Is English language more Romance or Germanic ? (test your abilities)

EDIT:
Removed most of the post,to not offend some members of the forum.
However,kept these few things I have not liked at Roman Empire and which I think no democratic state should follow:

I do not agree with this vision over Latin language,as some great language.
First,because people tend to neglect the genocides and atrocities that Romans did and portray these unhuman acts as some kind of glorious deeds.
Second,because Roman Empire was not behaving well with the average Roman citizens either,people of Latin blood,instead it was despising them and considering them some kind of half-idiots which could have been controlled with bread and circus(panem et circenses).
Third,because Roman Empire leaders were mostly mentally insane people,very thirsty after power and they were killing between them,just to get the power .
Please remember that Nero put fire to Rome,this is how mentally insane Roman Emperors were.
Fourth,because Roman Empire was using slavery ,even if you were a native Roman citizen,wealthy but you were commenting something that the Cezar would not like,you would have end up as slave,if not killed.
Fifth,because Roman Empire did not supported any kind of culture,was just a militaristic state,were paranoia was state politics and religion,they were seeing everywhere enemies.

So is just a very ironic fact that the some smart people associate Latin language with culture . Roman Empire had nothing to do with culture.
It was only about making everything for war. A militaristic state,lead by mentally insane people.This is what kind of state European Union should follow?
Today European Union states,including UK are having a very peaceful politics.
And we do not have anymore the despising of average people in European Union.
Many Roman emperors were from different backround among them "Illyrians,Thracians,Syrians etc,so were the soldiers from different backround,Latin being lingua franca and official language,i have read some researches the same language never changed,which due to time happen to every language,would like to see some more researches if anyone know more on that,ethnicity wasn't same then and now,Roman was everyone that fought for Roman interests in opposite for "barbarians" Constantine the Great from Thraco-Illyrian" origin born in Naissus present day Serbia,made Constantinople new capital yet they called themselves Romans,even what we call Byzantine empire after fall of "Western Roman empire" was calling themselves Romans,the Greco-Roman ethnographers with names like Sarmatia,Magna Germania,Illyria whatever doesn't give us clear picture of ethnic origin of the same people,was they speaking one language,was they not...even "Barbarian" empires had their lingua franca.
 
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I agree,but many Roman emperors were from different backround among them "Illyrians,Thracians,Syrians etc,so were the soldiers from different backround,Latin being lingua franca and administrative language,i have read some researches the same language never changed,which due to time happen to every language,would like to see some more researches if anyone know more on that,ethnicity wasn't same then and now,Roman was everyone that fought for Roman interests in opposite for "barbarians" Constantine the Great from Thraco-Illyrian" origin born in Naissus present day Serbia,made Constantinople new capital yet they called themselves Romans,even what we call Byzantine empire after fall of "Western Roman empire" was calling themselves Romans,the Greco-Roman ethnographers with names like Sarmatia,Magna Germania,Illyria whatever doesn't give us clear picture of ethnic origin of the same people,was they speaking one language,was they not...even "Barbarian" empires had their lingua franca.

This shouldn't be surprising. Lots of Germans made their way to the US and became English-speaking Americans.
 
EDIT:
Removed most of the post,to not offend some members of the forum.
However,kept these few things I have not liked at Roman Empire and which I think no democratic state should follow:

I do not agree with this vision over Latin language,as some great language.
First,because people tend to neglect the genocides and atrocities that Romans did and portray these unhuman acts as some kind of glorious deeds.
Second,because Roman Empire was not behaving well with the average Roman citizens either,people of Latin blood,instead it was despising them and considering them some kind of half-idiots which could have been controlled with bread and circus(panem et circenses).
Third,because Roman Empire leaders were mostly mentally insane people,very thirsty after power and they were killing between them,just to get the power .
Please remember that Nero put fire to Rome,this is how mentally insane Roman Emperors were.
Fourth,because Roman Empire was using slavery ,even if you were a native Roman citizen,wealthy but you were commenting something that the Cezar would not like,you would have end up as slave,if not killed.
Fifth,because Roman Empire did not supported any kind of culture,was just a militaristic state,were paranoia was state politics and religion,they were seeing everywhere enemies.

So is just a very ironic fact that the some smart people associate Latin language with culture . Roman Empire had nothing to do with culture.
It was only about making everything for war. A militaristic state,lead by mentally insane people.This is what kind of state European Union should follow?
Today European Union states,including UK are having a very peaceful politics.
And we do not have anymore the despising of average people in European Union.

Number one: the topic of this thread is "Is the English language more Romance or Germanic?". Your post is off topic. Let's try to stay somewhat on track.

