Paucity of Germanic adjectives in English

[Maciamo]

English is generally classified as Germanic language, despite having less than a third of its vocabulary from Germanic roots.

One of the principal reasons why English is considered a Germanic rather than Romance language is that most of its basic everyday words are Germanic. Let's see if that is true of adjectives. Here is the list of the 25 most common adjectives in English:

1. good => Germanic
2. new => PIE (Latin novus, Old English neowe)
3. first => Germanic
4. last => Germanic
5. long => Latin
6. great => PIE (Latin grandis, West Germanic *grautaz)
7. little => Germanic but quite rare in other modern Germanic languages
8. own => Germanic
9. other => PIE (Latin alter, Proto-Germanic *antharaz)
10. old => Germanic
11. right => Germanic
12. big => unique to English
13. high => PIE (French haut, Latin altus, Old English heh, Proto-Germanic *haukhaz)
14. different => Latin
15. small => Germanic
16. large => Latin
17. next => Germanic
18. early => Germanic but unique to English nowadays
19. young => Germanic
20. important => Latin
21. few => PIE (*pau 'little, few'), but only survived in English and Romance languages (Latin paucus, French peu)
22. public => Latin
23. bad => unique to English
24. same => Germanic but unique to English
25. able => Latin

Only 10 of the top 25 adjectives are of purely Germanic origin and have cognates in other modern Germanic languages.

This oddity is even more apparent when one looks at the most basic adjectives in English. Lots of them have no cognate in other modern Germanic languages, and the etymology of some is so mysterious that nobody knows where they come from. A few examples:

English adjectives of unclear/unknown origin

- average
- bad
- big
- crazy
- funny
- lazy
- tired

English adjectives of Proto-Indo-European origin but unique to English

- cheap => English coinage
- evil
- healthy
- hollow
- mad => derived from a PIE and Germanic root, but meaning(s) unique to English.
- quick => based on a Proto-Germanic and PIE root, but sense of 'fast' unique to English.
- sad => based on a Proto-Germanic and PIE root for 'satiated'

English adjectives probably based on a Germanic root but unique to English

- blunt => cognates vaguely with Old Norse, but ultimately of unknown origin.
- clever
- dark
- dirty
- empty => found in Old English, but of unknown origin.
- happy
- tall
- scary => derived from Old Norse, but of unknown origin.
- smooth => found in Old English, but of unknown origin.
- steep => probably Germanic, but of unknown origin.
- stingy => English coinage
- straight => derived from Old English but origin unknown
- swift => English coinage
- wicked => English coinage from the Old English noun wicca. Unique to English.


English adjectives with ancient Germanic cognates but no modern ones

- angry => only found in Old English and Gothic
- back => only found in Old English and Old Frisian
- early => only found in Old English or Old Norse
- fair
- flat
- guilty => only found in Old English
- hilly
- ill => vaguely cognates with Old Norse
- naughty => only found in Old English
- shallow => only found in Old English
- together => only found in Old English


English adjectives with a few modern Germanic cognates but of unknown, probably non-Germanic origin

- busy => only related to Old Dutch bezich, Low GerMan besig.
- lean => vaguely related to the East Frisian luf, Dutch dialectal loof.
- narrow => sole cognates in Dutch and Frisian; probably not from Proto-Germanic.


English adjectives of Germanic origin but with a unique sense/usage in English

- clean => distantly related to the West Germanic term for small, but English sense not found elsewhere.
- creepy
- kind => derived from the Germanic word for 'kin'.
- mean => derived from the Old English gemæne (common, public), from the Germanic root *ga-mainiz meaning 'possessed jointly'.
- pretty => of West Germanic origin, but English meaning not found elsewhere.
- ready => derived from the Germanic word for 'arranged'.
- same => derived from the Germanic word for 'together'.
- silly => derived from the Germanic word for 'happy'.
- tiny
- wrong => derived from the Germanic word for 'crooked'.
- ugly => derived fom Old Norse, but unique to English with this meaning.


English adjectives of Romance origin but with a unique sense/usage in English

- cheerful => Anglo-Fr. chere and Latin cara, both meaning 'face'.
- cute => perhaps derived from the Romance word 'acute', but otherwise unique to English.
- nice => derived many times from Latin nescius ('ignorant'); unique to English.
- proud => derived from the Old French prud (brave, valiant), itself from Latin prode (profitable).


