Law. The principal consonants in the old Aryan tongue had been
regularly and slightly altered in certain directions; and these
alterations have been carried still further in the allied High German
language. Thus the original word for _father_, which closely resembled
the Latin _pater_, becomes in early English or Anglo-Saxon _fæder_, and
in modern High German _vater_. So, again, among the numerals, our _two_,
in early English _twa_, answers to Latin _duo_ and modern High German
_zwei_; while our _three_, in old English _threo_, answers to Latin
_tres_, and modern High German _drei_. So far as these permutations are
concerned, Sanscrit, Greek, and Latin may be regarded as most nearly
resembling the primitive Aryan speech, and with them the Celtic dialects
mainly agree. From these, the English varies one degree, the High German
two. The following table represents the nature of such changes
approximately for these three groups of languages:–

-----------------+------------+---------------+---------------+
Greek, Sanscrit, | | | |
Latin, Celtic | p. b. f. | t. d. th. | k. g. ch. |
-----------------+------------+---------------+---------------+
Gothic, English, | | | |
Low Dutch | f. p. b. | th. t. d. | ch. k. g. |
-----------------+------------+---------------+---------------+
| | | |
High German | b. f. p. | d. th. t. | g. ch. k. |
-----------------+------------+---------------+---------------+

In practice, several modifications arise; for example, the law is only
true for old High German, and that only approximately, but its general
truth may be accepted as governing most individual cases.