Ever wonder where all the words we use come from?
Ever wonder where all the words we use come from?
Most of the English words we use are actually part of
what linguists (language scholars)
call a family—
the Indo-European language family!
The Indo-European Language Family
Linguists think our language family began
thousands years ago with a people living near the
Black Sea. As they spread out in smaller groups, different languages
developed, which show similarities.
Indo-European Family Tree
But in 1066 came The Battle of
Hastings:England was conquered
by France!William the Conqueror
crossed from Normandy northwest
to Hastings, England!
English is basically Anglo-Saxon and part of the
Germanic branch of Indo-European languages, but the French
conquered England in 1066:that conquest lasted for hundreds of
years and influenced the development of the English language drastically.
Our oldest, easiest, most commonly used English words are
Germanic; the longer and more difficult words usually have Latin
origins, much of that coming from French influence..
The next slide shows our Pledge of Allegiance!The white words are
Germanic in origin; the red words have Latin
roots.Do the majority of the
words come from—the German or Latin
branches?
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all!
How many of those words are Germanic and how many have
Latin roots?Which words are longer and more
difficult?Do you think the person who
wrote the pledge was well-educated or not?
Can you rephrase “I pledge allegiance to” in easier words?
So we’ve seen that German and Latin both play a pretty important part in the words we use every day. The oldest, easiest, and most commonly used words in English are closely related to modern German words; more difficult words in English often have roots in Latin.
German LatinSonne /sun sol/ solar
Mond/ moonluna/ lunar Hand/ hand manus/ manual
Which language family represents what your
ancestors spoke?
Do some of you have family members or
ancestors that represent a language family other than the Indo-European
family?