Interesting, she called you a traitor because you have noble Polish ancestors and you're now a US citizen? Or was it something else?
Yes, I supposed to be a nacionalist...
I don't generalize, though. That lady cuold be just crazy and unique.
Simon,
Nope, the Anglo-Saxon part of English (that is maybe 50% of the core) reflects the original successful German invasion of England (the Angels and Saxons), the rest is latin and subsequent invaders (Norsk, Norman French) and Subjects (Welsh, Scottish, Irish and Indian).
What I found interesting when reading texts in antique English (e.g. John Dee) is their use of words that are not only clearly german but remain in active use in german but are deleted in english and equally, reading antique German (e.g. Chymisch Hochzeit of Chritian Rosenkreutz) I find words that remain in active use in english but have left the general use in German.
Even funnier, speaking to Indian (and Pakistani/Bangladeshi) people you often find rather odd and distinct turns of phrase and vocabulary, which it turns out is mostly Victorian and Edwardian English out of use in Britan now...
The BBC incidentally had an interesting TV series, Balderdash, which traced the origins of words in English and should be of interest to any that are so to speak lingusitically inclined.
I'll close by quoting James Davis Nicoll of Kitchener, Ontario:
"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse *****. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."
Ciao T
Nope, the Anglo-Saxon part of English (that is maybe 50% of the core) reflects the original successful German invasion of England (the Angels and Saxons), the rest is latin and subsequent invaders (Norsk, Norman French) and Subjects (Welsh, Scottish, Irish and Indian).
What I found interesting when reading texts in antique English (e.g. John Dee) is their use of words that are not only clearly german but remain in active use in german but are deleted in english and equally, reading antique German (e.g. Chymisch Hochzeit of Chritian Rosenkreutz) I find words that remain in active use in english but have left the general use in German.
Even funnier, speaking to Indian (and Pakistani/Bangladeshi) people you often find rather odd and distinct turns of phrase and vocabulary, which it turns out is mostly Victorian and Edwardian English out of use in Britan now...
The BBC incidentally had an interesting TV series, Balderdash, which traced the origins of words in English and should be of interest to any that are so to speak lingusitically inclined.
I'll close by quoting James Davis Nicoll of Kitchener, Ontario:
"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse *****. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."
Ciao T
When I lived in South Africa they claimed that their Afrikaans is more Dutch than real modern Dutch. And they claimed also that their Amstel beer is still original, while Eurpean Amstel is a "cat's pee"
Hi,
They may be right. I find Afrikaans much easier to understand than Dutch, though both derive from a low german dialect. And european Amstel is bad. As I never drunk cat-pee I am not able to comment on the comparison though.
Ciao T
When I lived in South Africa they claimed that their Afrikaans is more Dutch than real modern Dutch. And they claimed also that their Amstel beer is still original, while Eurpean Amstel is a "cat's pee"
They may be right. I find Afrikaans much easier to understand than Dutch, though both derive from a low german dialect. And european Amstel is bad. As I never drunk cat-pee I am not able to comment on the comparison though.
Ciao T
Real research eh? The story starts a bit further back in the past.
Indo-European languages - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Many still consider this “Indo-European Languages” subject, a made-up scenario.
It runs against the narrow minded assumption that my, your, his, her language is the root of all the other languages.
In any case, language was always a living, powerful and influential creature.
In good lexicons all over europe, one sees very often words in Latin, ancient Greek and Sanskrit bearing the same root as the modern word sited there. Next time you’ll open such a lexicon, mind the Sanskrit part.
George
He, he. Thus the frustration (fine sense of humour)
http://usa.usembassy.de/classroom/Mark%20Twain/Mark%20Twain%20Awful%20Broschuere.pdf
George
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Low German comes from the low lying areas of Germany and the Netherlands, and high German was spoken in the elevated regions. Just to be clear it has nothing to do with class or social status. As for Afrikaans: I think it is the youngest language in the world (other than some 'designer' languages of course) with simple fixed gramatical rules that are never broken makeing it easy to learn. Afrikaans is more related to the language now spoken in Flanders. Like Dutch, clearing your throat comes for free. LOL
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Hi,
This is correct. German actually several very distinct dialects, though so called High and Low German are the main ones.
Where I am from we speak one of the less common and less penetrable ones. Most Germans only understand "Railway" (like the carriages rushing past) when we speak our mountain dialect.
This dialect, incidentally gave the world such a lovely loanword as Dollar, from the German Thaler, from the valleys, when my folk used to make (literally) money by first striking silver coins of fixed weight and purity from locally mined silver ore.
In days of severely debased national coinage (though not as debased as in this day and age), which in turn gave rise to Gresham's law, soon became "pecuniae franca". At least up to the point when cheap imports of silver from south american via Spain collapsed the markets and the retribution of the Austrian Emperor following the defeat of the Winter king laid waste to the land...
Equally distinct are the costal dialects (from which the Dutch dialects and in part English is derived). They are almost as hard to understand for ordinary Germans, I learned them DJ'ing and living in summer on north sea Islands closer to Holland than to Germany...
The southern German, due to strong central governments of the Roman Empire (Austria, Saxony etc.) became fairly standardised early on and became over time the "proper german" by default, due to the lack of standardisation of northern (low) dialects, so "high german" is now "official" german.
Ciao T
This is correct. German actually several very distinct dialects, though so called High and Low German are the main ones.
Where I am from we speak one of the less common and less penetrable ones. Most Germans only understand "Railway" (like the carriages rushing past) when we speak our mountain dialect.
This dialect, incidentally gave the world such a lovely loanword as Dollar, from the German Thaler, from the valleys, when my folk used to make (literally) money by first striking silver coins of fixed weight and purity from locally mined silver ore.
In days of severely debased national coinage (though not as debased as in this day and age), which in turn gave rise to Gresham's law, soon became "pecuniae franca". At least up to the point when cheap imports of silver from south american via Spain collapsed the markets and the retribution of the Austrian Emperor following the defeat of the Winter king laid waste to the land...
Equally distinct are the costal dialects (from which the Dutch dialects and in part English is derived). They are almost as hard to understand for ordinary Germans, I learned them DJ'ing and living in summer on north sea Islands closer to Holland than to Germany...
The southern German, due to strong central governments of the Roman Empire (Austria, Saxony etc.) became fairly standardised early on and became over time the "proper german" by default, due to the lack of standardisation of northern (low) dialects, so "high german" is now "official" german.
Ciao T
When I lived in South Africa they claimed that their Afrikaans is more Dutch than real modern Dutch. And they claimed also that their Amstel beer is still original, while Eurpean Amstel is a "cat's pee"
This is not true, you might have been talking to one that did have too many Amstels
. In some churches the old dutch bible is still used which is quite different to afrikaans but practically the same as modern Dutch.The second part is right though, as mentioned thats the reason for the blabbering of nonsense which often happens there, they love their beers in litres.
BTW Im South African.
This is not true, you might have been talking to one that did have too many Amstels
The second part is right though, as mentioned thats the reason for the blabbering of nonsense which often happens there, they love their beers in litres.
BTW Im South African.
Ja, me too, but I left many years ago! Still go back every few years for recalibration. ;-)
Similarly, Rubl (рубль) maens "cutted peace", i.e. a peace of gold that had been cut from a golden sousage.
The world had always beedn comon place for people, and they borrowed words from each other in order to name something new, or special. Like Computer, Transistor, Triod, Resistor, this words were borrowed by many languages and now are part of them.
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