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In Ancient Greek, Cowgill's law says that a former /o/ vowel becomes /u/ between a resonant (/r/, /l/, /m/, /n/) and a labial consonant (including labiovelars), in either order. It is named after the American Indo-Europeanist Warren Cowgill.
Examples:
- Ancient Greek : νύξ 'night' < PIE *nokʷts (cf. Latin : nox, Vedic nák < *nakts, Gothic : nahts, gen. sg. Hittite : nekuz)
- Ancient Greek : φύλλον 'leaf' < PIE *bʰolyom (cf. Latin : folium)
- Ancient Greek : μύλη 'mill' < PIE *mol-eh₂- (cf. Latin : molīna)
- Ancient Greek : ὄνυξ 'nail' (stem Proto-Greek : *ónukh-) < early PG *onokʷʰ- < PIE *h₃nogʷʰ- (cf. Old English : nægl < PGerm *nag-laz)
Note that when a labiovelar adjoins an /o/ affected by Cowgill's law, the new /u/ will cause the labiovelar to lose its labial component (as in Greek : núks and Greek : ónuks/ónukh-, where the usual Greek change *kʷ > *p has not occurred).