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

Maciamo

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This is a little quiz to test your abilities to discern words from Germanic, Latin, Greek or Celtic origin in English. If your mother tongue is a Romance or Germanic language other than English, it should be easier than if you are a native speaker of English or if your mother tongue is neither Romance nor Germanic.

List 1

abate, apology, ban, cancel, cattle, caveat, cottage, council, customize, dispatch, endeavour, factory, genuine, grateful, issue, joke, office, picture, poor, price, quiet, rehearse, suitable, supply, ubiquitous (25 words)


Feel free to try and guess how many words belong to each language family without checking them up.


EDIT : here are two more lists, if you wish to try more.

List 2

blank, boy, car, chair, claim, close, fate, filter, foolish, hamlet, messy, money, nice, peaceful, pen, people, proud, safe, soil, square, street, tense, travel, trick, vow (25 words)


List 3

abandon, aboard, amuse, arrange, balcony, bandage, bank, beer, boulevard, border, detach, drug, duvet, espionage, float, franchise, gourmet, guardian, lodge, march, pledge, rank, seize, standard, troop (25 words)
 
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Well.. I try to..
My native tongue is Dutch.

Romanic:
abate, apology, cancel, cattle, caveat, customize, dispatch, endeavour, factory, genuine, grateful, issue, joke, office, picture, poor, quiet, rehearse, suitable, supply, ubiquitous

Germanic:
ban, cottage, council, price.

Dutch:
ban, kot(o), kansel(o), prijs.

(o) Means old words, not often used anymore.
 
Good post!

I think basic English is more Germanic whereas advanced English is almost 100% Romance.
I tested this theory, I got a couple of my friends who did not speak French or German to try and read them both - turns out they could understand a lot more French than German, although there was quite a bit of German they could understand (Ich habe - I have, eins zwei drei - one two three)
 
Depends on what specifically you are referring to. For example, if you are referring to the entirety of the English lexicon, then it is more Romance. If you are referring to English core lexicon, grammar, and sound system, it is Germanic.

Also, Romance can, in part, be Germanic, especially when one is speaking of French, as there is a sizeable Germanic element in French.

So, if counting Germanic-Romance words as Germanic; and vice versa, here it is as follows:

Romance (Italic): abate, cancel, cattle, caveat, council, customize, dispatch, endeavour, factory, genuine, grate[ful], issue, joke, office, picture, poor, price, quiet, rehearse, suitable, supply, ubiquitous, claim, close, fate, fool[ish], mess[y], money, nice, peace[ful], pen, people, (proud), safe, square, street, tense, travel, vow

Germanic: ban, blank, boy, filter, ham[let], (proud), soil, trick, abandon, aboard, amuse, arrange, balcony, bandage, bank, beer, boulevard, border, [de]tach, drug, duvet, espionage, float, franchise, gourmet, guardian, lodge, march, pledge, rank, seize, standard, troop

Greek: apology, chair

Celtic: car
 
I've made a bit of an experiment here. Normally, I'm rather critical of the concept of Swadesh lists because they are used for the (decisively debunked) concept of glottochronology. However, in this context the use of a Swadesh list looked rather useful to make the point that despite having absorbed a substantial amount of Latin/Romance-derived terms, is still a Germanic language. In the list, words in brackets have changed meaning, and words that are bolded are actually Latin/Romance loanwords. The list includes three Latin/Romance loanwords, one which is found in both German and English. As you can also see below, there are a decisive number of shortfalls of the Swadesh list that become apparent. In particular, words which are no longer in active use of vocabulary, as well as have a shifted meaning, will screw up the list.