Number two: even if it were a thread on ancient civilizations, posts like this will get the kind of response they deserve, which is to say, none. Perhaps you might want to pick up a text on this period of history. Absolutely any text would help. Just a suggestion.
 
...
I do not agree with this vision over Latin language,as some great language.
First,because people tend to neglect the genocides and atrocities that Romans did and portray these unhuman acts as some kind of glorious deeds.
Second,because Roman Empire was not behaving well with the average Roman citizens either...
Third,because Roman Empire leaders were mostly mentally insane people,very thirsty after power and they were killing between them,just to get the power .
Please remember that Nero put fire to Rome,this is how mentally insane Roman Emperors were.
Fourth,because Roman Empire was using slavery....
Fifth,because Roman Empire did not supported any kind of culture,was just a militaristic state,were paranoia was state politics and religion,they were seeing everywhere enemies.

So is just a very ironic fact that the some smart people associate Latin language with culture . Roman Empire had nothing to do with culture.
It was only about making everything for war. A militaristic state,lead by mentally insane people.This is what kind of state European Union should follow?
Today European Union states,including UK are having a very peaceful politics.
And we do not have anymore the despising of average people in European Union.

By your logic, the German language should be discarded because of the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime. English should also be discarded due to the history of racial slavery in the USA. Say bye to Arabic because of the insane actions of Islamists. Danish is gone because of its association with Vikings, who were essentially pirates. Spanish was the primary language of many of the conquistadores who brutally enslaved many natives of California, Mesoamerica, and South America, so obviously we can't speak that either. Niall of the Nine Hostages used hostage-taking as a political leverage strategy, so obviously Irish is a terrible language. Russian is no good because of the example of rulers like Ivan the Terrible and also because of the brutal oppression that the USSR inflicted on dissidents.

So, mihaitzateo, what language can we speak that is untainted by social problems?
 
By your logic, the German language should be discarded because of the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime. English should also be discarded due to the history of racial slavery in the USA. Say bye to Arabic because of the insane actions of Islamists. Danish is gone because of its association with Vikings, who were essentially pirates. Spanish was the primary language of many of the conquistadores who brutally enslaved many natives of California, Mesoamerica, and South America, so obviously we can't speak that either. Niall of the Nine Hostages used hostage-taking as a political leverage strategy, so obviously Irish is a terrible language. Russian is no good because of the example of rulers like Ivan the Terrible and also because of the brutal oppression that the USSR inflicted on dissidents.

So, mihaitzateo, what language can we speak that is untainted by social problems?

I was wrong. An intelligent response could be made to that post. You've just done it. Well done. (For some reason, the system won't let me give any more thumbs up today, otherwise I'd have given you one.)

I also had a giggle imagining Mexicans and South Asians, among others, trying to learn the English of Beowulf. :) Kudos to you, by the way. Chaucerian English was hard enough. I drew the line at Beowulf.
 
Well Robert I must admit that you are right.
The Latin language and the Romance languages have nothing to do with what Roman Empire has done.
Neither French language has anything to do with Norman conquest.
I was upset on Latin language for no reason.
Thing is that I am also a native Romance speaker,cause Romanian as how grammar is and how sonority is ,is also mostly Romance language.
I just noticed that I have some kind of non-rational love towards Romanian,I guess is normal,because is my mother tongue.
I am just upset because I can learn very easy French and without effort Italian,but I learning German is not that easy,learning Dutch is even harder,same about Slavic languages.
I can speak quite well French and I understand French very good.
 
Celtic languages are attested only in parts of modern Aragón, Old Castile, and New Castile in Spain. Don't listen to Maciamo, who is not even a scientist, and talks about Bronze Age "Proto-Celts" invading Western Europe in 2200 BC!

In Blue area where Celtic inscriptions were found mixed with Iberian, Vasconic and Latin ones.

Mapa_lleng%C3%BCes_paleohisp%C3%A0niques-ang.jpg

That's only for Celtiberian, properly, it does not include the other Celtic or Celtic-related languages of other parts of Spain, like Gallaecian.
 
...
Thing is that I am also a native Romance speaker,cause Romanian as how grammar is and how sonority is ,is also mostly Romance language.
I just noticed that I have some kind of non-rational love towards Romanian,I guess is normal,because is my mother tongue.
I am just upset because I can learn very easy French and without effort Italian,but I learning German is not that easy,learning Dutch is even harder,same about Slavic languages.
I can speak quite well French and I understand French very good.

