Foreign-language influences in English
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The
The influence of other languages on English is mostly through
While some new words enter English as slang, most do not.[
Word origins
This section appears to contradict another section of this article on the primary influence of Germanic languages (cf. the lead above).(August 2023) |
A computerized survey of about 80,000 words in the third edition of the
- French: 28.30%;
- Latin, including modern scientific and technical Latin: 28.24%;
- Germanic languages, as inherited from Old English, from Proto-Germanic, or a more recent borrowing from a Germanic language such as Old Norse, excluding Germanic words borrowed from a Romance language:[6] 25%;
- Greek: 5.32%;
- no etymology given: 4.04%;
- derived from proper names: 3.28%; and
- all other languages: less than 1%.
A 1975 survey of 10,000 words taken from several thousand business letters by Joseph M. Williams suggested this set of statistics:[4][page needed][verification needed]
- French (langue d'oïl): 41%;
- "Native" English (derived from Old English): 33%;[verification needed]
- Latin: 15%;
- Old Norse: 5%;
- Dutch: 1%; and
- Other: 5%.[4][verification needed]
Languages influencing the English language
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Here is a list of the most common foreign language influences in English, where other languages have influenced or contributed words to English.
Celtic
French
The French contributed legal, military, technological, and political terminology. Their language also contributed common words, such as the names of meats: veal, mutton, beef, pork, and how food was prepared: boil, broil, fry, roast, and stew; as well as words related to the nobility: prince, duke, marquess, viscount, baron, and their feminine equivalents.[7]: 254–258 Nearly 30 percent of English words (in an 80,000-word dictionary) are of French origin.
Latin
Most words in English that are derived from Latin are scientific and technical words, medical terminology, academic terminology, and legal terminology.
Greek
English words derived from Greek include scientific and medical terminology (for instance -phobias and -ologies), Christian theological terminology.
Norman
Castle, cauldron, kennel, catch, cater are among Norman words introduced into English. The Norman language also introduced (or reinforced) words of Norse origin such as mug.
Dutch
There are many ways through which
Indigenous languages of the Western Hemisphere
Nahuatl: tomato, coyote, chocolate, avocado, chili
Spanish
Words from
Italian
Words relating to some music,
South Asian languages
Words relating to culture, originating from the colonial era. e.g., atoll, avatar, bandana, bangles, buddy, bungalow, calico, candy, cashmere, chit, cot, curry, cushy, dinghy, guru, juggernaut, jungle, karma, khaki, lacquer, lilac, loot, mandarin, mantra, polo, pyjamas, shampoo, thug, tiffin, verandah.
German
English is a Germanic language. As a result, many words are distantly related to German. Most German words relating to World War I and World War II found their way into the English language, words such as Blitzkrieg, Anschluss, Führer, and Lebensraum; food terms, such as bratwurst, hamburger and frankfurter; words related to psychology and philosophy, such as gestalt, Übermensch, zeitgeist, and realpolitik. From German origin are also: wanderlust, schadenfreude, kaputt, kindergarten, autobahn, rucksack.
Old Norse
Words of
Hebrew and Yiddish
Words used in religious contexts, like
.Arabic
Trade items such as borax, coffee, cotton, hashish, henna, mohair, muslin, saffron;
Counting
Cardinal numbering in English follows two models, Germanic and Italic. The basic numbers are zero through ten. The numbers eleven through nineteen follow native Germanic style, as do twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, and ninety.
Standard English, especially in very conservative formal contexts, continued to use native Germanic style as late as World War I for intermediate numbers greater than 20, viz., "one-and-twenty," "five-and-thirty," "seven-and-ninety," and so on. But with the advent of the Industrial Revolution, the Latin tradition of counting as "twenty-one," "thirty-five," "ninety-seven," etc., which is easier to say and was already common in non-standard regional dialects, gradually replaced the traditional Germanic style to become the dominant style by the end of nineteenth century.
Opposition
Linguistic purism in the English language is the belief that words of native origin should be used instead of foreign-derived ones (which are mainly Romance, Latin and Greek). "Native" can mean "Anglo-Saxon" or it can be widened to include all Germanic words. In its mild form, it merely means using existing native words instead of foreign-derived ones (such as using "begin" instead of "commence"). In its more extreme form, it involves reviving native words that are no longer widely used (such as "ettle" for "intend") and/or coining new words from Germanic roots (such as word stock for vocabulary). This dates at least to the inkhorn term debate of the 16th and 17th century, where some authors rejected the foreign influence, and has continued to this day, being most prominent in Plain English advocacy to avoid Latinate terms if a simple native alternative exists.
See also
- Influence of French on English
- Linguistic purism in English
- Cultural globalization
- Internet culture
- Neologism
- Philosophy of language
References
This article includes improve this article by correcting them. (August 2023) ) |
- ISBN 978-0-19-803753-8. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
- ]
- ^ McWhorter, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue, 2008, pp. 89–136.[page range too broad][full citation needed]
- ^ ]
- ]
- ^ I.e., excluded are words coming from the Germanic element in French, Latin or other Romance languages. See Finkenstaedt & Wolff (1973).[page needed]
- ISBN 978-1-4282-3145-0. Archived from the original(PDF) on September 12, 2014. Retrieved June 8, 2017.
- ]
External links
- Mathematical Words: Origins and Sources (John Aldrich, University of Southampton) The contribution of French, Latin, Greek and German are surveyed.
- Wikiversity: English as a hybrid Romance-Germanic language