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I think this is just one instance of a near-universal perception among English speakers that Greek/Latin words ("Terra") sound more sophisticated than Anglo-Sax
by Analemma_ 9y ago
I think this is just one instance of a near-universal perception among English speakers that Greek/Latin words ("Terra") sound more sophisticated than Anglo-Saxon ones ("earth").
It's hard to hypothesize about whether this could be reversed in an alternate universe because this tendency goes back many centuries: for a loooong time Latin was the language of the scholarly and political elite, whereas Anglo-Saxon Old English was used by commoners.
- int_handler 9y agoThere is a similar reason for why English swear words sound Germanic: http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2015/06/swear-words-etymology-and-the-history-of-english/ http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2015/06/swear-words-etymo...
- lvkleist 9y agoSuch an interesting article. Churchill was known to take advantage of this in his speeches, for example in (parts of) the famous "We shall fight them on the beaches": https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/97665/did-the-we-shall-fight-on-the-beaches-speech-mainly-use-words-from-old-english https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/97665/did-the-we... Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all. - Winston Churchill
- dghughes 9y ago>for a loooong time Latin was the language of the scholarly and political elite French was too for hundreds of years even up until now and maybe for the EU again after Brexit.