I "Ich"
You "Du"
we "Wir"
this "dies"
that "das"
who? "wer?"
what? "was?"
not "nicht"
all "alle"
many (archaic "mannig-", as in "mannigfaltig", 'manifold')
one "eins"
two "zwei"
big (no cognate but Germanic in origin, also possibly in the German river name "Bigge")
long "lang"
small ("schmal")
wife "Weib"
man "Mann"
person "Person" (Latin loanword in both languages)
fish "Fisch"
bird - Unknown origin
dog "Dogge" (see also English 'hound' versus German "Hund")
louse "Laus"
tree (no cognate in German, but Germanic)
seed "Saat"
leaf ("Laub")
root (no cognate in German, but Germanic)
bark ("Borke")
skin (archaic "Schinde")
flesh "Fleisch"
blood "Blut"
bone ("Gebein")
grease -> via French from Latin 'crassus' (but compare English "smear" vs. German "Schmiere")
egg "Ei"
horn "Horn"
tail (dialect "Zagel")
feather "Feder"
hair "Haar"
head "Haupt"
ear "Ohr"
eye "Auge"
nose "Nase"
mouth "Mund"
tooth "Zahn"
tongue "Zunge"
claw "Klaue"
foot "Fuß"
knee "Knie"
hand "Hand"
belly ("Balg")
neck ("Nacken")
breasts "Brüste"
heart "Herz"
liver "Leber"
drink "drinken"
eat "essen"
bite "beißen"
see "sehen"
hear "hören"
know (no cognate in German, but Germanic)
sleep "schlafen"
die (no cognate in German, but Germanic in etymology)
kill (no cognate but Germanic)
swim "schwimmen"
fly "fliegen"
walk ("walken" - to churn/mill)
come "kommen"
lie "liegen"
sit "sitzen"
stand ("Stand")
give "geben"
say "sagen"
sun "Sonne"
moon "Mond"
star "Stern"
water "Wasser"
rain "Regen"
stone "Stein"
sand "Sand"
earth "Erde"
cloud (no cognate but Germanic)
smoke (archaic "Schmauch")
fire "Feuer"
ashes "Asche"
burn "brennen"
path "Pfad"
mountain -> Latin "mons"
red "rot"
green "grün"
yellow "gelb"
white "weiß"
black (no cognate in German, but Germanic, however also compare English "swarthy" and German "schwarz")
night "Nacht"
hot "heiss"
cold "kalt"
full "voll"
new "neu"
good "gut"
round "rund"
dry "trocken"
name "Name"

So, my point is that I oppose Maciamo's view which is that English should be regarded as a Romance language due to it's extensive vocabulary. However, as you can see, the core vocabulary of the language is Germanic.
 
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English has certainly changed quite a bit since the Middle Ages. I didn't do my research carefully enough when I signed up for a course in medieval European literature. The professor made us learn how to read Chaucer in the original. I love Chaucer, but YIKES!:LOL:

This is the modern English of part of the Prologue of the lusty " Wife of Bath":

"Experience, though no authority
Were in this world, would be enough for me
To speak of woe that married life affords;
For since I was twelve years of age, my lords,
Thanks be to God eternally alive, 5
Of husbands at the church door I've had five
(If I have wed that often legally),
And all were worthy men in their degree.
But I was told not very long ago
That as but once did Jesus ever go 10
To a wedding (in Cana, Galilee),
By that example he was teaching me
That only once in life should I be wed.
And listen what a sharp word, too, was said
Beside a well by Jesus, God and man, 15
In a reproof of the Samaritan:
'Now you have had five husbands,' Jesus said,
'But he who has you now, I say instead,
Is not your husband.' That he said, no doubt,
But what he meant I haven't figured out; 20
For I must ask, why is it the fifth man
Wasn't husband to the Samaritan?
How many men was she allowed to wed?
In all my years I've never heard it said
Exactly how this number is defined; 25
Men may surmise and gloss how it's divined,
But I expressly know it's not a lie
God bade us to increase and multiply--
That noble text I well appreciate.
I also know the Lord said that my mate 30
Should leave for me his father and his mother,
But mentioned not one number or another,
Not bigamy nor yet octogamy.
Why should men speak, then, disapprovingly?"

This is what it sounds like as first written. (Of course, I always had my doubts they could be certain of precisely how it would have sounded, but I kept my doubts to myself.:grin: I'm no expert on English accents. Is there more of a similarity to the modern pronunciation in one area rather than another? Is there something Scandinavian there as well?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0ybnLRf3gU

A similar "accent" is used in Shakespearean English, but there were definitely changes since Chaucer's Day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPlpphT7n9s

In general terms, I think it's clear that English is a Germanic language, but it is one that has received a large influx of words derived from French, and therefore originally from Latin. It has also developed independently enough that it is no longer mutually intelligible with German.

For those of an irreverent and humorous turn of mind..."The History of English in ten minutes":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9Tfbeqyu2U
 
I assume everyone knows the history of the English language and why it's a mixture of English and French, with loan words from other languages (mostly Latin and Greek). Prior to the invasion of England by the Norman French, English was a Germanic language and it had borrowed a few (but not many) words from the Celts who were there before the Germanic tribes came. But when William of Normandy conquered England, he and his people made French the language of government, the law courts and the upper class, although Latin was the language of the church. Over time, Old English, Norman French and Church Latin fused into modern English. And during the last two centuries, many words have been borrowed from Latin and Greece whenever new words were needed in the areas of science and technology. And that's how we got the mess that is modern English.
 
English language is about two thirds Romance and one third Germanic.

Albanian is also about 40-50% Latin-Romance.

Me, as an Italian, can understand quite a lot of written Albanian. It was quite a surprise to me.

But any Slavic language looks and sounds completely alien.
 
As I've said before the English language is about two thirds Romance and one third Germanic.

