How did English adopt these Germanic tendencies? Basically, English Used to Be a Dialect of GermanĪs you may remember from your AP world history class, the island of Britain was invaded countless times over several hundred years from tribes living along the coast of northern Europe.Ībout 1,500 years ago, the Angles (a Germanic tribe) crossed the English channel into what is today Great Britain, shortly followed by these guys:

In other words, English might have more loan words from French and Latin combined, but it resembles German more in its grammar and syntax. What are genetic relationships between languages? Normally grammatical tendencies and syntax (sentence structure) – but not necessarily the amount of loan words one language might have.

In linguistics, languages are characterized by their genetic relationships.

Languages are Characterized by Genetic Relationship, Not Loan Words Why isn’t it considered a Latin language?”Īctually, English is generally considered a proto-Germanic language (we’ll get into other theories later). “ English has so many French and Latin words. Is English a Germanic Language or a Latin Language? It may not come as a surprise to many that English is a mutt language, the result of countless invasions and even Roman Catholic missionaries, but others continue to argue about whether or not English is considered a Proto-Germanic language as opposed to a Latin language.īefore looking at some of the Germanic words in English that we use constantly in our everyday lives, let’s get down to the root of this perennial question.

37 Everyday English Words that Came From German (& Why)ĭid you know that the first dictionary of the English-language was published in 1604?

German words in english language