germanize the English language for fun

13 Year Old   Wed Nov 01, 2006 1:42 am GMT
Ok fine the English language is a Germanic language but lets play a game....

Try Germanizing it as much as possible using Germanic terms are in use or have been phased out. They don't necessary have to make sense.

Let me Try One something simple....

London Stead(city - Ger*stadt* - Dut*stad*) was large*big*


Sorry I know I sound like a idiot but I thought I want to see what could English look like (today) if it wasnt for the Norman French influences.
Guest   Wed Nov 01, 2006 4:25 am GMT
Okay. I vill try to use more German vorts in my English.
Cow   Wed Nov 01, 2006 5:42 am GMT
>> use <<

"Use" is Latinate.

It's easy to speak English without having any outlanderwords in it.
greg   Wed Nov 01, 2006 8:53 am GMT
13 Year Old : « I want to see what could English look like (today) if it wasnt for the Norman French influences. »
En un pareil cas, il resterait tout de même l'influence française non-outremanchaise dont le moins qu'on puisse dire est qu'elle est non-négligeable. Sans parler, bien sûr, de l'afflux du médiolatin — un phénomène venu de France, lui aussi.
Guest   Thu Nov 02, 2006 12:29 am GMT
<En un pareil cas, il resterait tout de même l'influence française non-outremanchaise dont le moins qu'on puisse dire est qu'elle est non-négligeable. Sans parler, bien sûr, de l'afflux du médiolatin — un phénomène venu de France, lui aussi.>

Could someone translate Greg's comment. Many thanks.
Guest   Thu Nov 02, 2006 4:26 pm GMT
Hehe, this reminds me of a text I saw on the Christian Science Monitor where they attempted to de-French a part of an article. They called it English sans French. I don't think it is a very good attempt however, although it is jesty.

Original Text

The Franco-American dispute over the best approach to disarming Iraq has resulted in perhaps the highest level of anti-French feeling in the United States since 1763. A French-owned hotel firm, Accor, has taken down the tricolor flag. In the House of Representatives, the chairman of the Committee on Administration has renamed French fries "freedom fries" and French toast "freedom toast" in House restaurants.

To which the question arises: Why stop with Evian, Total gasoline, and the Concorde ( just only the Air France flights)? Let's get to the heart of the matter: A huge percentage of the words in modern English are of - gasp! - French origin. What if, as a result of the current diplomatic dispute, the French demand their words back? We could all be linguistic
hostages.

It is time for English-speaking peoples to throw off this cultural imperialism and declare our linguistic freedom. It will take some sacrifices on everyone's part to get used to the new parlance. But think of the satisfaction on the day we are all able to stare the Académie Française in the eye and say without fear of reprisal: " Sumer is icumen in...."


English sans French text

The Franco-American falling out over the best way to take away Iraq's weapons has resulted in perhaps the highest anti-French feeling in the United Lands since 1763.

A French-owned innkeeping firm, Accor, has taken down the three-hued flag. In the House of Burghers, the leader of the Body on Running Things has named anew French fries "freedom fries" and French toast "freedom toast" in House eating rooms.

To which the asking arises: Why stop with Evian, Total gasoline, and the Concorde ( only the Air France flights)? Let's get to the heart of the thing: A big percentage of the words in today's English are of - gasp! - French beginnings. What if, as a result of the today's falling out between lands, the French ask for their words back? We could all be linguistic captives.

It is time for English-speaking folk to throw off this cultural lording-it-over-others and say our linguistic freedom. It is time to clean the English tongue. It will take some hardship on everyone's part to get used to the new speech. But think of the warm feeling inside on the day we can all stare the Académie Française in the eye and say without fear of injury: " Sumer is icumen in...."

They have attempted to remove only French derived words, not words borrowed directly from Latin, but they have made a few mistakes. The fact that level, fries, toast, part and use are of French origin appears to have escaped their attention. Also, state was borrowed directly from Latin, not through French.


My attempt at Germanicizing.

The Franco-American bickering over the best way to seize Iraq's weapons has led to maybe the highest level of anti-French feeling in the United States since 1763.

