English Language "autopsy” ! A meticulous examination..

The English "autopsy”. A dissection of a random text ..."The skeleton and the body (the flesh)"

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I agree with the fact that Common English or basic English, is more Saxon than Romance ...But that is very subjective.. The more intellectual and educated you are - the more your English is Latin based...The English spoken in many universities, politic and academic environments is 50-70% Latin based.

Well, I really enjoyed this analysis of a moderate intellectual terminology, (but not academic) used in the following text...

I just selected a random "body-text" written by Travis...
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Post-mortem (7:25:PM) 30/08/05

1. Latin words identified and Isolated in (Parenthesis)


>>JGreco, the (main) thing (one) must (remember) is that (language taxonomy) is (based) on what (languages) (are) (descended) from, (not) what (languages) may (superficially) (seem) like, (as) the (superficial characteristics) of a (language) fall under (language typology) rather than (taxonomy). With (regards to taxonomy), English and, say, Icelandic (are) far (closer) than, say, English and Mandarin, which (are) (completely unrelated), even though (typologically modern) English is (in) (many) (ways) (more) like Mandarin than Icelandic. Likewise, (as) (much) (as) English has taken on (large quantities) of (Romance) loans, that makes (it) (no) (more) a (Romance language simply) (because )English is (descended) from (Common Germanic) (rather) than from (Vulgar Latin)<<


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2. (7:35:PM) 30/08/05. The Saxon words extraction...


The… thing…must…. is that … is … on what … …from, … what … may … like, … the … of … fall under … rather than … With … English and, say, Icelandic far … than, say, English and Mandarin, which … even though ... English is … ways … like than Icelandic. Likewise… English has taken on … of …loans, that makes … a … English is …from … than from…
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3. (7:43:PM) 30/08/05. Latin words extraction

one… remember…language taxonomy… based…languages are descended, not…languages…superficially…seem, as…superficial characteristics…language…language typology…taxonomy. regards taxonomy are closer are…completely unrelated, typologically modern…in…many…more…as…much as…large quantities… Romance, no more Romance… language simply because …descended…Common Germanic rather …Vulgar Latin.

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4. Latin Dissection (7:57:PM) 30/08/05. The Latin etymology of words from the selected text are (French, Latin, other neo-Latin.etc)

It-id, ille
Ways-vias
one-un
Remember- rappeler, rammentare
Language-langage
Taxonomy- taxonomie
Based-baser
are - être
descended,- descendre
not- non
superficially- superficiellement
seem- sembler
as- aussi
superficial - superficiel
characteristics- caractéristique
typology- typologie
regards -regard
completely- complètement
unrelated, un-relater
modern-modern
in-in
more-maggior, mas
many- multi …
much-mucho
large - magnus, larg
quantities… -quantité
Romance-Romance
Simply-simplum
because - à cause de
Common- commun
Germanic-Germanic
rather –quelque, poter
Vulgar –Vulgar
Latin-Latin


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5. Anglo Saxon dissection (8:07:PM) 30/08/05 Anglo-Saxon origin or other…


The
thing…
must….
that
what
from,
may …
like,
of
fall
under
With …
English
Icelandic
and,
say,
than,
which …
even
though
like
than
Likewise…
has
taken
on
loans,
makes


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6. (8:15:PM) 30/08/05. Autopsy terminated-the body incinerated...


7. Sample Report: A hybrid specimen, a mutant species of an Indo-European language, 63% Latin, 24% Saxon, and 13% of other genes detected....MARGIN ERROR 7%

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You can easily observe the Saxon skeleton of English… Latin is the body, (the flesh) of English. And the richness of Latin words are shaping and contouring the Beauty of English language, its sound is softer and more melodic than any other harsh or guttural Germanic language...

Romanian, That was a great observation! Though a few errors...

=>one-un <=
Is descended from "een" or "eins" well anyway it has Germanic roots ;)

=>more-maggior, mas <=
Descended from "Mehr" or "meer" (germanic)

=>are - être <=
Descended from "är" (Scandanavian thus Germanic)

=>Germanic-Germanic <=
The "ic" ending is latin, but the word is derived from Germanen or Germanisch ;)

=>not- non <=
From Germanic "niet" or "nicht"

=>as- aussi <=
(aussi = as well isnt it?) 'as'comes from Germanic "als"

Sorry Sender I have stated ...

MY MARGIN ERROR 7%

Cheers mate!

=>its sound is softer and more melodic than any other harsh or guttural Germanic language... <=

Again I agree! :)

I sometime get the feeling that some English people are afraid or ashamed for the latin influence in their language.As if isn't cool or not masculine or even gay...