The only reason why it is considered as Germanic is that most of basic words, like conjunctions, prepositions,... are of Germanic origin.

And even those Germanic languages are not that different from Italo-Celtic ones.

LVZKhog.jpg


For info, an incomplete list of English words of direct Italian origin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Italian_origin
 
Giuseppe, the english lexicon contains less germanoc words than other words but that said the germanic found is not so weak in it and in natural basic english the percentage of germanic words augments - it's not a revelation, other forumers already said this -

concerning ancient pronounciations, I think scot dialects (someones, in East and North-East more than others) and North England dialects are closer to old english than the standard modern english, spite not identical of course! -

very often when we speak of "english french" (or "french english"?) we speak of Normans french but we forget the subsequent Angevin french of the Plantagents, less 'germanic' than the anglo-normand stratum, so it countained more platalized K and G in it - all that roughly said,
 
It is very interesting thread.
I uderstand now, why creol languages are so nonsensical...
037.gif

Fusional languages are much more logical and superior.

Comparing anglosaxonic or even medieval english to present english and german,
I must say, that old slavonic from IX century is much more similar and understandable
do present day polish or russian. And their forms form XIV or XV century that is pice of
cake compare to THAT - they are almost like modern tongues :rolleyes:

But Anglosaxonic is much more normal language than english.

Spanish: =>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjMKXsCnsZo
Here I was shoked. The more easier word, then more problems they have!
I was allways considering latin, spanish and italian as languages with VERY simple phonetics.
But english-speaking people cannot do that! Now I know, why "english-latin" is so terrible... :LOL:

This is pretty funny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUTTosdOQGA :LOL:

This names aren't really so terrible, only this people don't want pronauce enlgish
sounds or they dont want understand that (for examplne) in mostly european
languages w = v. It is really so difficult?

Warszawa = Varshava.
Every "a" like british Apple, or Arabia.

They were very lucky, that couple of oryginal sounds are lost in present polish. :LOL:
For example h, ł, ó, á, é, rz... even Poles cannot pronaunce them... maybe some villagers can :innocent:

Here: ==>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUteMtNhe3g
IRISH. I thought that it will be very extreme, but it wasn't!
It is easy to pronaunce! (y) But ORTHOGRAPHY is TERRIBLE.
BUT old-Irish orthography was much worse, and they had to simplify her! :petrified:
 
English language is about two thirds Romance and one third Germanic.

The English inventory of lexemes is more Latin than Germanic, but the vocabulary doesn't really represent the essence of a language.

Albanian is also about 40-50% Latin-Romance.

Me, as an Italian, can understand quite a lot of written Albanian. It was quite a surprise to me.

I would say a bit less like 30%, but most of them are not loans from Latin, but is quite the opposite. Latin representing a non-vernacular language was created from its creators based on the spoken language of the past, and the main one was :the Alban language of the ancient people of Rome, called Albanenses, which in my opinion nowadays Albanian nation dedicates its origin.
 
A language is told be in some group of languages based on the core words,words that are naming body parts,family members and so on.
English have lots of Romance origin words,but not in the core part.
EDIT:
Taranis forgot to compare the name of animals ,between Germanic and English language.
Here is a little comparison between Norwegian and English,animal names:
http://www.internetpolyglot.com/lesson-3902101010
 
Here a very interesting comparison between West Frisian and English:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo...West_Frisian_with_English.2C_Dutch_and_German
West FrisianEnglishDutchGerman
deidaydagTag
reinrainregenRegen
weiwaywegWeg
neilnailnagelNagel
tsiischeesekaasKäse
tsjerkechurch
kirk (Scotland)
kerkKirche
tegearretogethersamen
tezamen
zusammen
sibbesibling[note 1]sibbeSippe
kaaikeysleutelSchlüssel
ha westhave beenben geweestbin gewesen
twa skieptwo sheeptwee schapenzwei Schafe
hawwehavehebbenhaben
úsusonsuns
hynderhorsepaard
ros (dated)
Ross / Pferd
breabreadbroodBrot
hierhairhaarHaar
earearoorOhr
doardoordeurTür
griengreengroenGrün
swietsweetzoetsüß
trochthroughdoordurch
wietwetnatnass
eacheyeoogAuge
dreamdreamdroomTraum
it giet oanit goes onhet gaat doores geht weiter/los



Here a small movie which shows that English is very closed to Frisian:

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeC1yAaWG34




[/URL]
 
Here another example,which speaks for itself,about the fact that English and Dutch are very closed languages:
From "Vulgaris Magistralis" ,Heidevolk:
Ik kok mien potjen op een werkende vulkaan
I cook my meal on an active volcano.

Please note that the phrase structure is exactly same and some words are very closed.
 

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