Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
ABLAUT
ablaut
(noun) a vowel whose quality or length is changed to indicate linguistic distinctions (such as sing sang sung song)
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
ablaut (countable and uncountable, plural ablauts)
(linguistics) The substitution of one root vowel for another, thus indicating a corresponding modification of use or meaning; vowel permutation; as, get and got; sing and song; hang and hung, distinct from the phonetic influence of a succeeding vowel. [Mid 19th century.]
Synonyms
• (vowel) gradation, alternation, apophony
Verb
ablaut (third-person singular simple present ablauts, present participle ablauting, simple past and past participle ablauted)
(intransitive, linguistics, of a vowel-containing linguistic component) To undergo a change of vowel.
(transitive, linguistics) To cause to change a vowel.
Anagrams
• tabula
Source: Wiktionary
Ab"laut, n. Etym: [Ger., off-sound; ab off + laut sound.] (Philol.)
Definition: The substitution of one root vowel for another, thus indicating a corresponding modification of use or meaning; vowel permutation; as, get, gat, got; sing, song; hang, hung. Earle.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
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