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Actually this borrowing is far older than the British Empire. First, the language of Angles and Saxons absorbed some of Briton and Latin languages spoken by the
by BerislavLopac 8y ago
Actually this borrowing is far older than the British Empire. First, the language of Angles and Saxons absorbed some of Briton and Latin languages spoken by their predecessors in Britain. Then the Danes (and Norse in general) introduced many changes that are still part of the language, and finally the Norman conquerors enforced their own French as the language of the ruling class.
- hydrox24 8y ago> Actually this borrowing is far older than the British Empire. You're quite right. I wasn't suggesting that the borrowing occurred during the British empire (I don't think they conquered anywhere that spoke latin). I was suggesting that the empire imported the occasional word from a list of nations and languages too long to list: >> _On top of these fundamental contributions_, it borrowed quite a few words from the four corners of the earth