Etymology

umlaut

um·laut
U1M3L1A1U1T1

Today it means: An assimilatory process whereby a vowel is pronounced more like a following vocoid that is separated by one or more consonants. Full definition →

German Umlaut ← Middle High German lūt ← Old High German lūt
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The story

  1. Germanum-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ḱel-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*ḱlew-
  4. Proto-Indo-European*ḱlutós
  5. Proto-Germanic*hlūdaz
  6. Proto-West Germanic*hlūd
  7. Old High Germanlūt
  8. Middle High Germanlūt
  9. GermanLaut
  10. GermanUmlaut
  11. English todayumlaut

Borrowed from German Umlaut in the 19ᵗʰ century, from um- or um (“around, re-, trans-”) + Laut (“sound”), from Old High German hlūt. More at loud.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.