English: 'Can you find the Germanic equivalents?'

Sander   Fri Aug 12, 2005 2:08 pm GMT
English has an enormous Latin vocabulary but some words have Germanic counterparts or descriptions! The Question is, can you find them?

This is a list from modern English words derived from:
-Modern French
-Old French
-Latin

Your task is to find, Germanic equivalents or descriptions (without using Romance words,or as least possible):

-----------------
Modern French:
-----------------
Aperitif
Bourgeois
Café
Camouflage
Chateau
Chef
Debacle
Debut
Dessert
Elite
Hotel
Lingerie
Morale
Prestige
Regime
Silhouette
Souvenir
Voyeur
---------------
Old French:
---------------
Allow
Beauty
Conquest
Defeat
Destroy
Dinner
Forest
Garden
Honest
Interest
Judge
Loyal
Place
Poison
Push
Quest
Royal
Stuff
Sure
-------------
Latin:
------------
Add
Area
Candle
Complex
Data
Decide
Genius
Illiteracy
Immoral
Immortality
Ingenious
Interim
Literature
Media
Memory
Peninsula
Propaganda
Referendum
Status

To help you:
http://www.etymonline.com/

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/
Sander   Fri Aug 12, 2005 3:20 pm GMT
Latin ones:

Add = put in with
Area = /
Candle = waxlight
Complex = big building
Data = /
Decide = make out
Genius = /
Illiteracy = can not read and write
Immoral = /
Immortality = forever life
Ingenious = clever
Interim = /
Literature = 'readingship'
Media = press
Memory = 'back calling'
Peninsula = Land slip
Propaganda = /
Referendum =' people-asking '
Status = state of being

God it's hard for a non native! ;)
Jeb   Fri Aug 12, 2005 9:40 pm GMT
Ok, I'll take a stab at it.

Aperitif Opening
Bourgeois Burger (the German/English root of Bourgeois?)
Café Coffee (both are transliterated loan words from Arabic)
Camouflage Hiding
Chateau Keep (for castle, otherwise House)
Chef Cook (or Head)
Debacle Ruin?
Debut Beginning
Dessert Doom
Elite High
Hotel Inn
Lingerie Underwear?
Morale Heart
Prestige ??
Regime Rule
Silhouette Shadow
Souvenir Keepsake
Voyeur Watcher
---------------
Old French:
---------------
Allow Let
Beauty Comeliness
Conquest Win
Defeat Loss
Destroy Unmake
Dinner Supper
Forest Woods
Garden ??
Honest Truthful
Interest
Judge Ruler
Loyal Faithful
Place Spot
Poison Bane??
Push Shove?
Quest Task
Royal Kingly
Stuff Things
Sure Steady
-------------
Latin:
------------
Add
Area Range?
Candle Light?
Complex Group?
Data Lore :)
Decide
Genius
Illiteracy Unreading?
Immoral Wrong
Immortality Undying
Ingenious Smart
Interim Meanwhile
Literature Books
Media Go-betweens
Memory Recall
Peninsula Jut?
Propaganda Spreading
Referendum Set Aside?
Status Way

Best I can do without a thesaurus or dictionary.
Travis   Fri Aug 12, 2005 10:29 pm GMT
"Faithful" would not work, as while the suffix -"ful" is Germanic, the word "faith" actually comes from Old French, surprise surprise (and it even looks Germanic to the uninformed reader, considering that /T/ is not common within Romance languages outside of Castilian).
Kirk   Sat Aug 13, 2005 6:12 am GMT
Ok here's my attempt. A few are a bit of a stretch but most of them are pretty close:

Modern French:
-----------------
Aperitif--cocktail
Bourgeois--(this word is French from Germanic origin) Burghers, yuppies, the well-off
Café--coffeehouse ('coffee' ultimately comes from Turkish), eatery
Camouflage--hide
Chateau--big home
Chef--cook
Debacle--breakup
Debut--start
Dessert--sweets
Elite--snobs, wealthy, rich
Hotel--inn
Lingerie--underwear
Morale--shared feeling
Prestige--standing
Regime--kingdom
Silhouette--shadow
Souvenir--reminder, token
Voyeur--onlooker, watcher, peeper
---------------
Old French:
---------------
Allow--let
Beauty--prettiness
Conquest--win
Defeat--loss
Destroy--tear apart
Dinner--main meal
Forest--woods
Garden--lawn, yard
Honest--truthful
Interest--care
Judge--deem
Loyal--true
Place--spot
Poison--bane
Push--shove, thrust
Quest--hunt
Royal--kingly
Stuff--(actually, this was a Germanic word which French adopted and then came into English via French)--things
Sure--steadfast

The Latin ones are too hard in most cases!
The Swede   Sat Aug 13, 2005 8:06 am GMT
Garden is a Germanic word from the begining not a Romanic one.
Kirk   Sat Aug 13, 2005 8:31 am GMT
<<Garden is a Germanic word from the begining not a Romanic one.>>

Good point. English got it from Old North French, but French got it from a Germanic source originally.
Sander   Sat Aug 13, 2005 11:35 am GMT
=>Garden is a Germanic word from the begining not a Romanic one. <=

That may be (it is ;) ) but it is still a loanword from a Latin language ...
Kazoo   Mon Aug 15, 2005 8:37 pm GMT
What does that matter? That doesn't change the fact that 'garden' is a germanic word, not a romantic word. How can a person come up with a germanic equivalent for a germanic word?
Sander   Mon Aug 15, 2005 8:42 pm GMT
Kazoo,

The point is that English didn't loan the word from a Germanic language but from a Romance one.

and,

=>How can a person come up with a germanic equivalent for a germanic word?<=

There are things called 'synonyms' , if you're lucky you get a(nother) Germanic word. ;)
Kazoo   Mon Aug 15, 2005 8:59 pm GMT
<<There are things called 'synonyms' , if you're lucky you get a(nother) Germanic word. ;)>>

Yes, Sander, I realize that. I thought you wanted germanic equivalents for latin words. Just because it is a germanic word that came into English from a Romance language invalidates it as a germanic word? ;)
Sander   Mon Aug 15, 2005 9:03 pm GMT
Argh! You win :) Garden .... is out of the contest ;)
Travis   Mon Aug 15, 2005 9:18 pm GMT
The thing is that if we include words from Old Norse in this as counting, then we pretty much have to count other non-native Germanic words, even if they came *via* a Romance language of some sort or another.
Brian   Tue Oct 11, 2005 5:06 pm GMT
in this effort, do coinages or revived words (archaic/obsolete) count? I see a few "waxlight" for candle and "back calling" for memory. If so, it could be very possible to fit the bill...
Sander   Tue Oct 11, 2005 5:08 pm GMT
I doubt "waxlight" & "back calling" were ever used :-)