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Latin words mostly came to English through Norman French after William the Conqueror and his followers became ruling class in 1066. In the intervening thousand
by jacques_chester 7y ago
Latin words mostly came to English through Norman French after William the Conqueror and his followers became ruling class in 1066. In the intervening thousand years there was a lot of time for the meanings to diverge and invert.
English is particularly rich in false friends and loanwords because of its hybrid origins. Only recently has it begun to export words back out to other languages (eg. "le weekend").
- empath75 7y agoActually quite a lot of the Latin and Greek words came several centuries after the Norman invasion as renaissance scholars introduced them — often to ‘correct’ French words. Then quite a lot more came through scientific terms in the industrial era.
- jacques_chester 7y agoYes, I should've mentioned them rather than sweeping it all under loanwords.