"Carl's Lounge" (Off-Topic Discussion, Traditional Knife "Tales & Vignettes")

Jolipapa said:
Never forget that without them you'd still speak...
Oh! sh...!!! You DO speak English ! 🤣
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It's interesting to look at old english (pre Norman conquest) and see how similar it is to German. If I am not mistaken, it was only after the Norman conquest that French words became a large part of English vocabulary.
 
lambertiana said:
It's interesting to look at old english (pre Norman conquest) and see how similar it is to German. If I am not mistaken, it was only after the Norman conquest that French words became a large part of English vocabulary.
Click to expand...

The original English circa 1000 BC, would have been Gaelic.
The Romans came in 43AD. And added Latin.
Then came the Anglo-Saxon invasions in about 500 AD - That added German.
Then the Vikings raided and established themselves in about 900AD and added Nordic words.
The Normans came in 1066 - And for some 200 years, French was the official language of the English court and most of the aristocracy.

That left the preceding mixture of Gaelic, German, and Norse as a something spoken only by commoners. It's why English lacks some of the tenses and grammatical complexities of other languages.

So "English" is a polyglot of Gaelic, Latin, Norse, German, and French.

Many moons ago, one of my high school English teachers ran us through that progression. (I admit to having had to Google up the dates.)
 
knarfeng said:
The original English circa 1000 BC, would have been Gaelic.
The Romans came in 43AD. And added Latin.
Then came the Anglo-Saxon invasions in about 500 AD - That added German.
Then the Vikings raided and established themselves in about 900AD and added Nordic words.
The Normans came in 1066 - And for some 200 years, French was the official language of the English court and most of the aristocracy.

That left the preceding mixture of Gaelic, German, and Norse as a something spoken only by commoners. It's why English lacks some of the tenses and grammatical complexities of other languages.

So "English" is a polyglot of Gaelic, Latin, Norse, German, and French.

Many moons ago, one of my high school English teachers ran us through that progression. (I admit to having had to Google up the dates.)
Click to expand...

I have a copy of Beowulf that includes the original text along with a pronunciation guide. And for a surprising number of words, once you pronounce the words, the correlation between that and modern German is striking.
 
Beowulf was written some time between 700 and 1066. (The date varies depending on the authority being cited. ) So the Anglo-Saxon influence would have been strong.
 
knarfeng said:
The original English circa 1000 BC, would have been Gaelic.
The Romans came in 43AD. And added Latin.
Then came the Anglo-Saxon invasions in about 500 AD - That added German.
Then the Vikings raided and established themselves in about 900AD and added Nordic words.
The Normans came in 1066 - And for some 200 years, French was the official language of the English court and most of the aristocracy.

That left the preceding mixture of Gaelic, German, and Norse as a something spoken only by commoners. It's why English lacks some of the tenses and grammatical complexities of other languages.

So "English" is a polyglot of Gaelic, Latin, Norse, German, and French.

Many moons ago, one of my high school English teachers ran us through that progression. (I admit to having had to Google up the dates.)
Click to expand...
Around 1000 BC, there existed a Celtic language which gave rise to two distinct types of languages: Gaelic and Brittonic. The date when these languages diverged is unknown, but it occurred before 600, the date of the first known written texts.

The Brittonic language family itself split into two groups: Western Brittonic, Welsh and Cambrian (now extinct), and Southwestern Brittonic, Breton and Cornish (also extinct).

The massive arrival of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes in the 5th century caused an exodus of Brittonic speakers to Armorica (present-day Brittany, annexed by France in 1532), Galicia (Spain), and Leinster (Ireland). Brittonic was also spoken in southern Scotland, northern and western England, and on the Isle of Man for several centuries before disappearing.

While Welsh is still spoken, Breton is disappearing under the tireless efforts of the French state for a century.

Dan.
 
I had a cassette tape of Chaucers Canterbury Tales read in Middle English.....it sounds like a French Scotsman .....the language is quite foreign sounding and not much like English today....And Yet ...parts from The Millers Tale are easily understood....the guy sranding near the fire farts causing an explosion in the fireplace....hilarious 1400s humour...
 
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