4 ms·
One interesting observation is that French-derived words in English tend to be fancier -- formal, sophisticated, higher-class -- while Germanic ones tend to be
by fchollet 11mo ago
One interesting observation is that French-derived words in English tend to be fancier -- formal, sophisticated, higher-class -- while Germanic ones tend to be more casual, everyday vocabulary.
- euroderf 11mo agoMy rough estimate is that words of two syllables or less are mostly Germanic and words of three syllables or more are mostly Romantic.
- DemocracyFTW2 11mo agoça je ne crois pas
- euroderf 11mo agoUm I meant words in English. Sorry..
- shagie 11mo agoMany of these words transferred during the Norman Conquest. During that time, England was ruled by French speakers. The upper class and nobility in England were French (and French speakers). When someone in the upper class wanted boeuf, they wanted the meat of a cow - not the cow itself. And so beef entered the English language as the meat. This extended to other animals. In general, the word for the meat in English is the French word for the animal and the word for the animal is derived from the German word. https://www.etymonline.com/word/beef https://www.etymonline.com/word/beef and https://www.etymonline.com/word/cow https://www.etymonline.com/word/cow This also extended to the language law and things that the upper classes (rather than the commoners) dealt with. When the common English (germanic) did have to deal with those topics, they used the French words and those words were brought into English.
- bobbylarrybobby 11mo agoI believe this is because the Normans were wealthier than the native Brits
- insane_dreamer 11mo agoonly the peasants spoke Old English. The nobility spoke French. eventually the two languages merged into modern English.