11th June 2009, 9:24 AM
Well, a big chunk of Norman French entered the language after 1066, and English hasn't looked back since, in terms of adding foreign words... it really is one of the language's strenths. However, the core of the language, the construction, grammar, many of the simple, core words... those are all Germanic, and that's why at its core it IS still a Germanic language despite all the additions. They're all things added to the Germanic base.
For instance, I remember reading sometime that in English, many of the simpler words are Germanic, while more complicated ones are often (Norman) French... which would make sense, as the common people continued to speak Middle English after the Normans arrived, while the new Norman nobility spoke French. I'm sure this isn't true in every case (there are a lot of words!), but it is interesting even so.
Living languages are always changing, though... over time they become unrecognizable. This is part of why Latin was so popular for so long -- as a dead language, no one was actively speaking it anymore, so they were free to just keep the language exactly as it was and use it that way. So Latin things written 500 years ago look very similar to Latin today, while 500 year old English is recognizable but clearly different, and 800 years or so back it becomes very hard to understand (think Chaucer)... and there are other languages which have changed faster than English and even things just a couple hundred years ago are unrecognizable. It varies. But yeah, all living languages are always changing. The question is just in what direction. Just because there is no Official Academy of English deciding which words are allowed and which aren't, like France has, doesn't mean that it's not still a Germanic language at its core (and if English had had something like that, I somehow doubt it'd be anywhere near as popular in the world as it is... :)).
For instance, I remember reading sometime that in English, many of the simpler words are Germanic, while more complicated ones are often (Norman) French... which would make sense, as the common people continued to speak Middle English after the Normans arrived, while the new Norman nobility spoke French. I'm sure this isn't true in every case (there are a lot of words!), but it is interesting even so.
Living languages are always changing, though... over time they become unrecognizable. This is part of why Latin was so popular for so long -- as a dead language, no one was actively speaking it anymore, so they were free to just keep the language exactly as it was and use it that way. So Latin things written 500 years ago look very similar to Latin today, while 500 year old English is recognizable but clearly different, and 800 years or so back it becomes very hard to understand (think Chaucer)... and there are other languages which have changed faster than English and even things just a couple hundred years ago are unrecognizable. It varies. But yeah, all living languages are always changing. The question is just in what direction. Just because there is no Official Academy of English deciding which words are allowed and which aren't, like France has, doesn't mean that it's not still a Germanic language at its core (and if English had had something like that, I somehow doubt it'd be anywhere near as popular in the world as it is... :)).
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