Zusammenfassung The unexpected i instead of expected *e in the first syllable of Latin wordforms such as nisi, nimis, nihil, mihi, tibi and sibi has until now been explained in various ways either from vowel assimilation of original *e to the i of the second syllable or from clitic weakening of the words. This article aims at giving a common mechanical explanation for all of these words by posing a new sound law according to which original *e in Latin becomes i in initial open syllables followed by a syllable which originally contained the vowel ẹ̄ as the result from monophthongisation of the diphthongs *ei̯, *oi̯or *ai̯(< *h₂ei̯) in second syllable position. For this purpose, the article reconstructs the history of the abovementioned explanations - especially the vowel assimilation theory which goes back to an early article by Sommer -, tries to falsify them by critically examining the evidence adduced for proving them, and eventually derives the new sound law from parts of the original evidence of the falsified explanations, and by making use of additional evidence.

中文翻译：

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Kleines Lautgesetz, große Wirkung

Zusammenfassung 在拉丁词形如 nisi、nimis、nihil、mihi、tibi 和 sibi 的第一个音节中，意外的 i 而非预期的 *e 已经以各种方式进行了解释，从原始 *e 的元音同化到原始 *e 的 i第二个音节或来自 clitic 弱化的词。本文旨在通过提出一个新的音律，对所有这些词给出一个共同的机械解释，根据该律，拉丁语中的原始 *e 变成 i 的初始开音节，然后是一个最初包含元音 ẹ̄ 的音节，这是由于双元音 *ei̯, *oi̯ or *ai̯(< *h₂ei̯) 在第二个音节位置。为此，本文重构了上述解释的历史——尤其是元音同化理论，可追溯到 Sommer 的早期文章——，