But like Kirk mentioned before the English do say "giving milk to cats" in their "houses" ,more often than "providing lactose substances to felines" in their "domiciles". ;)


I held a similar test,a while ago the objective was to Germanisize this sentence:

"The entire army on the continent was in a fase of fatigue. "

After many atempts of many people, my conclusion was that in most cases when you Germanisize Latin words in English,they tend to sound 'simple' and stupid.Many of the posted ideas had Latin words in them the final result was this:

"The whole blob of fighters on the big land thingy was feeling tired"

And "tired" isn't Germanic.So in many cases it's impossible.

<<But like Kirk mentioned before the English do say "giving milk to cats" in their "houses" ,more often than "providing lactose substances to felines" in their "domiciles". ;) >>

Yes I agree…But I am curious to isolate and examine the percentage of English words( from Latin origin),for instance ... from a Business meeting/dispute (conversation ).

…Rather than milking a cat or a cow…

That's why I always say that Romance speakers have an advantage on the vocabulary.

<<That's why I always say that Romance speakers have an advantage on the vocabulary>>

Yes


As a native Romance speaker, if you’re learning English, you can skip the entry level to some extent, after learning the basic grammar and jump straight to the top where the English is more Latin…The paradoxical situation I dealt with was:

My English was better in academic, scientific and “posh” conversation, rather than speaking casual English…

The main disadvantage for a Romance native speaker is “the feel of language” when learning English. I can feel the words but I don’t feel the grammar! I guess for you is the other way around…

The most unfortunate group from the European family are the Slavic speakers, they don’t feel the English grammar…neither the words! :-(

" As if isn't cool or not masculine or even gay... "

What does latin languages have of "gay" ? Is it commun for germanic languages speakers to have the feeling that the latin languages "sound feminine or "gay"" ?
I never find any language more feminin than another

The concept of how 'feminin or masculine' a language sounds is purely nonsens,and totally not objective.

Here's some other words that are likely Germanic from that example above:

it : cognate with West Frisian "hit", Dutch "het", Low Saxon "it" or "et" (replaced in many dialects by "dat", though), and German "es"
way(s) : cognate with Dutch "weg" and German "Weg"
many : cognate with Low Saxon "mennig" and Dutch "menig"
in : cognate with, well, Dutch, Low Saxon, and German "in"
much : possibly cognate with Danish "megen"/"meget" and Swedish "mycket" (this makes more sense when you consider "ch" in many native English words is descended from historical Germanic /k/, and that Danish has voiced many consonants that are unvoiced in the other Germanic languages)
rather : well, I can't think of any cognates offhand for this one, but the word-form just looks suspiciously un-Latinate to me, unless it somehow is a Greek loan directly into English or one that entered English via Latin

One clue for when looking for Germanic cognates of English words is to not just look at Dutch, Low Saxon, and German, but *also* look at the North Germanic languages; I at least have found that often the North Germanic languages have cognates with English words which some or all of the other West Germanic languages lack. And even if other West Germanic languages due have cognates with certain English words, that does *not* mean that (High) German will have cognates, or at least obvious ones, so don't overlook Dutch, Low Saxon, and the Frisian languages here.

" As if isn't cool or not masculine or even gay... "

What does latin languages have of "gay" ? Is it commun for germanic languages speakers to have the feeling that the latin languages "sound feminine or "gay"" ?
I never find any language more feminin than another >


Hahahaha how funny
For me germanic languages sounds all like crap (very harsh)

=> Is it common for germanic languages speakers to have the feeling that the latin languages "sound feminine or "gay"<=

Well,we ,the men, are just jealous because let's be honest..

"Facciamo l'amore" does sound better than "fuck me" :-)

Hey, sorry for being picky, English is dead so how can it be an "autopsy"?

Niet is also Russian for "no".

And yes, slavic languages are very different to English. A few years ago I took a Serbian class for fun and conversely a class of 15 became a class of 3 within a month because the students couldn't adapt to the Slavic tongue/grammar.

Excelent job “Romanian”. Are you a doctor in languages? LOL

Well, someone said…”I speak Latin to God, Italian to the women, French to the men, and German to my horse…”

I think you Anglo-Saxo-phones are very insecur with your felings, and very homophobic. Latin Languages are beautifull and you ridicule us because we sound more musical, sensitive and passionate in speech…When we speak Italian in a foreign country, women around us sudenly stop speaking their language, and they listen to us speaking Italian. And dream about “"Facciamo l'amore"LOL

Harsh is good and sensitive is Gay! If thats what Anglo-saxon men think, God have mercy with your women.

I wouldn't say that any language is more or less "sensitive", "beautiful", etc. than the other. Being familiar with various literature in several languages, I can say that English or German poems can be as delicate as those written in Romance languages, although it is true that Germanic languages tend to sound less musical (or "harsh", if you like) when spoken. On the other hand, it is also possible to sound very crude in Romance languages as well (witness the titles of some troll posts on this very forum). It all depends on who is using the language and for what purpose...