metaphony

Note: The term was apparently introduced in Grammaire comparée des langues indo-européennes (Paris, 1866-74), a translation by the French linguist Michel Bréal of Franz Bopp's Vergleichende Grammatik des Sanskrit, Send, Armenischen, Griechischen, Lateinischen, Litauischen, Altslavischen, Gothischen und Deutschen, 2. Ausgabe, 1857-61. In tome 5, the index volume, compiled by Francis Meunier, a footnote is appended to the word apophonie, Bréal's translation of German Ablaut ablaut: "Il vaudrait peut-être mieux employer le terme de métaphonie" ("It would perhaps be better to use the term metaphony [i.e., in place of apophony]").