Abstract
Wackernagel’s Law II (also called the Law of Lengthening, among other names) refers to the lengthening of a short initial vowel in the second word of a compound, as in dus-āḗs ‘ill-blowing’ from aênai ‘to blow’.
The second member of a compound in Greek often begins with a long vowel, where a short vowel would be expected based on the vowel of the root. The lengthening (Germ. Dehnung) of that vowel has come to be known as Wackernagel’s other law, Wackernagel II, the Law of Lengthening, or the Dehnungsgesetz, after Wackernagel (1889). Note tha…