Which language is closest to English?

[bohica]

But when you talk about, "the company will advance and occupy the enemy's position and force a surrender," all of those words except "the," "a," "and" and "will" are of French origin.

Alternatively, if you said, "we're going to go to where the other men are, fight them and win," all of those words are Germanic. French words are generally the ones with higher prestige (another French word).

[Andrew_S]

First: Celtic languages (not dialects), those people displaced as the Angles moved in from southern Denmark/Northern Germany. Then the Romans arrive bringing some Latin flavour. Then the Vikings come, bringing Norse/Danish.

A couple of Christmasses ago there was an animated adaption of Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" on telly in the original Old English. People didn't say "the house", but rather "huset" like in Danish.

But the French influence is the latest (post 1066), therefore the least profound in everyday speech. For a long time it was the language of aristocracy, with the hoi paloi speaking Old English. Quite often if we have two synonyms then the "French" one is the fancier one. The Germanic one is the coarser one: goes back to how the split was between nobility and commoners.

It's worth noting that the conquering Jutes, Angles and Saxons borrowed remarkably few word from the Brythonic language (sp? =Old Welsh). It's probable they looked down on the Celtic languages as inferior.

Sometimes English has pairs of words, one the Anglo-Saxon and then a cognate borrowed from Old Norse (invading cousins), e.g. shirt (AS) and skirt (ON). The AS word changed sound before borrowing the Norse one with a different meaning.
It's difficult to spot ON borrowings from sight as they were similar languages and integrated easily.

IN contrast borrowings from Old French are easier to spot. I read somewhere that of the common words in English 1/3 are Anglo-saxon, 1/3 Old French and 1/3 other, especially Latin.

However, grammatically English is very much a Germanic language, with lots of Romance Latin, Greek and other words added to the lexicon.

About positions of authority, what was said is largely true but consider king, queen, knight and earl as counter-examples. Kingly, royal, regal - what a mixed bag!

Apart from sauna, sisu is the only Finnish word I've seen used in English. I read somewhere that rya (sic) is a Finnish word borrowed in English, meaning some kind of mat made from rough material. But Finns I've asked haven't heard of it (I suppose it's really ryä). Any Finns know it?

Most dialects in Britain haven't undergone or completed the Great Vowel Shift. Naturally Middle English is closer to the other Germanic languages.

I think head in ME was heved similar to the Swedish. Also, Northern dialects use more ON words like bairn, kirk, lake (= spend leisure time, connected to Finnish leikkiä I guess) and many others.

[Niall Shaky]

It's worth noting that the conquering Jutes, Angles and Saxons borrowed remarkably few word from the Brythonic language (sp? =Old Welsh). It's probable they looked down on the Celtic languages as inferior.

But the welsh got a lot from the Romans (or Normans/French?).

Pont= bridge
fenester ( I think) is window.

There's a few more like that.

Apart from sauna, sisu is the only Finnish word I've seen used in English. I read somewhere that rya (sic) is a Finnish word borrowed in English, meaning some kind of mat made from rough material. But Finns I've asked haven't heard of it (I suppose it's really ryä). Any Finns know it?

I checked out Finnish words adopted by english a while back too

I found reference to three:

1) sauna
2) motti (in military terminology)
3) something to do with crystal structures (in geological terminology)

[bohica]

About positions of authority, what was said is largely true but consider king, queen, knight and earl as counter-examples. Kingly, royal, regal - what a mixed bag!

Just in case I wasn't being clear, I didn't mean that all words of authority are French, just that that's the trend. King is a good example of an exception to this.

A strange one is "helmet." From German (helm), into French and then English. A lot of these "French" words are from other languages but came into English via French.

[Andrew_S]

But the welsh got a lot from the Romans (or Normans/French?).

Pont= bridge
fenester ( I think) is window.

There's a few more like that.


I checked out Finnish words adopted by english a while back too

I found reference to three:

1) sauna
2) motti (in military terminology)
3) something to do with crystal structures (in geological terminology)

Yes, I believe so. I know little about Welsh but I studied Scots Gaelic. Gaelic borrowed from Latin in Roman times (even though not in the Roman area) and later. The other major influence on Gaelic was Old Norse. The Outer Hebrides were Norse territory for some centuries and as you probably know Dublin was founded by Norwegian vikings.

SG bord (grave accent needed) means table and is from Norse.
SG uinneag= window also. I don't know the ON but like "wind-eye" in English I think.

Oh yeah, and I believe Niall, a classic Gaelic name, is from an ON word meaning "champion".

[Andrew_S]

About positions of authority, what was said is largely true but consider king, queen, knight and earl as counter-examples. Kingly, royal, regal - what a mixed bag!

Just in case I wasn't being clear, I didn't mean that all words of authority are French, just that that's the trend. King is a good example of an exception to this.

A strange one is "helmet." From German (helm), into French and then English. A lot of these "French" words are from other languages but came into English via French.

Of course.

Reminded of French "guerre" which is Germanic, w changing to g (don't know the Frankish but "war" in English). So English "guerrilla" is another one: Frankish > Spanish > English.

"Guard" also: ward(or something similar in Frankish) > garder > guard.

