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If you wind back when the borrowings started happening in great number, you get to a time when English was mostly "purely" Germanic. That's what this project is

If you wind back when the borrowings started happening in great number, you get to a time when English was mostly "purely" Germanic. That's what this project is - as if Old English had continued on without being influenced from French etc.

zabzonk 4y ago
borrowings have always happened. and as regards early english, did you ever see phillip larkin describe it as "ape's bumfodder"? luckily we replaced it with many, many borrowings, so much so that looking at AS english is prainful on the brain - and uneccessary.
- theandrewbailey 4y ago
  True, but only a quarter to a third of modern English vocabulary can be legitimately described as having purely English or Germanic origins. It might as well not be "English" at this point.
- triyambakam 4y ago
  Of course, at different times it happened to more or less a degree, and from different languages. It's all arbitrary, but this project chose an arbitrary precision of "pure" Germanic English. It's their choice and doesn't feel ideologically motivated, more so in the spirit of conlang (constructed languages).
  - zabzonk 4y ago
    > "pure" Germanic English something there never has been?
    - triyambakam 4y ago
      No, there was a definite period of history when English was highly Germanic and lacked influence from non-Germanic languages.
    - simonh 4y ago
      Think of it as English as it was when the concept of England originated.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - zabzonk 4y ago
    > only a quarter to a third of modern English vocabulary can be legitimately described as having purely English does that make sense? are we dealing with recursive definitions of english here?
everybodyknows 4y ago
Don't the Celtic or other pre-Saxon dialects have the better claim to seniority, rather than the tongue of the Saxon invaders? https://www.britannica.com/place/United-Kingdom/Anglo-Saxon-England https://www.britannica.com/place/United-Kingdom/Anglo-Saxon-...
- imbnwa 4y ago
  King Arthur definitely would've spoken something more like Welsh

zabzonk 4y ago

borrowings have always happened. and as regards early english, did you ever see phillip larkin describe it as "ape's bumfodder"? luckily we replaced it with many, many borrowings, so much so that looking at AS english is prainful on the brain - and uneccessary.

theandrewbailey 4y ago
True, but only a quarter to a third of modern English vocabulary can be legitimately described as having purely English or Germanic origins. It might as well not be "English" at this point.
triyambakam 4y ago
Of course, at different times it happened to more or less a degree, and from different languages. It's all arbitrary, but this project chose an arbitrary precision of "pure" Germanic English. It's their choice and doesn't feel ideologically motivated, more so in the spirit of conlang (constructed languages).
- zabzonk 4y ago
  > "pure" Germanic English something there never has been?
  - triyambakam 4y ago
    No, there was a definite period of history when English was highly Germanic and lacked influence from non-Germanic languages.
  - simonh 4y ago
    Think of it as English as it was when the concept of England originated.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- zabzonk 4y ago
  > only a quarter to a third of modern English vocabulary can be legitimately described as having purely English does that make sense? are we dealing with recursive definitions of english here?

everybodyknows 4y ago

Don't the Celtic or other pre-Saxon dialects have the better claim to seniority, rather than the tongue of the Saxon invaders? https://www.britannica.com/place/United-Kingdom/Anglo-Saxon-England https://www.britannica.com/place/United-Kingdom/Anglo-Saxon-...

imbnwa 4y ago
King Arthur definitely would've spoken something more like Welsh