INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES
From _Origins of the English Language_, Joseph Williams (pp. 41-91)
Cognates:
Indo European Non Indo-European
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English: snow Hungarian: ho IE covers an area from Ireland
German: schnee Finnish: lumi through EU to N. India with the
Latin: nivis Turkish: kar exception of Hungary, Finland,
Greek: nipha Arabic: galid Turkey, Basque, Arabia.
Sanskrit: snehas Japanese: yuki Other major groups: Semitic-Hamitic
Russian: snyek Chinese: hsueh Bantu
Some of the oldest English Words: Amerid
wif(wife) fod(food) god(good) stan(stone) brodor(brother)
winter(winter) sittan(sit) slepan(sleep) win(wine) hand(hand)
weather(water) (What might this say about the society?)
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Centum-Satem Split:
Indo-European Split -> Western European (west of 20 E)
original "k" sound changed to "sh" and "s" in the east:
IE hundred *kmtom became satam in Sanskrit (India) *= recreated
Cant in Celtic (W. Eu)
Western Branch split into Hellenic (Greek), Romance(Fr/Sp etc.) and Germanic.
Eastern Branch split into Slavic, Indo-Iranian, Baltic
Words that appear only in the West IE: corn, grain, mow, sea, fish, elm
(What does this tell us about the peoples in the West?)
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Germanic: North(Swedish/Nor/Danish) West(English,Dutch, German,Yiddish)
Words found only in Germanic: brew, weath, gold, lead, tin, earl, king, write
north, south, east, west, ship, steer (cognates don't appear in
non-Germanic languages) (What might this tell us?)
Grimm's Law: dentis tooth d -> t
padre father p -> f
cent hundred c -> h
genus kin g -> k
piscis fish p -> f
labia lip b -> p
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Pre-Roman: Celtic
Germanic-Roman contact: (45 B.C. - 449 A.D.) [Latin - OE - Mod. Eng.]
calcem-cealc-chalk cippa-cuppe-cup
caseus-cese-cheese pisum-pisa-pea
About 170 words were borrowed during this time period
Anglo-Saxon invasion: ( start 449 A.D.)
Some Celtic words that have survived:
Irish: shamrock, blarney, banshee + 40 other words.
Scotish: clan, bog, slogan, wiskey + 30 others
Welsh: crag, gull, penguin + 10 others
(Note the loss of Celtic)
Her aethelstan cyning, / eorla drithen
beorna beahgifa, / and his brothor eac,
Eadmund aetheling, / earldorlangne tir
("Battle of Brunanburg", 937 A.D.)
(notice the alliteration, the repeating of sounds rather than rhyme)
Danish influx: (815 A.D.)
Mostly along the East coast of England: Danelaw
Danish words: (many begin with sk/sc sound: 30+ words)
skirt, sky, steak,scab, egg, get, give, they their, them, both, same
Norman Conquest: (1066 A.D.)
OE: calf Norman: veal
cow beef
boar brawn
swine pork
deer venison
chicken poultry
sheep mutton
Notice that in English we frequently have several words for the same
object with different levels of usage.
83% of the 1000 most frequently used English words are Anglo-Saxon.
11% Norman French
In the next several thousand most frequently used words, the ratio of
English to French is 34% to 46%.
In 1325 AD, we have the following:
In English tonge I schal sow telle,
sif se wyth me so longe wil dwelle.
No Latyn wil I speke no waste, u was spelt v
But English that men vse mast,
That can eche man vnderstande,
That is born in Ingelande;
("Speculum Vitea")
Notice that by 1300, English is close enough that we can understand
much of it. Notice also in this work that lack of Norman-French.
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Some borrowed words (16th-19th century)
Italian million, stucco, vendetta, prima donna
Spanish negro, plaza, silo, cafeteria, boss, dope
German lobby, plunder, saber, semester, bum, fankfurter
Slavic czar, steppe, tundra, vodka
pogram, soviet, robot, babushka
Arabic: admiral, cotton, mattress, algebra, zenith, lemon, cipher, sofa, zero
candy, safari, genie, jar, syrup, assassin
Hebrew: amen, hemp, manna, stan, rabbi, kibbutz, babel
Persian: tiger, paradise, scarlet, shess, azure, bazaar, shawl, spinach
Turkic: horde, tulip, vampire, turban, coffee
India: pepper, ginger, sandal, pundit, cot, jungle, sari, juggernaut, jute
Chinese: silk, tea, ketchup, kowtow
Japanese:tycoon, hari-kari, zen, judo, karate
Polynesian: bamboo, junk, launch, caddy, amok