[Andrew_S]

A lot of common words like blood, tooth, etc. are Germanic but anything to do with power, authority and status are French. This includes all the military ranks and almost all words to do with military organization (including many of the commands). What would Bush do if only he knew?

There's probably little danger of Dumbya knowing. He was the one after all who said the French have no word for entrepreneur!

[bohica]

Assassin is a really weird one. From Arabic "hashishin" (one who smokes hashish) > Latin > English.

A while back I did some research and made a list of some words that date back to the Middle Ages for someone when I had too much time on my hands and was curious. If anyone's interested, here it is. If not, just scroll down.

Many of the more common nouns from the Middle Ages (like body parts, weapons, common verbs) are of Germanic origin. Here are a few examples:

shield, sword, boot, belt, arrow, bow, dagger, beard, tooth, bite, kill, cut, stroke, win, sheath, wound, ride, spear, head, blood, good, bad

Very many words having to do with government/leadership/military organization are from French:

orb, robe, throne, crown, scepter, reason, rebel, execute, punish, military, all the military ranks (lieutenant, sergeant, etc.), army, cavalier, imprison, fool, defeat, victory, battle, skirmish, rank, flank, company, division, peasant

There are exceptions; “king” is Germanic and “armor” and “mail” are French.

Almost all of the orders that would be given to soldiers (another French word) in the field back then appear to be French:

march, charge, attack, retreat, present, arms, dress, aim

[bohica]

A lot of common words like blood, tooth, etc. are Germanic but anything to do with power, authority and status are French. This includes all the military ranks and almost all words to do with military organization (including many of the commands). What would Bush do if only he knew?

There's probably little danger of Dumbya knowing. He was the one after all who said the French have no word for entrepreneur!

Did he actually say that? It's hard to believe that even he would be that dumb!

[bohica]

I googled "etymology molotov cocktail" and got this

Molotov Cocktail

This makeshift incendiary grenade is named after Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov (1890-1986), the Soviet Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1939 to 1949. The name was given to the bottles filled with gasoline by the Finns during the Winter War of 1939-40. Molotov was reviled in Finland as the man who engineered the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact that allowed the Russians to attack Finland. The name comes from Finland, but the credit for inventing the device goes to Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War of a few years earlier.

The sight looks well sourced, but you never know.

[Tom and Jerry]

spectrolite, molotov cocktail, sauna.

[Andrew_S]

A lot of common words like blood, tooth, etc. are Germanic but anything to do with power, authority and status are French. This includes all the military ranks and almost all words to do with military organization (including many of the commands). What would Bush do if only he knew?

There's probably little danger of Dumbya knowing. He was the one after all who said the French have no word for entrepreneur!

Did he actually say that? It's hard to believe that even he would be that dumb!

Well, it seems maybe this isn't really true. Depends who you ask.

"The source was Shirley Williams, also known as the Baroness Williams of Crosby, who claimed "my good friend Tony Blair" had recently regaled her with this anecdote in Brighton. "
Debunked here:
http://www.snopes.com/quotes/bush.htm

[Slothrop]

Chambers also lists "pulka" (pulkka) as "a Laplander's boat-shaped sledge", and declares it is also written "pulk" and "pulkha". Derivation is Finnish as above, and allegedly Lappish/Sámi "pulkke", "bulkke".

So that 's four.

[Guest]

OK, so how does Dutch & French fit in - closer or further?

Swedish & English comparison:

Jag är de ledare av båtbyggarna.
I am the leader of boatbuilders.

Dutch:
Ik ben de leider van de bootbouwers

Jag ridder min häst och lever i min hus.
I ride my horse and live in my house.

Dutch:
Ik rijd op mijn paard en leef in mijn huis.



I guess that's clear enough?

[Niall Shaky]

But the welsh got a lot from the Romans (or Normans/French?).

Pont= bridge
fenester ( I think) is window.

There's a few more like that.


I checked out Finnish words adopted by english a while back too

I found reference to three:

1) sauna
2) motti (in military terminology)
3) something to do with crystal structures (in geological terminology)

Yes, I believe so. I know little about Welsh but I studied Scots Gaelic. Gaelic borrowed from Latin in Roman times (even though not in the Roman area) and later. The other major influence on Gaelic was Old Norse. The Outer Hebrides were Norse territory for some centuries and as you probably know Dublin was founded by Norwegian vikings.

SG bord (grave accent needed) means table and is from Norse.
SG uinneag= window also. I don't know the ON but like "wind-eye" in English I think.

Oh yeah, and I believe Niall, a classic Gaelic name, is from an ON word meaning "champion".

Yeah... Champion of what though? Falling on my ass on x-coutnry skis this weekend

Until I met Fionna last week I also thought that my parents had read "Niall" in a name-book, but then mistakenly pronounced it "Neil" rather than "Nile". But according to Fionna then Niall is correctly pronounced "Neil" in Irish

My girlfriend calls me Niilo when speaking Finnish, Nils when speaking Swedish...

By the way "bord" is also table in Danish. Spelt exactly the same as you've written it above. Pronounced something like "bowur" though (impossible to write dansk phonetically!!!)