Originally posted by MADOC:
quote:
Originally posted by Germanist:
Excuse Me! English did exist at the time, not in Britian but in the Germanic language of the continental Angles, Saxons, Frisians and Jutes.
The roots of the English language are essentially Germanic.
That Latin teacher seemed misguided about why English shares words in common with Latin, which was initially the influence of Christian monks and the Bible, but mostly due to the hated Normans and their French lingo.
The fact that the root of English was spoken in Germany (this does not make this language english, there are way too many differences) does not change the fact that it was NOT spoken in Britain at this time. The Welsh and Cornish languages are direct decendants of the Brythonic languages and there Welsh poems dating from the 6th century that can be read and understood by a modern Welsh speaker. Try that with tales such as Beowolf, that are roghly contempory. Unless you understand Anglo-Saxon you would have a hell of a job.
After all the fact that many of our languages derive from languages spoken in the Indus valley does not mean that we are speaking Hindi or that they spoke Welsh.
English as a language developed in the middle ages from a fusion of several language roots, a fact that gives it its richness and diversity.
Before you speak of the PC squad I would surgest you check out the history of the "Welsh not", I at times we seem to have a grudge about the language there is a reason.
