Linguistics

Originally posted by Epona: Oxford English - phonetic Yorkshire - Scandanavian (mostly Danish) -------------------------------------------- Manure - mock - mog

Cool Post Epona, but I'm going to nit Pick [img]tongue.gif[/img] (yorkshireman's priviledge )

but Muck -> mock

also check out this old song title for some more Yorkshire words

http://www.ilkley.org/iguide/baht.htm

its got a translation for you foreign sorts [img]tongue.gif[/img] (those from Lancashire and else where )

[ 02-14-2003, 09:48 AM: Message edited by: Sir_Tainly ]

[Attalus]

Excellent thread. Yes, English is the great "borrower" language. There are even some words with Yiddish origins. schlep, schmuck. I think I read somewhere that English has more words than any other language in the world. *Looks ruefully at his Oxford English Dictionary*

[Blade]

i beleve the reason for all the words that have simular meanings is so we can utterly confuse ourselfs with different dilects, heck the north, south, east, west, and centeral US all have different dilects using a slightly different set of English words. Did you know for instence that some highschools and collages take British english as an exceptable forign language? [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Epona]

Originally posted by Sir_Tainly: Cool Post Epona, but I'm going to nit Pick [img]tongue.gif[/img] (yorkshireman's priviledge ) but Muck -> mock also check out this old song title for some more Yorkshire words http://www.ilkley.org/iguide/baht.htm its got a translation for you foreign sorts [img]tongue.gif[/img] (those from Lancashire and else where )

Good grief Simon, I should have known you'd pop up to point out some problem with my post! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

And as a double-whammy I now have that song running rampant through my brain! Cheers mate! [img]graemlins/saywhat.gif[/img]

Originally posted by Epona: Quote: Originally posted by Sir_Tainly: Cool Post Epona, but I'm going to nit Pick [img]tongue.gif[/img] (yorkshireman's priviledge ) but Muck -> mock also check out this old song title for some more Yorkshire words http://www.ilkley.org/iguide/baht.htm its got a translation for you foreign sorts [img]tongue.gif[/img] (those from Lancashire and else where )

Good grief Simon, I should have known you'd pop up to point out some problem with my post! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

And as a double-whammy I now have that song running rampant through my brain! Cheers mate! [img]graemlins/saywhat.gif[/img] [/QUOTE]I just popped to prove I was still alive

[LowTech]

Originally posted by Masklinn: And in the text above I found these comparisons : in / en / en to conquer / conquérir / conquistar duke / duc / duque north / nord / norte language / langage / lenguaje court / cour / corte polite / poli society / société / sociedad during / durant / durante period / periode / periodo linguist / linguiste / lingüista to estimate / estimer / estimar percent / pourcent / por ciento common / commun / común vocabulary / vocabulaire / vocabulario These 2 languages indeed have a lot in common [img]smile.gif[/img]

... and with other languages coming from Latin

[Timber Loftis]

Originally posted by Masklinn: I found this explanation here : "In 1066 England was conquered by William, duke of Normandy, which is in northern France. For several hundred years after the Norman invasion, French was the language of court and polite society in England. It was during this period that many French words were borrowed into English. Linguists estimate that some 60 percent of our common everyday vocabulary today comes from French." This explains why Moiraine [img]smile.gif[/img]

Exacta-Mundo! English's Germanic roots dictate its structure and much of its vocabulary. Then you have the 1066 stuff. Let's not forget that on top of the 60% French influence, other romance languages (i.e. derived from Latin) have many words which have made their way into the language. Oh, and being the courtly language, French dictated the legal language as well - that which was not directly latin (res ipsa loquiter, stare decisis, ipso facto, etc.).

This "bastardization" leaves English with *by far* the greatest number of words of any language. It's so huge that idiosyncracies within words have developed to allow an individual word to have a meaning that may take a combination of words in another language. You mention "freedom" and "liberty," which are similar but not the same of course. Some examples are really minute - try to get someone to explain the difference between careering and careening some day.

[edit] And don't even get me started on how the different language influences have left English-speakers and writers a bit schizophrenic about the use of passive and active voice in the language, as well as other forms of noun-object displacement, often resulting in contorting sentences that could be made simpler. If anyone is interested in this junk, I'm happy to direct you to a few good technical writing texts.

[ 02-17-2003, 04:17 PM: Message edited by: Timber Loftis ]