Language discussion thread

[Eshnar]

Re:

Can somebody explain the origins of english language?

Maybe a more specific question would do

 

[hrotha]

Short version though:
Originally an amalgamation of West Germanic dialects from Lower Saxony, Frisia, Schleswig and Holstein (closest continental relatives: Frisian, then Dutch and Low German, then High German), sprinkled first with not insignificant Norse influence (9th-11th centuries mostly), then subject to major French influence (first Norman, mostly from northern variants; but subsequently also standard French) which had a big impact on its spelling and vocabulary, and which also put it in a position to take much of its specialized vocabulary directly from Latin later on, despite which, and contrary to what pop culture would make you believe, it remains very much Germanic.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Thank you. my questions to hrotha or Ls are never specific but they are always kind enough to understand and answer.

 

[etymology]

Re:

Can somebody explain the origins of english language?

i am a born/raised/lives in northeaset united states american english language speaker. as my user name indicates, there is a distinct possibility i may have a wee bit more than a passing interest in the origins of the language i speak - or at least the origins and evolution of definitions/usage of its words.

hrotha's answer to your question is the best i have ever read. he's not kidding when writes "short, though."

in my opinion, the best (and as a bonus, highly entertaining!) long answer is bill bryson's book "the mother tongue: english and how it got that way." i recommend this book to all fellow and fellowette english language dweebs i meet.

my favorite quote from this book is:

“To be fair, English is full of booby traps for the unwary foreigner. Any language where the unassuming word fly signifies an annoying insect, a means of travel, and a critical part of a gentleman’s apparel is clearly asking to be mangled.”

full disclosure: when visiting some of the regions of the country far away from my native northeast, *i* have been the "unwary foreigner" attempting to decipher the american english in those regions! i occasionally dream of being tri-lingual. oh, to be fluent in american, british, and australian english!

 

[RedheadDane]

Interesting article about the Old Norse words that invaded English.

https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/139-norse-words

Look at all those wonderfully violent words!
Oh yeah, and cake!

 

[sniper]

David Crystal's "Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language" (1st ed. from 1995 I think) is also recommendable.
nicely straddles the border between scientific and popular.

 

[42x16ss]

Re:

Can somebody explain the origins of english language?

Short version - take West Germanic dialects from the Middle Ages, add a slight Norse/Saxon influence, then smash it up with a good lashing of Latin from Roman times.

 

[hrotha]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s32_ueBvkc

I only understand a few words here and there, but damn, Finnish is so gorgeous.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I think everybody who studies linguistics has at some point had some kind of fascination with Finno-Ugric languages.

 

[aphronesis]

Yes, but never any pressing need or time to take them on fully.

 

[sniper]

"What sad news! Get well soon, my bro, love you"

That's literally what *German* player Lukas Poloski twittered to his *German* team colleague Antonio Rudiger who had to cancel his participation in the Euros due to some injury.

Slightly underwelming, Jerome Boateng twittered
"Gute Besserung, Bro"
Weak stuff, Jerome, you can do better.

Schweinsteiger? Seems he really doesn't know any English whatsoever:
"Eine ganz bittere Nachricht. Gute Besserung und komm schnell zurück!"
he twittered. That's full German. Loser.

 

[hrotha]

So I passed my Finnish entrance exam, which means I'll be learning it again after like 10 years. This is as good an excuse as any to top this thread.

 

[aphronesis]

cool

 

[RedheadDane]

Errr... this might come across as really stupid from someone who claims to be good at English, but I keep getting confused about this:

Choose is present. Chose is past.
Right...?

 

[King Boonen]

Re:

Errr... this might come across as really stupid from someone who claims to be good at English, but I keep getting confused about this:

Choose is present. Chose is past.
Right...?

Yep.

 

[Netserk]

Re:

So I passed my Finnish entrance exam, which means I'll be learning it again after like 10 years. This is as good an excuse as any to top this thread.

Finland?! You just had to choose somewhere with an especially difficult language? I guess Iceland was your secondary pick then?

Good luck come winter

 

[BullsFan22]

Re: Re:

So I passed my Finnish entrance exam, which means I'll be learning it again after like 10 years. This is as good an excuse as any to top this thread.

Finland?! You just had to choose somewhere with an especially difficult language? I guess Iceland was your secondary pick then?

Good luck come winter

Finnish is similar to Hungarian. I'd say Hungarian would be a good secondary pick!

 

[hrotha]

I'm not actually moving to Finland, although I wish I was
I'll be attending an official Finnish language school here in Madrid.

(As a matter of fact, Icelandic WOULD have been my second choice. Am I that predictable?)

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

So I passed my Finnish entrance exam, which means I'll be learning it again after like 10 years. This is as good an excuse as any to top this thread.

Finland?! You just had to choose somewhere with an especially difficult language? I guess Iceland was your secondary pick then?

Good luck come winter

Finnish is similar to Hungarian. I'd say Hungarian would be a good secondary pick!

Isn't Estonian also similar to Hungarian ?

 

[hrotha]

Estonian and Finnish are quite similar, but while they're both related to Hungarian they are only distant relatives. Like, say, Portuguese and Norwegian.

Hungarian and Finnish language enthusiasts throw a little party whenever they come across recognizable cognates that aren't modern loans.

 

[BigMac]

Re:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s32_ueBvkc

I only understand a few words here and there, but damn, Finnish is so gorgeous.

I also understood one bit.



''Like a boss''

 

[RedheadDane]

I know one word in Finnish: Kahvi = Coffee.
Mainly know it from reading a comic book in which one of the characters is named Kahvi, we frequently joke about it.

I also know how to say "yes" in Hungarian. I'm not going to, though, coz I wouldn't know what people asked me.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

You haven't picked up sauna or kiitos? Also the -läinen suffixes are fairly easy to pick up, I found.

In Iceland I could at least recognize some cognates from to help me get by.

 

[RedheadDane]

Well, sauna means sauna. Dunno what a kiitos is, but it sounds like a kind of food.

 

[Kafviar]

Re:

Well, sauna means sauna. Dunno what a kiitos is, but it sounds like a kind of food.

Kiitos is simply thanks. The only finnish I've been able to pick up.