![]() English naturally evolved, much like any language evolves, when humans move from one part of the world to another. For example, the word “beef” comes from the French “boeuf.” (This seems to indicate actor Shia LeBeouf’s name ALMOST means “Shia the Beef.” Think about that one!) English Blended German and French Roots to Form a New Language Even with powerful French influences, English retained the syntax and grammar from its Germanic ancestry. After the Norman conquest of English, the English speakers who lived there added a lot of French words to their vocabulary. ![]() He hailed from Normandy, a region in northwest France that gained notoriety as the site of the D-Day invasion during World War II on June 6, 1944. Why are there so many French words in English? French was King William’s native language. Why are there so many French words in English? English vocabulary comprises 29% French, 29% Latin, 26% Germanic, and 6% Greek. King William’s language then proliferated throughout England, and the English language evolved further. William became King William I of England. The Norman conquest of England happened in 1066 when Duke William of Normandy defeated King Harold at the Battle of Hastings on Oct. Old English was born, and Anglo-Saxon words and vocabulary heavily influenced it. Their language dominated the linguistic landscape after that. It’s Also About Human Migration & Conquest Migrants from northwest Germany, southern Denmark, and The Netherlands settled in Great Britain from the 600s to the 800s. Our qualified interpreters and translators will provide accurate communication, including proper syntax and grammar. It’s the adjectives that make the difference in word order here. “El niño corre a la casa.” So in this respect, English and Romance languages are the same. For instance, “The boy runs to the house.” (Boy is the subject, runs is the verb, and house is the object.) In German the phrase is “Der junge rennt zum haus.” Spanish and other Romance languages follow the same pattern. English follows a simple grammatical pattern for its sentence structure. ![]() Germans say “rotes auto” for the same phrase. ![]() For example, English-speakers say “the red car,” but in Spanish the phrase could be “el auto rojo” (or, “the car red”). Romance languages follow the opposite pattern. Adjectives and adverbs come before nouns in a sentence. Related Post: Akorbi Explains How Romance Languages Dominated the West It’s About Syntax and Grammar The easy answer is that English and German follow very similar syntax (word order) and grammar. Akorbi answers the question, “Why is English a Germanic language?” in today’s blog. English is directly related to German? But what about all of the words that originate from Latin, French, and Greek? Doesn’t that mean English is a Romance language? Not quite. As such, English is known as a Germanic language to linguists who study the origins and evolution of language. Linguists trace the origins of English as a language to the 5th and 7th centuries (600 to 800) in what is now northwest Germany. ![]()
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