Epenthesis in Danish Compounds

Danish compounds often contain an epenthetic vowel. This vowel occurs between two consonants. However, epenthesis doesn't always apply. In the compound halbror (half brother), no epenthesis occurs.

Here are Danish compounds with epenthesis:

barnebarn (grandchild)
drengecykel (boys's bicycle)
fiskefrikadelle (fishball)
gulerod (carrot)
hestesko (horseshoe)
hundefoder (dog food)
hundesnor (dog leash)
julekort (Christmas card)
julelys (Christmas candle)
sygehus (hospital)

Here is the etymological analysis of the compounds:

barnebarn = barn + barn (child + child)
drengecykel = dreng + cykel (boy + bicyle)
fiskefrikadelle = fisk + frikadelle (fish + ball)
gulerod = gul + rod (yellow + root)
hestesko = hest + sko (horse + shoe)
hundefoder = hund + foder (dog + food)
hundesnor = hund + snor (dog + leash)
julekort = jul + kort (Christmas + card)
julelys = jul + lys (Christmas + candle)
sygehus = syg + hus (sick + house)

The epenthetic vowel in Danish compounds is an e. This epenthetic vowel is also common in Norwegian compounds. This can be seen in the Norwegian compounds barnebarn (grandchild), gulerot (carrot), hestesko (horseshoe), julekort (Christmas card), julelys (Christmas candle) and sykehus (hospital). This epenthesis is absent in Swedish words such as barnbarn (grandchild), julkort (Christmas card), julljus (Christmas candle) and sjukhus (hospital).

Epenthesis is common in Danish compounds. This is also common in Norwegian compounds but not in Swedish ones. The epenthetic vowel changes the CV structure of the word. The CC structure of the word-final consonant of the first compound and the word-initial consonant of the second compound becomes CVC.