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Why German rocks!

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    #32
    mackerski
    Registered Users Posts: 2,278 ✭✭✭mackerski


    obl wrote:
    I HATE to go all etymologist on your asses, but close to 60% of all the words in English are derived from French, what with the Norman conquest in 1066 and all. Only very basic old stuff, or very new universally named things are mutual in German and English.
    For example, most of the German words for colours are similar to English, but alot of stuff that's more specific is of French origin.

    English does have a lot of influences from other languages (other than the Anglo-Saxon base, that is). Of those, some are also Germanic (Old Norse) while others are Latin, either direct from Latin or via French. But the language remains Germanic (think sentence structure, basic vocabulary and so on). The 60% figure seems a bit high to me, but may well be true due to the sheer number of equivalent terms that exist in English (one of the things that makes it such a rich and interesting languages).


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    #33
    Dean-16
    Registered Users Posts: 25 ✭Dean-16


    wont be a very easy paper though


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