A French-owned innkeeping business, Accor, has taken down the three-hued flag. In the House of forstanders, the head of the heedgroup on overseeing has named anew French fries "freedom chips" and French toast "freedom crispy bread" in mealhouses.

To which the asking arises: Why stop with Evian, Total gasoline, and the Concorde ( only the Air France flights)? Let's get to the heart of this hornet's nest: A big share of the words in today's English are of - gasp! - French wellspring. What if, as an upshot of today's diplomatic wrangle, the French ask for their words back? We could all be speechlorish haftlings.

It is time for English-speaking folk to throw off this cultural overlordship and say forth our speechlorish freedom. It is time to cleanse the English tongue. It will take some hardship on everyone's lot to become wont to the new speech. But think of the aftergladness on the day we can all stare the Académie Française in the eye and say without fear of comeback: " Sumer is icumen in...."


I have used 5 different approaches.

1. Replacement of Latinate words with Germanic synonyms eg. Business - firm, way - approach etc.

2. Use of slang terms eg, hornet's nest.

3. Coinages of words using only Germanic roots, eg. Forstander - Representative, overlordship - imperialism etc.

4. Reviving of Old English roots, such as using Haftling as a replacement for hostage.

5. Use of French words with Germanic roots, such as seize instead of disarm and the group in heedgroup.

As one may have noticed, I have not changed the names of proper nouns, such as United States, Total Gasoline etc as I believe that would be taking things too far. Also, some words have not been Germanicized, such as level, diplomatic, cultural and the anti- prefix. This is for two reasons. 1, some words are obviously harder to Germanize than others without losing the sense of meaning and 2, it is conceivable that even if the Norman conquest had not happened, English would have still borrowed from Latin and maybe even from French but at a lesser degree and on a scale comparable to that of the other Germanic languages which have also borrowed many Latin derived words.

Sorry if its a bit long.
Cow   Thu Nov 02, 2006 10:02 pm GMT
>> It is time for English-speaking folk to throw off this **cultural** overlordship and say forth our speechlorish freedom. <<

Is the word "cultural" really Anglo-Saxon?
Guest   Fri Nov 03, 2006 1:30 am GMT
<<"Use" is Latinate.

It's easy to speak English without having any outlanderwords in it.>>

I changt "will" to "vill" and "words" to "vorts" to demonstrate my Germanicity. Maybe I shout haf spelt "use" ass "yooss" to demonstrate it better?
Cow   Fri Nov 03, 2006 4:35 am GMT
>> I changt "will" to "vill" and "words" to "vorts" to demonstrate my Germanicity. Maybe I shout haf spelt "use" ass "yooss" to demonstrate it better? <<

No, I don't think you understand. English is a Germanic language, because it is descended from the Proto-Germanic language: the common ancestor of both English, German, Dutch, and Norwegian. English is just as much a Germanic language as High German is. To "Germanize" English means to use only native English words--the words descended from Old English, and to avoid words stolen from French, Latin, and Greek. For example, the English word "house" come from the Proto-Germanic word "*hus" (so does the High German word "Haus"), whereas the word "mansion" has a Norman-French/Latin origin (since French is derived from Vulgar Latin) (compare the French word for "house": "maison")
Cow   Fri Nov 03, 2006 4:41 am GMT
therefore writing English like High German spelled phonetically: "vill" for "will", does not germanicize English. Actually the Proto-Germanic language had a "w" (for words like "will"), and not a "v". The High German pronunciation of the letter "w" as "v" is actually a fairly new innovation, and English actually keeps the original Proto-Germanic "w" sound, whereas German changes it. Same for the 2nd consonant shift: High German went through a sound shift that caused the original Proto-Germanic "t" to shift to an "s" sound: therefore the Proto-Germanic word *better, is "besser" in High German, whereas English preserves the original "t" (well sort of). Same for the word "what". (Conservative dialects of) English pronounce it identically to the original Proto-Germanic form (it was "hwat" in Proto-Germanic), whereas German has since undergone 3 shifts: the w->v, the disappearance of the "h", and the t->s.
Cow   Fri Nov 03, 2006 4:50 am GMT
>> Maybe I shout haf spelt "use" ass "yooss" to demonstrate it better? <<
No. "use" is a Latin word, not a native English word. English just stole it from Latin, so simply spelling it more phonetically and applying the High German final consonant devoicing ([z]->[s]) isn't going to help. Try finding a different (oops "different" is a French word) or alternate (oops "alternate" is also a French word) word to express the same concept.

