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How To Speak English

Just a little over one half of the words in the Oxford English Dictionary have their roots in other languages than Old English (which was derived largely from Western Germanic with a sprinkling of Norse words loaned to it by the Vikings). One might be tempted to say then that English w3as a Romance Language because moiré than half of its words derived from Latin and Greek through Old French. But English is not a Romance language because its syntax is wholly Germanic and Old English. It has been my conviction that our English is much stronger when we use the words derived from Old English and give4 the words derived from the French back to them except where we lost an English word. Let me illustrate with some English sentences that are all or nearly all
pure Old English:

“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills, we shall never surrender”

Only one word of Sir Winston Churchill’s speech above was not straight from pure Old English. Can you guess which one? The answer is “surrender” which is from an Old French root.

“With firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right…”

Abraham Lincoln’s words above are pure English except for ½ a word. “Firm” is from a Latin root.

“Oh say can you see by the dawns early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilights last gleaming?”

The only intruder from the French here is the word “proudly”.

“How do I love Thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the breadth and depth and height…”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning knew a good deal when she saw it and only used one word derived from French. Spot it?
Yup, it is the word “count”.

The following examples are pure Old English derivatives:

“With this ring I thee wed, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, in sickness and in health”
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…”
“Earth to earth, dust to dust, ashes to ashes…”
“Drop dead”.
“Up yours”
“I love you, darling”
“Thank God!”

“It is the old words handed down from the West Germanic of the North Sea coast that are the flesh and blood and bone and guts of English and its hide and hair as well”

These examples all came from Robert Claiborne’s great book Our Marvelous Native Tongue. I’ll add a couple of quotes below

I like the Anglo-Saxon speech
With its direct revealings.
It takes a hold and seems to reach
Way down to your feelings.
Eugene Field


“An Anglo-Saxon , Hinnisy, is a German that has forgot who was his parents”
Finley Peter Dunne

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Registered: Nov 2001
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I forgot to add that most profanity and emotional emphatics come naturally to our lips from OL English. You seldom hear an English-speaker say "Merde". The following are all Old English derivatives:

"Holy Shit!"
"Fuck you!"
"Knave!"

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oxsan


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quote:

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Originally posted by Mugtoe
The answer is “surrender” which is from an Old French root.

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For some reason I found that rather funny.

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We don't put verbs at the end like the Germans do, though.

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Over the fence to the cow some hay throw.

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quote:

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Originally posted by oxsan
Over the fence to the cow some hay throw.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Smug Git
We don't put verbs at the end like the Germans do, though.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Aydin
They do in Pennsylvania.

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Trust me, it is.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Mugtoe
Just a little over one half of the words in the Oxford English Dictionary have their roots in other languages than Old English

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quote:

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Originally posted by Smug Git
We don't put verbs at the end like the Germans do, though.

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I object!

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quote:

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They do in Pennsylvania

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