What group does English belong to? Name the closest linguistic relations of English.

English is a West Germanic language.

The next foreign languages influences in English (that languages have

influenced or contributed words to English): Celtic, French, Greek, Scandinavian

languages such as Old Norse, Norman, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Indian, German,

Hebrew, Yiddish and Arabic.

· Celtic words are almost absent, except for dialectal words, such as the Yan

Tan Tethera system of counting sheep. However, English syntax was influenced

by Celtic languages, starting from the Middle English; for example, the system

of continuous tenses (absent in other Germanic languages) was a cliché of

similar Celtic phrasal structures.

· French legal, military, and political terminology; words for the meat of an

animal; noble words; words referring to food — e.g., au gratin. Nearly 30% of

English words (in an 80,000 word dictionary) may be of French origin.

· Latin scientific and technical words, medical terminology, academic and

legal terminology.

· Greek words: scientific and medical terminology (for instance -phobias and

-ologies), Christian theological terminology.

· Scandinavian languages such as Old Norse - words such as sky and troll or,

more recently, geysir.

· Norman words: castle, cauldron, kennel, catch, cater are among Norman

words introduced into English. The Norman language also introduced (or

reinforced) words of Norse origin such as mug.

· Dutch - There are many ways through which Dutch words have entered the

English language: via trade and navigation, such as skipper (from schipper),

freebooter (from vrijbuiter), keelhauling (from kielhalen); via painting, such as

landscape (from landschap), easel (from ezel), still life (from stilleven);

warfare, such as forlorn hope (from verloren hoop), beleaguer (from beleger),

to bicker (from bicken); via civil engineering, such as dam, polder, dune (from

duin); via the New Netherland settlements in North America, such as cookie

(from koekie), boss from baas, Santa Claus (from Sinterklaas); via

Dutch/Afrikaans speakers with English speakers in South Africa, such as

wildebeest, apartheid, boer; via French words of Dutch/Flemish origin that

have subsequently been adopted into English, such as boulevard (from

bolwerk), mannequin (from manneken), buoy (from boei). Joseph M. Williams,

in Origins of the English Language, estimated that about 1% of English words

are of Dutch origin.

· Spanish - words relating to warfare and tactics, for instance flotilla and

guerrilla; or related to science and culture, whether created in Arabic (such as

algebra), originated in Amerindian civilizations (Cariban: cannibal, hurricane;

Mescalero: apache; Nahuatl: tomato, coyote, chocolate; Quechua: potato;

Taíno: tobacco), or Iberian Romance languages (aficionado, albino, alligator,

cargo, cigar, embargo, guitar, jade, mesa, paella, platinum, plaza, renegade,

rodeo, salsa, savvy, sierra, siesta, tilde, tornado, vanilla etc.

· Italian - words relating to some music, piano, fortissimo. Or Italian culture,

such as piazza, pizza, gondola, balcony, fascism. The English word umbrella

comes from Italian ombrello.

· Indian - words relating to culture, originating from the colonial era. Many of

these words are of Persian origin rather than Hindi because Persian was the

official language of the Mughal courts. e.g.: pyjamas, bungalow, verandah,

jungle, curry, shampoo, khaki.

· German - words relating to World War I and World War II, such as blitz,

Führer and Lebensraum; food terms, such as bratwurst, hamburger and

frankfurter; words related to psychology and philosophy, such a gestalt,

Übermensch and zeitgeist. From German origin are also: wanderlust,

schadenfreude, kaputt, kindergarten, autobahn, rucksack.

· Hebrew and Yiddish - words used in religious contexts, like Sabbath,

kosher, hallelujah, amen, and jubilee or words that have become slang like

schmuck, shmooze, nosh, oy vey, and schmutz.

· Arabic - Trade items such as coffee, cotton, hashish, muslin; Islamic

religious terms such as jihad and hadith. Also some scientific vocabulary

borrowed through Iberian Romance languages in the Middle Ages (alcohol,

alkali, algebra, azimuth, nadir).

Date: 2015-01-29; view: 3344