Foreign-language influences in English
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The English language descends from Old English, the West Germanic language of the Anglo-Saxons. Most of its grammar, its core vocabulary and the most common words are Germanic.[1] Around 70 percent of words in any text[clarification needed] derive from Old English, even if the words have a greater Romance influence.[2][verification needed][need quotation to verify]
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
The influence of other languages on English is mostly through loanwords. [not verified in body][3][full citation needed] English borrowed many words from Old Norse, the North Germanic language of the Vikings, and later from Norman French, the Romance language of the Normans, which descends from Latin.[not verified in body] Estimates of native words derived from Old English range up to 33%,[4] with the rest made up of outside borrowings.[not verified in body] These are mostly from Norman/French,[not verified in body] but many others were later borrowed directly from Latin or Greek.[not verified in body] Some of the Romance words borrowed into English were themselves loanwords from other languages, such as the Germanic Frankish language.[not verified in body]
While some new words enter English as slang, most do not.[not verified in body] Some words are adopted from other languages; some are mixtures of existing words (portmanteau words), and some are new creations made of roots from dead languages.[not verified in body]