All the above (57 words listed so far) could be considered coinages of English or Old English, or words that have died out in other modern languages. The fact that they are unique to English makes me want to count them separately from true Germanic words.


Examples of adjectives that have obvious equivalent in other modern Germanic languages and can therefore truly be classified in the modern Germanic family include:

1. bitter
2. broad
3. cold
4. cool
5. dead
6. deep
7. dull
8. dusty
9. dry
10. even
11. far
12. fast
13. fat
14. fierce
15. first
16. free
17. friendly
18. full
19. good
20. hard
21. high
22. hot
23. hungry
24. late
25. last
26. light
27. lively
28. loud
29. lovely
30. low
31. lucky
32. next
33. old
34. open
35. right
36. ripe
37. rotten
38. sharp
39. shiny
40. shy
41. sick
42. slow
43. soft
44. sour
45. strong
46. sweet
47. thick
48. thin
49. thirsty
50. true
51. young
52. warm
53. weak
54. well
55. wet
56. wild
57. wise
58. witty
59. wonderful

Some single- or double-syllable adjectives may have a Germanic look to them (at least for people not well versed in Latin or Romance languages), but are actually derived from Latin or Old French:

1. afraid
2. bland
3. clear
4. close
5. eager
6. easy
7. faithful
8. faint
9. fancy
10. fine
11. foolish
12. fresh
13. huge
14. miser
15. mute
16. noisy
17. nasty
18. poor
19. powerful
20. quaint
21. quiet
22. safe
23. spicy
24. square
25. tasty

The vast remainder of common adjectives in English are all from French or Latin.

1. able
2. acid
3. adorable
4. agreeable
5. alert
6. amused
7. ancient
8. annoyed
9. automatic
10. anxious
11. arrogant
12. beautiful
13. brave
14. brief
15. calm
16. careful
17. cautious
18. charming
19. chemical
20. colourful
21. comfortable
22. common
23. complete
24. complex
25. complicated
26. concerned
27. condemned
28. confused
29. conscious
30. cooperative
31. courageous
32. cruel
33. curious
34. damaged
35. dangerous
36. defeated
37. defiant
38. delicate
39. delightful
40. dependent
41. depressed
42. determined
43. different
44. difficult
45. disgusted
46. distinct
47. disturbed
48. doubtful
49. elated
50. elegant
51. embarrassed
52. enchanting
53. encouraging
54. energetic
55. enthusiastic
56. envious
57. excited
58. expensive
59. exuberant
60. false
61. famous
62. fantastic
63. feeble
64. female
65. fertile
66. fixed
67. fragile
68. frantic
69. frequent
70. future
71. general
72. gentle
73. gigantic
74. glorious
75. graceful
76. greasy
77. grotesque
78. hilarious
79. important
80. impossible
81. infamous
82. innocent
83. inquisitive
84. large
85. long
86. male
87. married
88. massive
89. material
90. medical
91. medium
92. military
93. miniature
94. mixed
95. modern
96. necessary
97. nervous
98. normal
99. obedient
100. obnoxious
101. opposite
102. outrageous
103. panicky
104. parallel
105. past
106. perfect
107. physical
108. plain
109. pleasant
110. poised
111. polite
112. political
113. possible
114. present
115. private
116. probable
117. public
118. rapid
119. real
120. repulsive
121. rich
122. round
123. second
124. secret
125. separate
126. serious
127. silent
128. simple
129. sociable
130. solid
131. special
132. splendid
133. strange
134. stupid
135. successful
136. sudden
137. terrible
138. terrific
139. usual
140. victorious
141. violent
142. vivacious

All in all, I have listed 57 adjectives unique to English, 59 of Germanic origin, and 167 of Romance origin. Out of a total of 283 common adjectives, only 20% have cognates in modern Germanic languages.

[sparkey]

Only 10 of the top 25 adjectives are of purely Germanic origin and have cognates in other modern Germanic languages.

IMHO that standard is too high. I think we should instead focus on words that have apparent Germanic transmission, i.e., they got into English via Germanic speech. Otherwise, you're dismissing words that apparently come from a Germanic source, just because they haven't changed much in the Germanic family or the rest of IE over time.

