In his new book, The Secret Life of Words (reviewed by Kate Colquhoun in the Sunday Telegraph on April 12), Henry Hitchings shows how English has been a far worse delinquent. "Invaded and as invaders, [the English] have "borrowed" copiously from old and new languages - more than 350 of them, according to Hitchings. So English is the great whore of all languages, a hybrid hotchpotch of words accumulated like treasures each time a new thing, concept or technology cries out for a word to give it definition." (Quoted from the Telegraph)So, the English have knicked almost entire sub-vocabularies from other languages, also from Norwegian or old Norse. For instance, seafaring terms like storm, oar, sail, and mast all come from Norwegian Vikings.
Languages are, after all, organic and evolves to fit peoples' linguistic and communicative needs. When new communicative settings arise (e.g with the introduction of new technology), new vocabularies are needed. Nowadays, we get them mostly from English. It is certainly interesting to see that Hitchings enlightens us about how English has in fact also been a great linguistic sponge..
5 comments:
Interesting and of course I observe the same here from living in Norway. You mention some words giving to the English language and I guess the most obvious is 'window' (vindu in Norwegian) and 'door' (dør).
You know my wife is an American and we often talk about this phenomena. The other day she - for fun - got a hip bottle from her friends and she called it 'hip flask' and said thats the only combination she could remember using flask in her vocabulary. She said in this combination, the word had to come from Norwegian :lol:
That's a funny observation :)
I find this subject kind of fascinating. Actually, English-speaking people I have worked with have commented that Norwegian sometimes sounds and looks like English, only with a weird pronunciation, because it sometimes is so similar.
I don't think any self-respecting English professional would ever be ignorant enough as to suggest that English is purely its own language. English, some maintain, contains over 1 million words...the source being? various ofcourse!
All languages are 'organic' like u say. I like to say 'dynamic'...they evolve as we do. We are a much more global nation now, so it follows that our language becomes more global too..it is a natural development.
The only difference between English and other languages, is that it is quicker to evolve and embrace words and expressions from other languages. Far quicker, which is why it is the language medum for business in the world today! It is why you write it like a native too Kenneth.
Native English speaker.
It's ability or willingness to suck up new words is truly one of the English language's strengths, no doubt about that. It makes and has made it very dynamic and able to adjust to new contexts and also to new technologies being introduced.
Another of it's strengths, I think, is that it can be written and spoken with an amazing clarity, which makes it well suited for academic texts which require a very precise prose. Maybe that is also a result of it's huge vocabulary.
I congratulate, what necessary words..., an excellent idea
Post a Comment