Out of the sentences above in this post: the following words are not native English words, but were instead stolen from the French or the Romans:

use; Latin; native; simply; phonetically; applying; German; consonant; devoicing; different; alternate; express; concept

So, for example, I could replace "native" with "homegrown" or "not outlander"; etc, to avoid French and Latin words.
Guest   Fri Nov 03, 2006 10:51 am GMT
<<Is the word "cultural" really Anglo-Saxon? >>

The presence of the word 'cultural' has already been explained. Latin and French loanwords can be minimized but it would be impossible to remove them completely. Sometimes there are no native words to describe certain concepts and I think 'cultural' is one of them. The closest word I was able to come up with was 'Kithish' but it sounded too clumsy.

But this isn't such as bad thing. Afterall, even German has many Latin loanwords and I doubt even Icelandic is 100% Germanic although it is maybe the closest thing there is to a pure Germanic language.
Guest   Sat Apr 21, 2007 8:36 am GMT
<<A French-owned innkeeping business, Accor, has taken down the three-hued flag. In the House of forstanders, the head of the heedgroup on overseeing has named anew French fries "freedom chips" and French toast "freedom crispy bread" in mealhouses.>>

How about "freedom eggy bread" for French toast?
Will   Sat Apr 21, 2007 11:47 am GMT
@Cow,
you fail to mention that modern English as a whole has changed the most of all the other Germanic languages. There are numerous aspects that makes English so different from the other germanic languages.

--"w" (for words like "will"), and not a "v". The High German pronunciation of the letter "w" as "v" is actually a fairly new innovation,--

In English, there are plenty of sounds that changed or even completely disappeared which German or the other germanic languages still preserve. What happened to the pronounciation of j, g (in most words), ç, x, y?
Don't forget the "Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law" which caused the change of Proto-Germanic k to ch, or the "compensatory lengthening" where consonants were completely omitted in lot of words.
And if you have knowledge of the other germanic languages, try to compare texts written in Old English with modern English first, then with German or Dutch and you will notice that they have more resemblance to Old English than modern English has (especially regarding the old Germanic prefixes, while English adopted the Latin ones). I think I don't have to mention the enormous simplification of the English grammar that almost preserves nothing of its Germanic ancestor.
And why did the meaning of many germanic words that English still uses change the original meaning? Examples are beam, become, earn, stead, tree, dog, weald, warp, fare, knight, smart, and so on.
Oh, and what about the Great Vowel Shift?
Regarding this, those few sounds which English still preserves (in some way) are somehow just a drop in the bucket.
greg   Sat Apr 21, 2007 3:44 pm GMT
« Guest » :

« My Ø at Ø.

The Ø-Ø bickering over the best way to Ø ↔'s weapons has led to maybe the highest Ø of Ø-French feeling in the Ø Ø since 1763.

A French-owned innkeeping business, Ø, has ↔ down the three-hued ↔. In the House of forstanders, the head of the heedØ on overseeing has named anew French Ø "freedom chips" and French toast "freedom crispy bread" in mealhouses.

To which the ↔ arises: Why stop with Ø, Ø ↔, and the Ø (only the Ø Ø flights)? Let's ↔ to the heart of this hornet's nest: A ↔ share of the words in today's English are of - ↔! - French wellspring. What if, as an upshot of today's Ø ↔, the French ↔ for ↔ words back? We could all be speechlorish haftlings.

It is time for English-speaking folk to throw off this Ø overlordship and say forth our speechlorish freedom. It is time to cleanse the English tongue. It will ↔ some hardship on everyone's lot to become wont to the new speech. But think of the aftergladness on the day we can all stare the Ø Ø in the eye and say without fear of comeback: " Sumer is icumen in...." ».

Pas mal. Peut mieux faire.