Where did English come from? - Claire Bowern

When we talk about ‘English’, we often think of it as a single language. But what do the dialects spoken in dozens of countries around the world have in common with each other, or with the writings of Chaucer? Claire Bowern traces the language from the present day back to its ancient roots, showing how English has evolved through generations of speakers.

Lesson by Claire Bowern, animation by Patrick Smith.

[williamsmith]

I’m from South Carolina and my buddy from New York understands 50% of what I say to him. We’re making progress

[johnrogan]

3 billion humans are speaking the same words but cannot understand each other...how profound is that!

[goergejohn]

Persian: khoob
English: good

Persian: behtar
English: better

Persian: drost, raast
English: right, Just

Persian: dokhtar
English: daughter

Old Persian: Baq
English: Big

Persian: Ga'aw
English: Cow

Persian: Cart (means knife)
English: Cut (what a knife is used for)

Persian: Dar
English: Door

Persian: mard
English: man

Persian: setare
English: star


And many more including the usual father, mother, numbers etc..

[paulbroderick]

I was brought up in England and was always amazed at the change in accent between cities and towns only short distances apart almost if you had immigrated!

[erikziak]

I am a native Slovak speaker and also have been lucky in my life to learn German and English and speak both at a fairly good level. To me, both languages are so similar in many aspects (and both so different to Slavic languages) and when listening to Norwegian, I basically hear a mix of German and English.

[kangaroo]

God: ok England, who do you want your language to be influenced by?
England: yes

[Fenditokesdialect]

Romance and French loanwords used in this one video:

Single: from Old French "sengle" (no modern equivalent)

Language: from Old French "language" (modern langage).

Dialect: from Middle French "dialecte" (modern "dialecte") from Ancient Greek.

Dozen: from Old French "dozaine" (modern "douzaine).

Country: from Old French "contré" (modern "contrée").

Around: from Anglo-Norman "röunt" (modern "rond").

Common: from Anglo-Norman "comun" (modern "commun")

Relate: from Latin "relātus" (no modern French equivalent other than derivatives such as "relation".

Strange: from Old French "estrange" (modern étrange).

Evolve: from Latin "ēvolvō" (Modern French "évoluer").

Generation: from Anglo-Norman "generacioun" (modern "génération).

Major: from Latin "maior" (Modern French "majeur").

Change: from Old French "changier" (modern "changer") from Celtic.

Trace: from Old French "trasser" (modern "tracer".

Present: from Old French "present" (modern "présent").

Ancient: from Old French "ancien" (modern French "ancien").

Modern: from Middle French "moderne" (modern "moderne").

Similar: from Modern French "similaire".

Derive: from Old French "deriver" (modern "dériver").

Originally: from Old French "origine" (modern "origine").

Part: from Old French "part" (modern "part").

Invasion: from Middle French "invasion" (modern "invasion").

Conquer: from Old French "cunquere" (modern "conquérir").

Rule: from Old French "riuler" (modern French "régler" however it's a demominalisation of "règle" which is straight borrowed from Latin).

Class: from Middle French "classe" (modern "classe").

Add: from Latin "addō" (no modern French equivalent though there is a partial cognate in Spanish "añadir" and Galician "engadir").

Massive: from Middle French "massif" (modern "massif") from Greek.

Amount: from Old French "amonter" (modern French hasn't got a verbal equivalent but does have "amont").

Vocabulary: from Modern French "vocabulaire".

Previously: from Latin "praevius" (no Modern French equivalent but there is Italian and Spanish "previo", Portuguese "prévio" and Catalan "previ").

Probably: from Old French "probable" (modern "probable").

Very: from Old French "verai" (modern "vrai").

Familiar: from Latin "familiāris" (modern French "familier").

Recognise and derivatives like Recognisable: from Old French "reconoistre" (modern French "reconnaître" and "reconnaissable".)

Cause as in because: from Old French "cause" (modern "cause").

Family: from Latin "familia" (modern French "famille").

Isle: from Old French "ille" (modern "île").

Century: from Old French "centurie" (obsolete modern French "centurie").

Comparative: from Middle French "comparatif" (modern "comparatif").

Linguistics: from German "Linguistik", from Latin "linguisticus" (modern French "linguistique").

Focus: from Latin "focus" (modern French "focus" is from the English word but there's also the inherited "feu" alongside it as well the related "focaliser").

Grammatical: from Middle French "grammatical" (modern "grammatical") from Ancient Greek.

Structure: from Middle French "structure" (modern "structure").

Pattern: from Old French "patron" (modern "patron").

Sound: from Anglo-Norman "soun" (Modern French "son").

Certain: from Old French "certain" (Modern "certain").

Core: from Old French "cuer" (modern "cœur").

Example: from Old French "essample" (modern French "exemple").

Systematically: from Modern French "systématique" from Ancient Greek.

