If English is mainly derived from Latin and Old German, then where did those words come from?

Question

Were they derived from other ancient languages, or were they just completely made up (if they were derived from other ancient languages, then how were they made up)? The German word for cat is katze. Why katze, when it could have been something like poopalalaleela for instance?

Answer 1

The origins of the language are not known to linguists but there are speculations (which are mostly unscientific) which cannot be proven.

The answer of the question “ How did language get started?” has always been a mystery in history; however, philosophers and people who are interested in language (not modern linguists) could not help themselves speculating about the remote origins of language. From the very beginning of modern times, people with an interest in language have attempted to find the answer to this question. Nevertheless, these attempts could go no further than being speculations, because there is no way that these suggestions or theories can be proven.

But why Katze...all the words in all languages are arbitrarily formed. There is no explanation for why people called that thing "katze" in German or "kedi" in Turkish. It is clear that in animal communication there is a link between signals and messages. Each variety of animal communication consists of a fixed and limited set of words which are not arbitrary. An animal that wishes to warn off an opponent may symbolize an attacking attitude. For instance, a cat will arch its back, spit and appear ready to pounce. Bees perform special dances when they find a new source of nectar.

However, when we talk about the human language, we see that there is no logical connection between the signal and the message. This means that there is no connection between the object and its name. No one can answer the question of “ why we call apple ‘apple’ or elephant ‘elephant’?”
Yet in all languages there are onomatopoeic words which are the imitations of natural sounds. In English we have bang, crash, splash, quack and etc. And in Turkish we have şırıl şırıl , çıt çıt, vız and so on.

So yes, all the words in all languages are made up.

Answer 2

English is a Germanic language, which is in turn a branch of the Indo-European language family. The Indo-European language group is the most-spoken language group in the world, including English, Spanish and French. These languages are all derived from a parent language, called Proto-Indo-European (PIE), somewhere between the 7th and 4th Millenium BC, depending on which theory you follow. Almost all European languages are from this, with a few exceptions, such as Basque.

However, there must have been some point in which a group of people decided what something must have been called. For example, one day, people must have decided to call the sun *suwel- (the reconstructed PIE word for sun), instead of something else. However, there is a possible link between certain sounds and their use. For example, "m" is used almost universally for words for "mother", and "p" for father (But this is generally assumed to be because they're among the first sounds babies say).

However, word origins are often very interesting: "man" comes from the PIE word "manu" meaning "mind", for example, and the german "kopf" (head) is from the same word as the English "cup".

Answer 3

English is essentially a Germanic language. The Germanic language was brought in from the continental mainland by Germanic Saxon and Angle invaders (hence the name "Angle"-ish, which became English).

A lot of the higher vocabulary in English is directly sourced from Latin, because Latin was the language of the church and monasteries were the repositories of knowledge in the Middle Ages, when almost the vast majority of the population outside the monasteries was illiterate.

English also has a great deal of vocabulary sourced from French, as a result of the 1066 Norman invasion of the country. French in itself is a Romance language, meaning it's roots are in the Roman language, i.e. Latin. This further contributes to the strong latin influence in English

Latin, French, German, Greek and most other European languages (with some notable exceptions) are all Indo-European languages and all evolved from a common Proto-Indo-European ancestor which recent theories suggest originated in the region of Anatolia in what is now Turkey. The same root language also gave rise to Indo-Iranian languages such as Persian and Sanskrit.

Answer 4

Ok, English is not made up of old latin and German. Very little Latin was ever used, it was the language of the 'invader'. However, when the Romans pulled out, we got the Angles and the Saxons. Our language is a mix of Base Germanic, Franco and many other European languages.

As fot the question, yes, all languages are derived from an earlier form. Latin is an evolution of Aincent Greek, for example. The Precursor languages, such as Hebrew and aincent forms of Arabic, were derived from our evolutionary past

Answer 5

Language is interesting and constantly evolving. Even english just a couple hundred years ago is nearly impossible to read. As people and their languages and cultures combine, new words are formed. Just listen to people speak today...how many words are considered slang...which may evolve to become part of an updated dictionary some years later. In Spanish, Cat is Gato still similar to cat and katz. In Turkish its 'Kedi" which sounds like 'kitty'. Isnt language cool?

Answer 6

The languages are Euro-Indian. Deriving from Sanskrit. But strange things happen. Turkish is not an Indo-European language, but I discovered the Turkish word 'pisi' - which, is almost never used today but means 'cat', anf described as childish word for cat. Modern Turkish for 'cat' is 'kedi'. In English we say 'p u s s y', so how did that get into the English language?
People tend to forget that many every day words used in English are not English words. Pyjama, bungalow, kiosk ....

Answer 7

Many languages have their roots in Latin. German has some Galic roots. So now you want to know where the Latin and Galic come from right? I am sure somewhere there is some study of how languages evolved from the gutteral utterances cave men must have used to try and get their point across when danger was coming. I just don't know where to look for that.

Answer 8

English is NOT derived from Latin or Old German. English is a Germanic language related to German; both share a common ancestor, Proto-West Germanic. English has borrowed words from Latin (as has German). For example, English 'tide' is related to German 'zeit' and share a common ancestor in Proto-West Germanic of *tid 'time'. English has changed the vowel sound and shifted the meaning to 'tide'. German has changed the consonant sounds in a predictable way (the Second German Consonant Shift) and changed the vowel sound, but kept the meaning. English is 100% a Germanic language. Proto-West Germanic is a daughter language of Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic is a daughter language of Proto-Indo-European. Beyond that (about 6 thousand years ago) we cannot reconstruct, but languages just constantly change over time. Words change their sound and meaning so that we get pairs like English "do" and French "faire" which today sound nothing alike, but are actually derived from the same word in Proto-Indo-European. Do's history is *dheuk > *deuk > *duh > doh > do, faire's history is *dheuk > *feuk > *fak > fak-ere > faere > faire. That is how languages change over time.

Answer 9

according in linguistics all languages were born from two languages which were spoken when we lived together(yeah we are all same and language is the proof) in afrika. most of the world's languages actually come from one of the two. the other has syllables like click and trrr sounds made from mouth. this other language is still spoken in a south africa tribe. the winning tribe spread through the world giving rise to all different langs.