It's perfectly normal to have an easier time learning languages that are closer to your native language. If you want to learn German, Dutch, or a Slavic language, the key to doing so is practice. Keep studying, read books, talk to people in that language, travel to areas where they speak that language, and don't give up. You can do it. You're already getting quite good at English, which is a Germanic language as you know. By learning English, you're mastering Germanic grammar which will help you immensely when it comes to German and Dutch.

Second thought - have you considered trying a Scandinavian language? They are Germanic but have a grammar that, in some ways, is more similar to English due to the large-scale Viking influence on English.
 
It's perfectly normal to have an easier time learning languages that are closer to your native language. If you want to learn German, Dutch, or a Slavic language, the key to doing so is practice. Keep studying, read books, talk to people in that language, travel to areas where they speak that language, and don't give up. You can do it. You're already getting quite good at English, which is a Germanic language as you know. By learning English, you're mastering Germanic grammar which will help you immensely when it comes to German and Dutch....

I had an afterthought. If you're having difficulty staying motivated to learn German or Dutch, why not keep working on your English? The more you master English, the more you will be able to recognize where German and Dutch are similar to English and you will be that much closer to mastery when you go back to German or Dutch later. You will also get a boost because learning any language helps improve your brain and your logical thinking abilities. A brain that has been honed through extensive study of English is a brain that is going to find learning any other language easier, even Arabic, Japanese, or Sotho.

Most of us on this forum understand how hard it is. Truly, we do. But we know that the way to mastery is to keep going.
 
I had an afterthought. If you're having difficulty staying motivated to learn German or Dutch, why not keep working on your English? The more you master English, the more you will be able to recognize where German and Dutch is similar to English and you will be that much closer to mastery when you go back to German or Dutch later. You will also get a boost because learning any language helps improve your brain and your logical thinking abilities. A brain that has been honed through extensive study of English is a brain that is going to find learning any other language easier, even Arabic, Japanese, or Sotho.

Most of us on this forum understand how hard it is. Truly, we do. But we know that the way to mastery is to keep going.

Scandinavian languages are for Romanians,3rd easy to learn,after Romance languages,English.
Because Scandinavian grammar is so closed to English and also have common features to Balkanic languages,like definite postponed article.
But learning Swedish/Norwegian after you know English is not hard at all,because how close grammar is.
Is a little more weird to have your ear hearing all those different words in Scandinavian.
On the other hand,Romanian ear can hear clearly the difference between German different sounds.
But German grammar is hard,even if you know English,for a Romanian.
 
It depends on what you mean by "attested". If it includes many surviving shorter inscriptions, then it has been "attested":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallaecian_language

This might deserve a separate thread, but yes, Gallaecian is known mainly from short inscriptions and names from the Roman period, all written in the Latin alphabet. Before that, they were illiterate (unlike the Celtiberians to the east).
 
This might deserve a separate thread, but yes, Gallaecian is known mainly from short inscriptions and names from the Roman period, all written in the Latin alphabet. Before that, they were illiterate (unlike the Celtiberians to the east).

Indeed, it seems that literacy in this particular Celtic group came after contact with the Romans. The same can be said about some other Celtic languages, like Brittonic, which survives exclusively in inscriptions using Latin or Latin alphabet:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Brittonic

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_curse_tablets
 
It depends on what you mean by "attested". If it includes many surviving shorter inscriptions, then it has been "attested":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallaecian_language

No the surviving corpus of Gallaecian is composed of isolated words and short sentences contained in local Latin inscriptions or glossed by classical authors, together with a number of names – anthroponyms, ethnonyms, theonyms, toponyms – contained in inscriptions.
 
Indeed, it seems that literacy in this particular Celtic group came after contact with the Romans. The same can be said about some other Celtic languages, like Brittonic, which survives exclusively in inscriptions using Latin or Latin alphabet:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Brittonic

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_curse_tablets

Nonsense. Whole inscriptions in Britonic have been found, while Gallaecian has been attested only by words and short phrases in Latin texts.
 
Nonsense. Whole inscriptions in Britonic have been found, while Gallaecian has been attested only by words and short phrases in Latin texts.

All of them in Latin too. So, no, it is not "nonsense".
 
No the surviving corpus of Gallaecian is composed of isolated words and short sentences contained in local Latin inscriptions or glossed by classical authors, together with a number of names – anthroponyms, ethnonyms, theonyms, toponyms – contained in inscriptions.

Once again, pretty much what has also survived of other Celtic languages that did not have their own script and only started to leave some inscriptions after the Latin script was borrowed.
 
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I repeat...
I haven't read every post, but I don't think anyone is saying that English is a Romance language. I think what they're trying to say is that it's usually placed among the Germanic languages because of grammar and some basic vocabulary, but that it has drifted far from those roots in the direction of the Romance languages, certainly in the area of vocabulary.

