“When I want to say something in English there are always so many words to choose from! In my language there is one – and you know it’s the right one! Why is English so complicated?”
This is a common observation from learners of English, frustrated that using Google Translate does not guarantee that they will make sense.
The answer is that English has evolved over centuries as a result of the different people who have invaded Britain and settled here. Long ago, our language was Celtic, but then came Germanic tribes, Romans, Vikings from Denmark, Normans from France. Our pagan ancestors were converted to Christianity so the Church, education and the law used Latin for centuries. William the Conqueror (who took over here after the Battle of Hastings in 1066) was from France, so for centuries at court, all the aristocrats and people who aspired to be important had to speak French. The European Renaissance, which brought an expansion of learning and knowledge, brought Greek, Roman, Arabic and Italian influences into English. Then the British started exploring the world and building up an Empire, and new words arrived in our language from around the globe. More recently, the global economic and cultural influence of America has brought more new language.
The result is that about a quarter of modern English words have Germanic (Old English, Scandinavian, Dutch, German) origins and two thirds have their origins in Romance languages (Latin, French, Spanish, Italian). The rest is made up of imports from around 300 other languages.
It’s perhaps no surprise that the French have provided us with cooking terms (e.g., boil, broil, fry, grill, roast, souse, toast, supper, dinner) but they also gave us some useful words to organise our politics (president, representative, legislature, congress, constitution, parliament), social hierarchy (duke, marquis, viscount, baron) and society (city, village, court, palace, manor, mansion, residence, and domicile). Our French speakers were from the higher classes, so is it any wonder that today, words like residence and domicile are the formal (posh) versions of our Germanic ancestors’ (and ordinary people’s) house or home?
For many French or Latin origin words there is a Germanic equivalent. In general, those of Germanic origin are more human and concrete while those with a Romance root are more abstract and intellectual. Take for example freedom (Germanic) and liberty (Romance); love and affection; likelihood and probability. We can thank the Germanic tribes for those annoying phrasal verbs (get up/out/in/over) but luckily, there is usually an easier Romance-rooted equivalent (rise/leave/enter/recover)!
We have lots of words to do with boats and sailing, which came to us via the trading interactions between the East Coast of Britain and the Dutch (buoy, deck, dock, hoist, leak, pump, skipper, yacht). Words used in science and technology derive mainly from Greek and Latin and there is often an equivalent word from each language e.g., periphery (from Greek) is similar to circumference (from Latin); sympathy (from Greek) is a synonym of compassion (from Latin). However, those from Greek are often more specific or technical e.g., metamorphosis, is similar to transformation (from Latin) but refers to a specific process that takes place in nature, whereas transformation is more general.
Thanks to Italian, we have words to describe the beauty of music (crescendo, andante, pizzicato) or architecture (pedestal, cupola, grotto, corridor). And interestingly, our major colonial rivals, the Spanish, contributed words linked to ‘New World’ exploration (galleon, armada, mosquito, guerrilla, cigar) and the new plants discovered (potato, tomato, vanilla) – could it be that they got there first?!
Sugar and syrup came to us via Arabic, along with alchemy, algebra, almanac, zero, zenith and more. Tea came from China (no surprises there), paradise and chess from Persia, Tory and whiskey from Gaelic& Irish, pajama, dungarees and shampoo from Hindi, and obviously, sauna from Norway! And don’t get me started on the USA! The long list of words borrowed from them (sidewalk, check, period, bonanza, truck, mall, cookie, potato chips, garbage, movie, zip code, mail (post) – to mention but a few!) continues to grow.
The list of our linguistic appropriations is long and is a testament to our long and eventful history as an island nation. Language knows no linguistic borders as it follows the people who speak it wherever they go and whatever their experiences. English is continuing to evolve, with many new words from around the world. In it we can read our history, for better or worse. Its richness will only continue to develop as long as we remain open to our friends around the globe.