2007-08-28 18:07:40 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Other - Society & Culture
teah, i'm curios too...why some english words got latin roots?...
2007-08-28 18:28:40 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
English did not come from Latin - it is a Germanic language. It's closest current relative is Frisian, spoken in the Netherlands-German border area along the North Sea.
It would probably have been a lot closer to to current Germanic languages except for a point in history called the Norman Conquest. In 1066, William the Conquerer, Duke of Normandy, invaded England - and won.
The Normans spoke Norman French, which WAS a Latin-based language, and since they were now running the show, the population had to learn how to communicate, so they had to start using words from the Normans.
What resulted was an English language that had a Germanic skeleton with a lot of Latin meat hanging on it. The base grammar in English is still Germanic, as are the most common words, like 'I, 'the', 'is' etc. For the other words, a large number are from Latin roots. Estimates vary, but using 60% Latin roots for English words looks about right.
2007-08-29 09:38:11 · answer #2 · answered by dollhaus 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not everything does, but English and many other European rooted languages came from Latin. Geographical separation caused different languages to develop in their own ways over time into something different while still keeping some of its Latin aspects.
2007-08-29 01:10:49 · answer #3 · answered by JapAmerican 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Because English has latin roots!!!
2007-08-29 01:20:23 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