4 ms·
I don’t think this works well. English is absolutely “Germanic” but it doesn’t neatly fit into any grouping grammatically, lexically, or audibly. The influence
by BirAdam 3y ago
I don’t think this works well. English is absolutely “Germanic” but it doesn’t neatly fit into any grouping grammatically, lexically, or audibly. The influence of French, and milder influences of Gaelic languages have transformed the language considerably. Those two have as much influence as does Norse. The Angles and Saxons were West Germanic, and they started the language. Reclassification of English as North Germanic would be about as accurate as reclassifying it as Romance.
- kergonath 3y agoBut it would be more romantic. I was struck by how much a lot of English people really want to feel like Vikings. French people tent to be looked down upon, or considered as weird eccentrics. Some people really don’t want to realise how close the English and French cultures are in actual truth.
- DFHippie 3y ago> milder influences of Gaelic languages Gaelic is the surviving Celtic language of Scotland, and not the dominant Celtic language of Scotland when the Angles and Saxons arrived, which was more like Welsh. I don't think Gaelic has had a sizable influence on English. One would expect this to have come more from Welsh, Cornish, and Cumbric, the displaced languages, but I'm not aware of a huge influence here either.
- mr_toad 3y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Scottish_Gaelic_origin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Scott... I would not have picked Strontium.
- thaumasiotes 3y agoDo-support is thought to have come into English from a local Celtic language.
- BirAdam 3y agoThe usage of “do” and some of the uses of would/could/should come from “Celtic” languages if I understand correctly.