Quote:
Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel
well that's a nice story, but it doesn't make it any less weird in english than in french !
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Quote:
Originally Posted by slayda
ZP,
FYI (which is a madeup word, actually an acronym) the Roomba, while entertaining, is not a very good cleaner. It actually works better on non-carpeted floors than on carpet.
As far as borrowing words, when I took German, I learned that German, English, and Russian borrowed the word "park" from the French "parc". Some words are more obviously borrowed but before learning this, I would have argued with anyone who told me that "park" was not a native English word.
Another favorite is the word for Library, which, in English, is derived from Latin. Every other language that I have a passing familarity with derived their word for Library from Greek, e.g. biblioteca (Spanish, Portuguese, & Italian), Bibliothek (German), bibliothèque (French) & библиотек (Russian).
Greek - βιβλιοθήκη
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I really can't think of any words that are "native" English. Unless you are talking about Gaelic and Celtic languages ... and even they were imported from somewhere else.
Most of the "English" language was Germanic before the Normal invasion. After that, Norman French became the language of the landed classes, while the Germanic "Old English" became the language of the lower classes.
Thus, while the word for the meat is French or French based (mutton or beef), the word for the animal is usually German based (as with sheep). The word for a regular house is German based (haus) while the word for an enormous house is French based (maison = mansion).
With most words in English you will either find a Germanic or French (and often Latin) base. Of course, some words from the French or a bit unusual because they came largely from the Normans, who were French, but French by way of Denmark .... erk??
