Allen and Greenough's New Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges, chapter 17

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[*] 17. The parent language showed great variation in the vowel sounds of kindred words.¹

[*] a. This variation is often called by the German name Ablaut. It has left considerable traces in the forms of Latin words, appearing sometimes as a difference of quantity in the same vowel (as, u, ū; e, ē), sometimes as a difference in the vowel itself (as, e, o; i, ae):²—

tegō, I cover, toga, a robe; pendō, I weigh, pondus, weight; fidēs, faith, fīdus, faithful, foedus, a treaty; miser, wretched, maestus, sad; dare, to give, dōnum, a gift; regō, I rule, rēx, a king; dux, a leader, dūcō (for older doucō ), I lead. Compare English drive, drove (drave), driven; bind, bound, band; sing, sang, sung; etc.

1 This variation was not without regularity, but was confined within definite limits.

2 In Greek, however, it is more extensively preserved.

Ginn and Company, 1903.

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