Boris asked about the background to the English language, so here's what I
offer.
I'm not a language expert, and have no doubt that Andrew and Chris ( and
others) will be able to correct me.
Although I am a 5th generation New Zealander, I have living relatives in the
UK on both sides of the family, with whom I am in contact and some of
whom I have visited.
Since I was educated in English, I am proud of its history and heritage; I
guess that comes with the understanding, limited though it may be.
English is and has been a language of adoption of words from other
languages.
Written English goes back to some kinds of Old English of which I have no
detailed knowledge.
However, there would probably have some adoption of words from the Celtic
languages ( Scots Gaelic, Erse, Manx, Welsh, Breton, and the extinct
Cornish). I don't know anything about what the Picts spoke. Practically every
white english person has some Celtic blood in them; it is perhaps the least
recognised major race/bloodline in all the world.
Then there were the invaders; Vikings, Danes (I am 25% Dane !! ) Angles,
Saxons, Romans, Normans. Many of these intermarried and left traces of
languages - the word "skull" comes to mind from the Vikings.
There were trade / fishing links; they met Frisian and Dutch people in the
North Sea and the Atlantic and we share words such as the noun kirk
(church) milk (melk in present day Dutch) and the verb ken ( = to know a
person) as in the song "Do ye ken John Peel with his coat so gay, de ye ken
John Peel at the break of day? ".
Later, academia involved themselves with Latin and Greek as they studied
cultured ancient civilisations, and there is a *lot* of Latin and Greek at the
root (and the suffixes and prefixes) of many words in English.
Through centuries of trade and warfare locally (of which I have practically no
knowledge), there was contact with and adoption of words from French,
Spanish, Portugese, Italian, German, Slavic countries, Nordic countries,
Russian countries, Romania, Turkey and so on. Egypt, Syria, Morocco,
Ethiopia, Sudan. Middle eastern countries.
>From *about* 300 years ago as there was exploration and
development/expansion of the Empire, words from many many races were
encountered and taken into English; consider from North America: igloo,
tepee, totem, papoose, Chinook, narwhal, manatee.
Words from India/Pakistan/Bangladesh, Burma, Siam, China, Nepal etc.
Japan and China.
Not too much from speech islands such as Finnish, Basque, Hungarian.
Then wider; Australian aboriginals; dugong ( and I know not what else but
there will be plenty), Maori and Polynesian generally; taro, kauri, papaya.
Countries from all around the world have will-nilly contributed words which
now make up the English language.
So I treasure / cherish the inheritance English has from these languages,
and the actual spelling is part of that.
My 2 cents ...
Brian Swale.
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