Foreign-language influences in English
The English language descends from Old English, the West Germanic language of the Anglo-Saxons. Most of its grammar, its core vocabulary and the most common words are Germanic. However, the percentage of loans in everyday conversation varies by dialect and idiolect, even if English vocabulary at large has a greater Romance influence.
Many loanwords have entered into English from other languages. English borrowed many words from Old Norse, the North Germanic language of the Vikings, and later from Norman French, the Romance language of the Normans, which descends from Latin. Estimates of native words derived from Old English range up to 78%, with the rest made up of outside borrowings. These are mostly from [Influence of List of English words of French origin|French on English|Norman/French], but many others were later borrowed directly from Latin. Some of the Romance words borrowed into English were themselves loanwords from other languages, such as the Germanic Frankish language.
Loanwords
A computerized survey of 75,150 words in the third edition of the Shorter Oxford Dictionary, published by Finkenstaedt and Wolff in 1973 estimated the origin of English words to be as follows:- French : 28.30%;
- [List of Latin influence in English|Latin words with English derivatives|Latin (including modern scientific and technical Latin)]: 28.24%;
- Germanic languages : 25%;
- Greek: 5.32%;
- no etymology given: 4.04%;
- derived from proper names: 3.28%; and
- all other languages: less than 1%
- French : 41%;
- "Native" English : 33%;
- Latin: 15%;
- Old Norse: 5%;
- Dutch: 1%; and
- Other: 5%.
Languages influencing the English language
Here is a list of the most common foreign language influences in English, where other languages have influenced or contributed words to English.Celtic
Celtic words are almost absent but do exist, such as the word galore which came about in the 17th century and stems from the Irish, "go leor" which means plenty, or to sufficiency. There are also dialectal words, such as the Yan Tan Tethera system of counting sheep. However, hypotheses have been made that English syntax was influenced by Celtic languages, such as the system of continuous tenses was a calque of similar Celtic phrasal structures. This is controversial, as the system has clear native English and other Germanic developments.French
The French contributed legal, military, technological, and political terminology. French was the prestige language during the Norman occupation of the British Isles, causing many French words to enter English vocabulary. Their language also contributed common words, such as how food was prepared: boil, broil, fry, roast, and stew, as well as words related to the nobility: prince, duke, marquess, viscount, baron, and their feminine equivalents. Nearly 30 percent of English words are of French origin.Latin
Most words in English that are derived from Latin are scientific and technical words, medical terminology, academic terminology, and legal terminology.Greek
English words derived from Greek include scientific and medical terminology, Christian theological terminology.Norman
Castle, cauldron, kennel, catch, cater are among Norman words introduced into English. The Norman language also introduced words of Norse origin such as mug.Dutch
There are many ways through which Dutch words have entered the English language: via trade and navigation, such as skipper, freebooter, keelhauling ; via painting, such as landscape, easel, still life ; warfare, such as forlorn hope '', beleaguer, to bicker ; via civil engineering, such as dam, polder, dune ; via the New Netherland settlements in North America, such as cookie, boss from baas, Santa Claus ; via Dutch/Afrikaans speakers with English speakers in South Africa, such as wildebeest, apartheid, boer, trek; via French words of Dutch/Flemish origin that have subsequently been adopted into English, such as boulevard, mannequin, buoy''.Indigenous languages of the Western Hemisphere
Algonquian: moose, raccoon, husky, chipmunk, pecan, squash, hominy, toboggan, tomahawk, monadnock, mohawkAthabaskan: hogan
Cariban: cannibal, hurricane, manatee
Mescalero: apache
Nahuatl: tomato, coyote, chocolate, avocado, chili
Quechua: jerky, ''potato
Salishan: coho, sockeye, sasquatch, geoduck
Taíno: tobacco
Tupi-Guarani: acai, cougar, ipecac, jaguar, maraca, piranha, toucan''
Spanish
Words from Iberian Romance languages. Words relating to warfare and tactics, for instance flotilla, and guerrilla; or related to science and culture.Italian
There are many Italian words used in the English language relating to music such as piano, fortissimo, and legato, and Italian culture and politics, such as piazza, pizza, gondola, balcony, fascism. The English word umbrella comes from Italian ombrello.Turkic Languages
English contains many Turkish loanwords, which are still part of the modern vernacular, including bosh, Balkan, bugger, doodle, Hungary, lackey, mammoth, quiver, yogurt, and yataghan.South Asian languages
English contains words relating to culture originating from the colonial era in India, e.g., atoll, avatar, bandana, bangles, buddy, bungalow, calico, candy, cashmere, chit, cot, curry, cushy, dinghy, guru, juggernaut, jungle, karma, khaki, lacquer, lilac, loot, mandarin, mantra, polo, pyjamas, shampoo, thug, tiffin, and veranda.German
English is a Germanic language. As a result, many words are distantly related to German. Most German words relating to World War I and World War II found their way into the English language, words such as Blitzkrieg, Anschluss, Führer, and Lebensraum; food terms, such as bratwurst, hamburger and frankfurter; words related to psychology and philosophy, such as gestalt, Übermensch, zeitgeist, and realpolitik. From German origin are also: wanderlust, schadenfreude, kaputt, kindergarten, autobahn, rucksack.Old Norse
Words of Old Norse origin have entered English primarily from the contact between Old Norse and Old English during colonisation of eastern and northern England between the mid 9th to the 11th centuries. Many of these words are part of English core vocabulary, such as they, egg, sky or knife.Hebrew and Yiddish
Words used in religious contexts, like Sabbath, kosher, hallelujah, amen, and jubilee or words that have become slang like schmuck, shmooze, nosh, oy vey, and schmutz.Frankish
Words such as warden and guardian are hypothesized to come from a proto-Romance loan from Frankish *wardōn 'to direct one's gaze'.Arabic
Trade items such as borax, coffee, cotton,''henna, mohair, muslin, saffron, Sofa''; scientific vocabulary borrowed into Latin in the 12th and 13th centuries ; plants or plant products originating in tropical Asia and introduced to medieval Europe through Arabic intermediation ; Middle Eastern and Maghrebi cuisine words.Counting
Cardinal numbering in English follows two models, Germanic and Italic. The basic numbers are zero through ten. The numbers eleven through nineteen follow native Germanic style, as do twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, and ninety.Standard English, especially in very conservative formal contexts, continued to use native Germanic style as late as World War I for intermediate numbers greater than 20, viz., "one-and-twenty," "five-and-thirty," "seven-and-ninety," and so on. But with the advent of the Industrial Revolution, the Latin tradition of counting as "twenty-one," "thirty-five," "ninety-seven," etc., which is easier to say and was already common in non-standard regional dialects, gradually replaced the traditional Germanic style to become the dominant style by the end of nineteenth century.