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- German Etymologies: Lesson Two
Lesson 2: Common Ancestry and Borrowing
German and English have many similarities that are unmistakeable,
even to the beginner. Many of the basic words that make up both
languages are nearly identical:
| German: |
die
Hand |
kalt |
schlafen |
der
Computer |
der
Dachshund |
renovieren |
| English: |
the
hand |
cold |
to
sleep |
the
computer |
the
dachshund |
to
renovate |
There are two reasons for the similarity
between the two languages:
- 1 -- their common ancestry
- 2 -- the tendency of languages to borrow
words from each other
Common Ancestry
Proto-Indo-European, a prehistoric language that dates from around
the year 5000 B.C., is the ancestor of many modern languages:
Polish, Russian, Icelandic, Norwegian, English, Dutch, German,
Welsh, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, Greek, Kurdish,
Urdu, Hindi, and many others. Over time, Proto-Indo-European
became divided into various language groups. These groups, in
their turn, split into various subgroups and eventually developed
into the many modern languages of Indo-European ancestry we know
today.
It was only after the 6th or 7th century
A.D., when the subgroup of West Germanic began to split into
Old English, Old Frisian, Old Dutch, Old Low German, and Old
High German that German and English acquired separate identities.
Some of the similarities between modern-day
German and English can be traced back to this close relationship.
Many words having to do with elemental objects, activities, and
emotions are very old, predating the split between German and
English. Consider some of the words we saw at the beginning of
the lesson:
| German: |
die Hand |
kalt |
schlafen |
| English: |
the hand |
cold |
to sleep |
These words and others like them arose
in the Germanic period and have been retained by both modern
languages.
Borrowing
Almost all languages borrow words from other languages. Think
of the many foreign words that have become a part of English:
pueblo (Spanish), smorgasbord (Swedish), schmooze (Yiddish),
spaghetti (Italian), á la carte (French), catamaran (Tamil).
There are three ways that such borrowing
causes similarities between German and English:
- 1 -- English words borrowed into German
- 2 -- German words borrowed into English
- 3 -- words borrowed into both English
and German from a third language
Again, think back to some of the words
we saw at the beginning of the lesson:
| German: |
der Computer |
der Dachshund |
renovieren |
| English: |
the computer |
dachshund |
to renovate |
- The English word "computer"
was borrowed into German.
- The German word "der Dachshund"
was borrowed into English.
- The words "renovieren"/"to
renovate" were borrowed, independently, into both English
and German from Latin.
Knowing that German and English are closely
related both through ancestry and through frequent borrowing
will heighten your awareness of linguistic similarity between
the two languages.
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This page last updated March 12, 2002.
© 2002 Jennifer
Bjornstad
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