boukólos rule

The rule is named after an example of such a dissimilation: the Ancient Greek βουκόλος (boukólos, “cowherd”), which is ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷow-kólos, from *gʷṓws (“cow”) + *kʷól-os (“herder”).

the boukólos rule

1. (linguistics, phonology, Indo-European studies) A rule of the Proto-Indo-European reconstructed language that states that a labiovelar stop (*kʷ, *gʷ, *gʷʰ) dissimilates to an ordinary velar stop (*k, *g, *gʰ) next to the vowel *u or its corresponding glide *w.