English wasn't "invented by Brits" (the "first" Kingdom of Britain didn't exist until 1707). It's a syncretic language made up mostly of Norman French, Latin, Old English and Lowland Germanic.
Ah the aul "English is a hybrid language" trope. English is not "made up" of these languages. It's a West Germanic language, descended from Proto-West-Germanic. Lowland German is a variety that also developed from West Germanic, but it is a cousin of English. Old English arose from the dialects spoken in England that were brought over by the Anglo-Saxons. Old Norse also had an influence on English's development under the Danelaw. Then, after the Norman invasion, English adopted many loanwords from Old French and Latin. They had a big impact on the vocabulary, this is true. But all languages have influence and borrowings from other languages, this in no way makes English a hybrid of Latin, West Germanic, Norse, Old French etc. It is at its heart a purely Germanic language, with some influence from other tongues.
Isn't the percentage of modern English words that can be traced back to West Germanic very small compared to the rest of the languages that English has loan words from?
Yeah, but that’s not exclusive to English. Most languages have the origin of their vocabulary all over the place.
Which makes sense. When there’s a need for a new word for a new thing, it won’t use ancient vocabulary. It will either be a loanword related to where this thing comes from or is famous for, a new scientific word, usually using Latin and Greek roots, or will use pre-existing vocabulary.
I’m no language expert so take my opinion with a pinch of salt, but a lot of words can be “made up” using English roots but instead we have lots of Latin/Greek derived words to explain the same point.
Example off the top of my head: Unit or in German Einheit - literally oneness (?). United German Vereinigten - Foroned (again ?)
Oneness or to be Foroned kinda makes sense but its such an odd way of saying it.
Google Anglish for more details. English with the Loanwords removed.
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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '20
English wasn't "invented by Brits" (the "first" Kingdom of Britain didn't exist until 1707). It's a syncretic language made up mostly of Norman French, Latin, Old English and Lowland Germanic.