No native English speaker would ever say they had sheep for dinner....What happened is that the Germanic names for the barnyard animals were retained, but the words involved with cooking are from the French, presumably because those were the words used in the Castle or the manor where the cooking was done for the upper classes who for some centuries still exclusively used "Norman" French as their everyday language. The same thing happened with cow...the meat is "veal" or "beef", not cow meat.

Often, the more "elevated" the setting, or the more educated the person, the higher the percentage of French derived words.

These are just a few examples, with the German derived word first and then the French one.

ask/inquire
drink/beverage
fall/autumn
smell/odor
thinking/pensive
...

This is often seen in English noun/adjective pairings. The common noun is often a native Germanic word, while the associated adjective is Latin (or occasionally Greek)-derived.

Examples:

moon/lunar
sky/celestial
star/stellar (This applies both to literal and figurative meanings. A movie star's performance would generally be expected to be stellar. If it is not, then they are not really a movie star, are they?)
sun/solar
earth/terrestrial (or terran)
cloud/nebulous (but a native adjective, cloudy, also exists)
pig/porcine
dog/canine
ant/formic
whale/cetacean (Next time you need a whale to save Earth from a destructive space probe, remember your Germanic/Latin pairings and go straight to the Cetacean Institute.)
swan/cygnine
bird/avian
horse/equine
worm/vermian
steersman/cybernetic (cyberspace is literally an area that can be navigated)
brother/fraternal
sister/sororal
father/paternal
mother/maternal
child/infantile (but cf. Germanic "childish")
chest/pectoral
mouth/oral
eye/ocular (or optic)
back(of a person)/dorsal
tongue/lingual
neck/cervical
kidney/renal
brain/cerebral
blood/sanguine
finger/digital (digital calculations are those that you can make with your fingers, which are generally up or down, not halfways or sort-of-down-but-close-to-midways-maybe)
tooth/dental (clearly, the Germanic form is the same PIE root modified by Grimm's Law)
heart/cardiac (another obvious Grimm's law example - the native Germanic noun underwent it, and the adjective was borrowed much later)
freedom/libre (a recent loanword from Spanish to provide an appropriate adjective)
good/beneficial
praise/laudatory
king/royal (or regal)
day/diurnal
night/nocturnal
twilight/crepuscular
book/literary (also cf. the Greek-derived biblical)
edge/marginal
water/aquatic
ice/glacial
light/optical
sword/gladiatorial
town/urban
house/domestic
 
This is often seen in English noun/adjective pairings. The common noun is often a native Germanic word, while the associated adjective is Latin (or occasionally Greek)-derived.

Examples:

moon/lunar
sky/celestial
star/stellar (This applies both to literal and figurative meanings. A movie star's performance would generally be expected to be stellar. If it is not, then they are not really a movie star, are they?)
sun/solar
earth/terrestrial (or terran)
cloud/nebulous (but a native adjective, cloudy, also exists)
pig/porcine
dog/canine
ant/formic
whale/cetacean (Next time you need a whale to save Earth from a destructive space probe, remember your Germanic/Latin pairings and go straight to the Cetacean Institute.)
swan/cygnine
bird/avian
horse/equine
worm/vermian
steersman/cybernetic (cyberspace is literally an area that can be navigated)
brother/fraternal
sister/sororal
father/paternal
mother/maternal
child/infantile (but cf. Germanic "childish")
chest/pectoral
mouth/oral
eye/ocular (or optic)
back(of a person)/dorsal
tongue/lingual
neck/cervical
kidney/renal
brain/cerebral
blood/sanguine
finger/digital (digital calculations are those that you can make with your fingers, which are generally up or down, not halfways or sort-of-down-but-close-to-midways-maybe)
tooth/dental (clearly, the Germanic form is the same PIE root modified by Grimm's Law)
heart/cardiac (another obvious Grimm's law example - the native Germanic noun underwent it, and the adjective was borrowed much later)
freedom/libre (a recent loanword from Spanish to provide an appropriate adjective)
good/beneficial
praise/laudatory
king/royal (or regal)
day/diurnal
night/nocturnal
twilight/crepuscular
book/literary (also cf. the Greek-derived biblical)
edge/marginal
water/aquatic
ice/glacial
light/optical
sword/gladiatorial
town/urban
house/domestic


That's indeed how it works. Not to belabor the obvious, but some of the adjectives are probably not commonly used down at the bar as, for example, words like nebulous or diurnal or sanguine. Others are common usage for everyone. You get your molars removed by an oral surgeon, not a mouth surgeon. Some of these have morphed into nouns, too. You go to an optician to get your glasses, not an eye-tician. :)
 

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