhu'i, bridn'i; Lithuanian budru. In Germanic umlaut is caused either by i or u. The i-umlaut changes a preceding e to i, and a to e, as Gothic. Old High German ist. 'is,' but Greek ivrl; Old High German gcsti, plural of gust, 'host.' In Middle High German the i-umlaut changes o, u, a, 6, », and uo to 6. ii, ae, oe, iu. and He respectively, as liicher, plural of loch, 'hole,' siine, plural of sun, 'son,' gaeben. subjunctive of gaben, "gave,' hoeren, present of hOrte. 'heard/ biiute, plural of brut, 'bride.' giiete, 'goodness,' from guot, 'good.' The chief i-umlauts in Anglo-Saxon are of w, a, o, 6, «, and a to e, fe, e, or usually y, e, and y re- spectively, as Anglo-Saxon iceccan, 'to wake,' Gothic icakjan; htehin. 'to heal,' from hal, 'health,' exen, plural of oxa. 'ox,' and gylden, 'golden,' from gold, 'gold,' diinun, 'to judge,' from dom, 'judgment;' icyllen, 'woolen,' from n-iille, 'wool;' cy]>an, 'to proclaim,' from cyi, 'famous.' In Icelandic also the i-umlaut plays an important part. The K-umlaut is less far-reaching than the palatalization caused by i. It does not occur in Gothic (owing probably, in part, to the deficien- cies of the Gothic sy.stem of writing) or in Old, Middle, or New High German. It is found, how- ever, in Anglo-Saxon, and, highly developed, in Icelandic. In Anglo-Saxon a before u or o be- comes ea, e becomes eo, and i becomes io, al- though these umlauts are by no means regular in their action. Examples are ealu, 'ale,' but geni- tive alo, ealo. Northumbrian al es: weorod, 'folk.' beside ner od ; mioluc, 'milk.' but Gothic miluks. The principal Icelandic u-(imlauts are of a to 0, a'to 6, e to o, c to o, i to y, i to y, ei to 01/ or ey, ia to io, ua to uo or o, uu to d. Mi to y, ui to y, and ue to o. There are other minor umlauts. Anglo-Saxon has a palatal umlaut which changes the fo and io arising from the 'breaking' of Germanic e and i before a guttural h plus a consonant to ie and later to i, y, and before palatals ea and ea later became e, e. Ex- amples are richt. ryhf. 'right.' beside reohf. Old High German reht : Wiht. 'Wight,' beside Wioht ; sex. 'knife,' beside earlier seax : ege. 'eye,' beside earlier cage. In Icelandic there are traces of an R-umlaut, as in wr, 'they' (feminine), but Old Swedish aR, Gothic os. In German umlaut survives as an important element in the inflec- tion. It is found especially in nouns, as Briidcr, plural of Hruder, 'brother' (but Old High Ger- man bruodcr for both numbers), Sohiic, plural of Sohn, 'son' (Old High German suni, sun), Hiinde, plural of Hand, 'hand' (01<l High Ger- man hcnii, hant), lAinuner, plural of Lamm, 'lamb' (Old High German Icmbir, lamb). It also characterizes the comparative and suiM»rlative de- grees of adjectives, as jung, 'young,' jiinger, jilngst (Old High German jung, jungiro. jung- isfo), and is seen in the imperfect subjunctive of certain verbs, as h<itte from hahvn, 'to have' (Old High C4erman habvii) . In English there arc only sporadic traces, as in men, mice, feet, as plurals of man, mouse, foot (Anglo-Saxon wieii, mcen, mys, fet. plurals of man, mils, fot), and in causa- tive verbs, as set from sit (Anglo-Saxon settan from sittan, Gothic saijan from sitan, pret. sat). TJMRIT'SAR. A city of the Punjab, India. See A.MRiT.s.R. UNA. The principal female personage in the first book of Spenser's Faerie Queene. She stands in the allegorj' for the quality of Truth, and is beautiful, pure, and trustful. She is the com- panion of the Red Cross Knight (q.v.) on his mission from the Court of Ciloriana, but is soon separated from him by Archimago and undergoes many painful adventures until rescued by Prince Arthur and restored by him to her knight. U'NAKA MOUNTAINS (called also, in whole or in part, the Smoky or Great Smoky MouNT.ixs ) . A southwestern division of the Appalachian Mountains. They branch oft' from the Blue Ridge in southern Virginia, and extend southwestward on or along the boundary between Tennessee and North Carolina, penetrating a short distance into northern Georgia (Map: North Carolina, A 4 ) . On the west they are separated from the Cumberland Plateau by the great east- ern valley of the Tennessee, and on the east they are connected with the Blue Ridge by an intricate system of cross ranges forming the rugged and much dissected remnants of a lofty plateau cul- minating in the Black Mountains. Nearly all the eastern headstreams of the Tennessee rise on this inclosed plateau and break through the Unaka Range. Otherwise the latter forms .a sharply defined ridge, whose crest is the boundary line between Tennessee and North Carolina. In the north, however, there are three main ridges inclosing fine valleys. The average elevation of the main ridge is 'from 3000 to 5000 feet, the middle portion, which is generally known as the CJreat Smoky ilountains, being the highest. Here a number of peaks exceed an altitude of 6000 feet, extending their bare rocky summits above the timber-line. The highest is Clingman Dome with an altitude of 6610 feet. The range is com- posed chiefly of Lower Silurian sandstones and shales, with some Archsean mctamorphic rocks. The slopes are covered with pine forests, and the range abounds in grand and rugged scenery. UNALASKA, oo'nii-ljis'ka. or UNALASH- KA. The second largest and most important of the Aleutian Islands. It is situated in lati- tude 53° 30' N., longitude 167° W.. 135 miles southwest of the extremity of the .Alaska Penin- sula (Map: Alaska. B 5). It is about 75 miles long and from 10 to 25 miles wide; its coasts