Lexical Similariti % between Germanic Languages

Noel   Tue May 29, 2007 5:08 pm GMT
Is there a lexical similarities between Germanic Languages...? All I know is that English & German are 60% lexical that is... as for the rest... Thanks alot
Franco   Wed May 30, 2007 12:36 am GMT
No good asking questions of German, because moderators will delete it surely.
K. T.   Wed May 30, 2007 3:22 am GMT
Really? It seems Germanic languages have been discussed here. I found this site because I was looking for info on lexical similarities between Scandinavian languages.

I suggest a search on the topic within Antimoon on using Google.

All the best...
Guest   Thu May 31, 2007 12:01 am GMT
There are lexical similarities between germanic languages...

60% for English and Hoch Deutsch-- I speak both and did not realize it was that high...

English-Dutch seem closer to me
Guest   Thu May 31, 2007 11:18 am GMT
60% of English is Latin, just the exact opposite of all you know
guest   Thu May 31, 2007 8:47 pm GMT
<<60% of English is Latin, just the exact opposite of all you know >>

What percent of German is Latin? Do you know? it might be just as high...


come to think of it, what percent of Latin is GERMAN? hmmmm

Latin is a hodge-podge of different languages anyway: Italic, Greek, Arabic, German... citing Latin is almost as ineffectual as saying "Japanese is 17% English" ---what the heck does THAT tell me???
Guest   Thu May 31, 2007 9:31 pm GMT
" What percent of German is Latin? Do you know? it might be just as high... "

in this sentence, 0% of words are latin (nouns (latin,German) excepted)
isn't is strange to have so few latin words in a language which think to be made at 60% of latin...

most of latin "huge" "vocabulary" is due ti the fact that some people are including in "english" vocabulary a huge amont of very specific very few used vocabulary (and not known by the average speaker).

if we did the same for German it would probably have a "majority" of latin words too.
Guest   Fri Jun 01, 2007 12:30 am GMT
"percent" is latin, too.
Guest   Fri Jun 01, 2007 3:49 pm GMT
"hundredth" is English, and means the same thing.
Guest   Fri Jun 01, 2007 6:14 pm GMT
<"hundredth" is English, and means the same thing.>

Actually it doesn't. "Percent" is used in a different manner.
Guest   Fri Jun 01, 2007 7:08 pm GMT
<<<"hundredth" is English, and means the same thing.>

Actually it doesn't. "Percent" is used in a different manner. >>
========================================
Only because we've given it a different connotation--it can be used the same way: '5 percent' = '.05' [5 hundredths]

it's similar to 'good' vs 'well' (adv)--there's really no logical reason why 'good' cannot be used as an adverb, except that we're not accustomed to it. In fact, most other languages, and German comes to mind at the moment, do not even make such a distinction. So is the case with 'percent' and 'hundredth'...people just like 'percent' cuz it sounds cool : )

hurray for them
Guest   Fri Jun 01, 2007 7:29 pm GMT
I think Engliosh speaker prefer using "percent" because, as a latinate form they feel it to be more "cultured" than the original English form.
Guest   Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:54 pm GMT
<<I think Engliosh speaker prefer using "percent" because, as a latinate form they feel it to be more "cultured" than the original English form. >>

Well, partially...
That might have been true initially, but today it's use is due to inheritance--people don't really think of it as a 'latinate' word, but as a word used in business context and science and math. It has built quite a reputation for itself.

As for Latin words being 'more cultured' I'm not so sure...people don't consciously choose a Latin-origined word [--by running to look up the etymology] in order to sound cultured--they use words that in their minds are already deemed cultured, sophisticated, casual, whatever.

Oftentimes, Latin words sound quite uncultured and awkward: 'gubernatorial', 'urge', 'fatigue', 'clang', 'horror/terror/error',
'approach', etc.

I personally do not feel that a word's origin affects its value. Latin vs English vs Arabic--it's all the same to me. It is just happenstance that many of the elevated words in English are of Graeco-Latin origin. Were they of Russian origin, it would all be the same to me...
Guest   Sat Jun 02, 2007 3:37 am GMT
I agree. "percent" doesn't sound "cultured" at all to me. It's just the word that everyone uses. People would think you were a weirdo if you said "5 hundredths" instead of "5 percent".
Szymon   Sat Jun 02, 2007 9:11 pm GMT
Actually, "per cent" means "of hundred" and not solely "hundred". An it is a truth that the vast majority of English vocabulary is Latin and French and this is not the case with German. German does have French or Latin influences of course, but it's Great Britain that was conquered by the Roman Empire and later by Normandy, and Germany wasn't.