Then we get:

1. good => Germanic
2. new => Germanic (O.E. neowe, A.S. niwe, Proto-Germanic *newjaz)
3. first => Germanic
4. last => Germanic
5. long => Germanic (O.E. lang, Proto-Germanic *langgaz)
6. great => Germanic (O.E. great, Proto-Western-Germanic *grautaz)
7. little => Germanic
8. own => Germanic
9. other => Germanic (O.E oþer, Proto-Germanic *antharaz)
10. old => Germanic
11. right => Germanic
12. big => Germanic (originated in a Germanic context possibly from Norse bugge)
13. high => Germanic (O.E. heh, A.S. heah, Proto-Germanic *haukhaz)
14. different => Latin
15. small => Germanic
16. large => Latin
17. next => Germanic
18. early => Germanic
19. young => Germanic
20. important => Latin
21. few => Germanic (O.E. feawe, Proto-Germanic *faw-)
22. public => Latin
23. bad => Germanic (originated in a Germanic context possibly from O.E. bæddel)
24. same => Germanic
25. able => Latin

I get 20/25.

[Maciamo]

I couldn't finish writing everything I wanted last night, so I have expanded and reorganised my original post.

[MOESAN]

I couldn't finish writing everything I wanted last night, so I have expanded and reorganised my original post.

interesting
without checking I could say that:
right is not only germanic but shared with latin rect-us + breton reizh surely from latin sources?
for high I see not link with latin alt-us nor french haut << aut (the 'h' is from a frankish influence)
lazy could be link to french loisir (ancient dialects leisir)???
straight maybe strict-us ???
very uncertain: health-y from a brittonic calet ? welsh caled breton kaled : "hard" + "resistant" ???
just bets

[Maciamo]

interesting
without checking I could say that:
right is not only germanic but shared with latin rect-us + breton reizh surely from latin sources?
for high I see not link with latin alt-us nor french haut << aut (the 'h' is from a frankish influence)
lazy could be link to french loisir (ancient dialects leisir)???
straight maybe strict-us ???
very uncertain: health-y from a brittonic calet ? welsh caled breton kaled : "hard" + "resistant" ???
just bets

You are correct for right and high. The others are debatable though.

I will create a separate list for adjectives shared by both Germanic and Romance languages, since English is a hybrid of these two families and could have inherited the word from either or both. I actually think that English did attempt to merge the pronunciations of the Old/Middle English and French/Latin terms whenever these were similar. That would explain why English has an intermediary spelling and pronunciation for many words. For example :

- one : in between the French un and the Dutch een ; 'one' used to be pronounced 'on', just like the Walloon word, which is also a hybrid of Romance and Germanic. It would be interesting to know what the Anglo-French and Norman French dialect word for one is.

[MOESAN]

you are right and I just made some propositions without going farther
for intermediary phonetic forms, I'm not sure... perhaps?

for the word 'one' I don't know: the southern english pronounciation for a lot of germanic words with previous long 'E' /éé/ which gave long /éé/ too in netherlandish, "frisic" and scandinavian , but a lot of diphtongs or new monophtongd in german dialects: /ai/+/äi//èi//èè//ää//öö//oi//wa//aa//ââ/ -
english (southern) has a 'o' 'oa' spelling /oo//ëo//ëw/ pronounciation (approximative, I have no phonetic fonts)
as in 'stone' ('stein') / 'oak' ('eich') / 'broad' ('breit') / 'more' ('mehr') ... when scot english has 'stane', 'ake'/'aik' / 'braid' / 'mare' etc... we can figure out an evolution /éé/>>/èi/>>/ai/>>/aa/>>/oo/ ?
I know 'one' is pronounced /won//wën/ in place of expected /ëon//ëwn/or /oon/ but ?!? no french nor walloon pronounciation has /wo/ in 'un' but only /ö~/ or /o~???/ fémi. /ün//un/
just to bet too

[MOESAN]

for the number of adjectives compared by source, I believe that the most necessary (urgent) are germanic and that maybe the first pure anglo-saxon elite societies had more germanic adjectives but that in future high level language, for precise and specific meanings, the french and latin adjectives took the strong side upon the genuine anglo-saxon ones - almost in every language I know the low level language uses often periphrases or other idiomatic ways to express some uncommon meanings and that high level language tries ti do with the minimum of words andwith the most possible precise words - for more "ground" life meanings, the low level language can express things very quickly and directly, at the contrary - the competition between the two sources of language for english was not a "fair play one", speaking about social classes languages ?