4 ms·
English is 0% German other than loanwords like "zeitgeist". What is more accurate to say is that English and German descend from a common ancestor: Proto-Germa
by School-Cotton 1y ago
English is 0% German other than loanwords like "zeitgeist".
What is more accurate to say is that English and German descend from a common ancestor: Proto-Germanic. Saying English descended from German would be just as wrong as saying German descended from English.
The fact that "German" and "Germanic" sound similar does not mean that they are the same thing, nor that modern standard German is somehow the official representative of the Germanic languages.
- adamzwasserman 1y agotrue
- madcaptenor 1y agoIIRC the reason that the family got the name "Germanic" is basically that it was some Germans that came up with the idea. I'm having trouble sourcing this though.
- paleotrope 1y agoLast I heard was that the German tribe the language group was named after weren't even germanic soeakers. Like the fact that the Franks were a germanic speaking tribe who abandoned their language for the local dialect of latin which become French.
- School-Cotton 1y agoThe German word for the ancient Germanics isn’t the same as their word for present-day Germans (Germanen vs. Deutsche).
- paleotrope 1y agoThe romans called the area Germania after the germani that lived there. Germani is believed to be a celtic word though. So it's possible that the original Germani were actual celtic speakers. Which is another branch of old indo-european.
- Joel_Mckay 1y agoExcept "German" is an English word for Deutsch You are welcome, and I will see myself out.. lol =3