English Cognate Register Matrix

High German Consonant Shift (2nd Sound Shift): While English and Dutch preserved ancestral West Germanic consonants, Standard German underwent systematic mutations:

• t → z / s: English tooth ∼ German Zahn, town ∼ Zaun ('fence'), water ∼ Wasser.
• d → t: English dream ∼ German Traum (Dutch droom), day ∼ Tag.
• k → ch: English make ∼ German machen (Dutch maken), cook ∼ Kochen.
• Semantic Shifts: timber (building wood) ∼ German Zimmer ('room').