Counterpart: from Old French "contrepartie" (modern "contrepartie").

Develop: from Modern French "développer" from Germanic.

Direct: from Latin "dīrectus" (Modern French "directe" and inherited "droit".

Just: from Old French "juste" (modern "juste".

Various: from Middle French "varieux" (no modern equivalent though related words like "varié", "varier" and "variation" do exist.)

Descend : from Old French "descendre" (modern "descendre")

Ancestor: from Old French "ancestre" (modern French "ancêtre").

Historical: from Latin "historicus" (modern French "historique") from Ancient Greek.

Reconstruct: from Latin "re- + constructus" (modern French "reconstruire".)

Compare : from old French "comparer" (modern "comparer".)

Possible: from old French "possible" (modern "possible").

Consistency: from Middle French "consistance" (modern French "consistance").

Use: from Old French "user" (modern French "user").

Process: from Old French "procés" (modern "procès).

Include: from Latin "inclūdere" (modern French "inclure").

Large: from Old French "large"(modern "large").

Require: from old French "requere" (modern "requérir").

"Correspondence": from Middle French "correspondance" (modern French "correspondance").

Different: from Old French "diferent" (modern différent").

Branch: from Old French "branche" (modern "branche").

Distant: from old French "distant" (modern "distant").

Displace: from Old French "desplacer" (modern "déplacer").

Unfortunately: root is from Latin "fortunatus" (no Modern French counterpart but related words like "fortune" do exist.)

Allow: from Anglo-French "alouer" (modern "allouer").

Mystery: from Anglo-Norman "misterie" (modern French "mystère").

Remain: from Old French "remanoir" (no modern French equivalents).

Nature: from old French "nature" (modern French "nature").

Prior: from Latin "prior" (modern French "prieur").

Fact: from Latin "factum" (Modern French "fait".)

Million: from Middle French "million" (modern French "million").

People: from Anglo-Norman "people" (modern French "peuple").

[mumblernumber]

Well, when two languages love each other very much...

[boy]

the origins and evolution of language into the hundreds if not thousands of languages we have now fascinates me

[willnash]

I love English so much. You can just feel the texture of so many different languages in it. In its vocabulary, its phonetics, its styles...

[liposify]

From the perspective of a language learner, English just looks like a mix of French and German with a bit of sophisticated Greek terms and with "mutually exclusive" pronunciation and spelling :P

[beast]

"In this country we speak American!"

It cracks me up every time they say it.

[laurab]

There is a German dialect spoken mainly in the north of Germany called "Plattdeutsch" or "Plattdüütsch" that really sounds like English. For example:

English: "Now it's too late"
Normal German ("Deutsch" or "Hochdeutsch"): "Jetzt ist es zu spät"
Plattdeutsch: "Nu is to laat"

I've always wondered and why but now it makes a lot more sense.

Edit: Yes, I do realize that Plattdeutsch is closer to Dutch than to English, I live pretty close to the Dutch border and when we're in the Netherlands we can get around just fine with our Plattdeutsch, even if we don't actually speak Dutch. We might not understand everything, but it's really similar. (In fact, we recently went to the zoo here in Germany, but there's a lot of Dutch visitors there as well because it's so close to the border. We came across a little 4 year old Dutch boy who had lost sight of his parents and could actually figure out his and his parents' names by speaking Plattdeutsch with him so we knew who we had to look for. Luckily his parents were also frantically looking for him and we found them within a few minutes.)

[yiumyoumsan]

2:05 wow, is that the reason why German's word for apple is 'Apfel'?

[znsaidi]

I didn't know that English has so many origins. I knew it has a lot of Latin (especially French) and German backgrounds but not as many as listed in the video. Good to know.

[krisrp]

Wait- does that mean "shirt" and "skirt" are essentially the same word?!

[zephyros]

German is a big brother of English! I can speak them both. (I’m from Russia 🇷🇺) Examples: I can help you - Ich kann dir helfen. She is my friend - Sie ist mein freund. You must be here - Du musst hier sein. Good morning - Guten morgen. Hello - Hallo. This is blue - Das ist blau. Go and wash your hands - Geh und wasch deine hande. Water flows under the bridge - Wasser fliess unter der brucke. I have made it - Ich habe es gemacht. Bring me the book - Bring mir das buch. We drink tea in the morning - Wir trinken tee am morgen. My finger is broken - Mein finger ist gebrochen. I hate the wind. - Ich hasse der wind. Can you fly? - Kannst du fliegen? The grass is green - Das gras ist grun.

[snehasisjena]

Irrespective of its roots, the beautiful language called English, indeed plays a vital role in the modern world communication and is undoubtedly one of the most expressive languages used till date.

[mariammsayeed]

OMG!!! The voice cover is just mesmerising ✨🖤

[dontwatchtheworldburn]

That last statement made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.