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What's an interesting etymology for a common term? (feddit.uk)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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[–] 24 points 3 months ago (3 children)

In English, the words for many animals (chicken, cow, sheep, deer, pig) are derived from proto-germanic, while the word for their meat (poultry, beef, mutton, venison, pork) is French derived.

Bonus: A good chunk of river names are just "River" in the local language. So many River Rivers from newcomers adopting the river names, not knowing it just means "river"

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  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    I just want to add that a great much of English is German and French.

    For example "question" is Germanic rooted while "interrogate" is French.

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  • [–] 9 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    If I were to be pedantic, I don’t know if it’s correct to say that much of English is German as such. Modern standard German/Hochdeutsch and English have a common ancestor but that split was a very long time ago now. You could say that the grammar is better preserved in German but you could say the same about Dutch, or English‘s closest living sibling - Frisian. „German“ has gone through a great many changes from Proto-Germanic, and still, there’s a mess of different dialects/languages from different family branches in one modern state.

    There’s probably a similar argument about the French influence (Norman wasn’t French per se but a closely related Romance language) but I don’t know enough about that.

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