[SOC] Englisch

[Chris Redding]

Yes, Old English and Saxon were practically the same language. English as we
now speak it has imported a lot of French and some Latin words, but
incorporates them into the existing Saxon sentence structure.
In many ways the 'father' or maybe 'saviour' of our language was Alfred the
Great, King of Mercia, who commissioned a bible translation into the
'English' of the day. At the time, English was 'on the ropes', regarded as
almost the language of the gutter (learned people spoke in Latin or early
French) and was in danger of dying out.
After learning something of Modern German, I think of English as 'improved
German' (although I think that maybe 'evolved' would be a better word). We
have kept most of the perfectly good Germanic words, but where a better,
more expressive or more accurate French or Latin term was found, this was
taken into the language at the expense of the old German term.
The Americans have continued this process with new words and
simplifications, so successfully that some American terms such as
'rain-check', 'RV', 'whole new ball game', etc are being back-imported (via
television) into the 'core' 'English English'.
We will pinch a good word from anybody - we're not fussy!.
Has the term 'gobsmacked' (astonished) crossed the pond yet?...I really
think it should :-)

Chris G4PDJ



Yes!  Before the Norman Conquest in 1066 AD, a kind of German was spoken in
England.  I've seen samples, and it was not greatly different from modern
German; I can jump right into it.  After the Conquest, Englisch became about
40% French.

Tsch��/Cheers
Richard Brunner, AA1P

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