Is there a relevant connection between the German word 'acht' meaning eight, and the English prefix 'oct'?

Question

I'm a 10th grade student studying German, and realize there's a good deal of similarities between the two languages. Possibly here too, eh?

Answer 1

To clarify what another tried to say.

The two words ARE related, but NOT in the way most folks here are saying. The prefix "oct-" is a Latin prefix that we've borrowed into English. Our native word is "eight", a Germanic word related to Modern German "acht".

(In fact, in Middle English [Chaucer, etc] that "gh" was pronounced very similarly to the way German still pronounces "ch".)

But the Germanic word "acht" )(and English "eight") was NOT borrowed from Latin. Rather it is similar same because Latin, Greek, Germanic languages share a common ancient root (hypothetically reconstructed as "Indo-European").

Now it is true that there were medieval borrowings of Latin words into Germanic languages (through the Church, for instance). But when it comes to common everyday words --- including simple numbers, family relations (Vater, Mutter, Bruder, usw) -- these words are usually"original" to German. The Latin equivalents (in the case of relations - pater, mater, frater) You could say these words are not 'children' of the Latin words, but cousins!

Answer 2

German Word For Eight

Answer 3

Yes, the "oct-" prefix comes from either the Latin "octo" or the Greek "okto", which both mean eight. Latin, Greek, German, and English all come from a single original language which is called "Proto-Indoeuropean", and because of this they have many words which are similar. In the case of English, both our word "eight" and the prefix "oct-" derive from that original root, but they have different forms because "oct-" is borrowed from other languages while "eight" is the native English form. In linguistics, pairs of words that share the same origin but come into a language through different paths like that are called "doublets."

Answer 4

German and English are branches of the same language. There are many related words:

Haus = House
Maus = Mouse

The languages have been seperated for a long time, however, so many words have become very different.

Gift = Poison
Affe = Monkey

Answer 5

There's no relation between them. Only thing is English is related to some ancient Germanic language, but that's it.
-oct is from Latin when Romans took the word "octo" from the Greek "okto(first o is short; last o is long: two different letters in Greek, while it's the same letter in Latin.)". acht is uniquely German.

Answer 6

Much of the English language is derived from an ancient Germanic form. Much of this ancient Germanic language was imported from Latin.

Latin was spread (in various forms) throughout Europe which developed into Italian, French, Portuguese and Spanish, all of which contributed many words and form into English.

Answer 7

Yes. Both words come from Latin. A number of English words come from German, but it is mostly "low" German, rather than the "high" German which Deutschlanders speak today.

Answer 8

You're a very smart kid.

And you're right.

The number eight derives from Old English eahta; akin to Old High German ahto = eight, from Latin octo, Greek oktò.
.

Answer 9

Probablly, since english is a Germanic language. But as they guy above me said, they've been separated for a long time.

Answer 10

They both came from the Latin octo. The Romans, after all, invaded both territories and had a huge influence upon their system. You might be interested in this link. http://german.about.com/library/weekly/aa103000a.htm
http://german.about.com/library/bllatein01.htm