 Thus, beginning about 1350, the forms "Ripoltzkirchen" and "Rypolßkirchen" were predominant.More significant, though, was the shift from the long I in the first (stressed) syllable ( – pronounced like the “ee” in “cheese”) to a diphthong ( – closer to the “i” in “wine”).This was part of a sound-shift process that affected the German language as a whole, spreading from the east towards the end of the 15th century and gradually making its way across the Rhine into the Palatinate.