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Old 03-31-2014, 08:37 AM
 
Location: Colorado
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Neuling View Post
Together or each? I suppose together so that the other half or so is Germanic, else it would certainly not be considered a Germanic language by any linguists.
It is about half French and Latin together. Many of the French words brought to English are Germanic in origin though, so one must be careful not to count the French influence as wholly Latin. Words like "abandon", "war", "guide", "garden", and "haunt" are Germanic words that came to English through French. The knights of northern France who conquered England in 1066 were of mixed Gallo-Roman and Scandinavian heritage, and spoke a dialect called Norman French, which came to be called Anglo-Norman (or Anglo-French) as the newcomers settled in England and the rest of the British Isles.

In most cases, French words did not replace existing English words, but instead enriched the vocabulary by offering alternatives to the original Germanic words of English. For example: "country" instead of the Germanic "land". "Amorous" instead of the Germanic "loving". "Mansion" instead of the Germanic "house". Or "Rapid" instead of "quick". Usually the French rooted words are more likely to be used in formal settings and are associated with luxury or class. If you were to write a letter to your boss, you will unconsciously use French rooted words over Germanic words. But when you are writing a letter to a friend you will unconsciously use Germanic words:

Germanic: "We got a new shipment of goods. The goal is to give out as many as you can to everyone on the street. When you are almost done call Dan and let him know how it went.

French: "We have received a new delivery of merchandise. The objective is to distribute as many pieces as possible to the public. When nearing completion, contact Dan and inform him of your progress.

I can use French vocabulary in one sentence, and Germanic in another, all while conveying the exact same message. The difference is the formality of the sentence. The Germanic sentence is how people usually speak or write, the French sentence is how you would speak or write in a formal situation. More importantly, the structure and fundamentals of English remain the same in both sentences. The essential words such as "the", "and", "we", "as", "are", "of", "your" and "when" are untouched by French and remain Germanic.

This is because despite the additions to the English vocabulary brought by the Normans, it made little effect on English grammar. The phonetics, syntax, and morphology of English remain solidly Germanic. This is why speakers of Germanic English attain proficiency of English at a rate and such a degree that is rarely matched by speakers of Romance languages.

If the story of how English came to become "Frenchified" piques your interest, you may enjoy this documentary series:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkZpVjhicL4
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Old 03-31-2014, 09:13 AM
 
Location: West Coast of Europe
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It does interest me, but I can't watch such long videos because of my Internet access. (We should rename YouTube to DuRöhre in German Interestingly, tube is of French origin, Röhre Germanic, but both are colloquially used for TV )

Your sentences do not mean quite the same things, though
Contact is more than just call. How it went means it is basically over, whereas progress means it is still going on.

Anyway, I could do the same in German, i.e. write the sentence in different registers. The more formal version would use more words of Latin and Greek origin.

Delivery is Latin I guess, it is Lieferung in German, which comes from Latin liberare.

Sometimes there were different Germanic terms for the same thing, war for instance does not exist in German, where it is Krieg, obviously not related.

Give out is typical of English, phrasal verbs I guess they are called, we have them in German as well, but in one word whereby the preposition is a prefix of the infinitive, give out = ausgeben, give up = aufgeben; give back = zurückgeben, etc.
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Old 03-31-2014, 04:01 PM
 
Location: The Netherlands
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Neuling View Post
Sometimes there were different Germanic terms for the same thing, war for instance does not exist in German, where it is Krieg, obviously not related.
The Dutch word for war sounds completely unrelated too ("oorlog"). There are actually quite a few words in the Germanic languages that have no (modern) counterpart in any of the other Germanic languages. It makes me wonder where they came from. Were they invented out of the blue or can all words be traced back to some proto language?

@ Hobbes, that's interesting regarding the influence of Germanic on French. I've noticed that some words are similar but I always just assumed the Germanic languages borrowed these words from French (or rather Latin). I found a list of French words of Germanic origin, it's impressive:

List of French words of Germanic origin (A-B)

List of French words of Germanic origin (C-G)

List of French words of Germanic origin (H-Z)

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Old 03-31-2014, 10:36 PM
 
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English Is by far the least germanic language, just like french is the least latin language, I would rather call them borderline languages..
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Old 04-01-2014, 04:16 AM
 
Location: West Coast of Europe
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Traveler86 View Post
English Is by far the least germanic language, just like french is the least latin language, I would rather call them borderline languages..
That I agree with.
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Old 04-01-2014, 07:39 AM
 
545 posts, read 866,282 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LindavG View Post
The Dutch word for war sounds completely unrelated too ("oorlog"). There are actually quite a few words in the Germanic languages that have no (modern) counterpart in any of the other Germanic languages. It makes me wonder where they came from. Were they invented out of the blue or can all words be traced back to some proto language?

@ Hobbes, that's interesting regarding the influence of Germanic on French. I've noticed that some words are similar but I always just assumed the Germanic languages borrowed these words from French (or rather Latin). I found a list of French words of Germanic origin, it's impressive:

List of French words of Germanic origin (A-B)

List of French words of Germanic origin (C-G)

List of French words of Germanic origin (H-Z)

Wow, didn't expect so much words too. It looks like most words with r in it, and the way we pronounce this letter, are clearly Germanic in origin.

(btw your links are broken)
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Old 04-01-2014, 07:46 AM
 
Location: West Coast of Europe
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Indeed, the links are broken, try this and scroll down:

List of French words of Germanic origin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Old 04-01-2014, 11:38 AM
 
Location: Østenfor sol og vestenfor måne
17,916 posts, read 24,342,524 times
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Saying English is the least Germanic of the Germanic languages because of words in a dictionary is like saying I am the least related of my siblings to our parents.

English is like an apple tree with 10 branches bearing apple fruit. Over time, 10 pear branches have been grafted on, most near the top with unpicked fruit. It is still an apple tree even if your basket has a few pears in it. Or if you are an academic you may climb a little higher and have a few more pears.

The roots are Germanic, the trunk is germanic, and most of the accessible fruit (core vocabulary) is Germanic. Most of the pears (loan words) are specialized vocabulary and mostly out of reach except for those born by a few low hanging branches which we do rely on to fill our baskets.

And to keep the analogy going, German itself, the flagship of Germanic languages, has quite a few pears itself. Furthermore, many pears in English's basket that have come from Norman French, appear to have origins in Frankish (Germanic) orchards and are really apples.

I'm getting hungry.
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Old 04-01-2014, 11:48 AM
 
Location: West Coast of Europe
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Which Germanic language is less Germanic than English?
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Old 04-01-2014, 01:45 PM
 
Location: The Netherlands
2,866 posts, read 5,241,571 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ABQConvict View Post
And to keep the analogy going, German itself, the flagship of Germanic languages, has quite a few pears itself. Furthermore, many pears in English's basket that have come from Norman French, appear to have origins in Frankish (Germanic) orchards and are really apples.
Says who?
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