[Fyron]

Originally posted by Shadowstar:
I saw a similar joke where the modifications to the English alphabet eventually ended up with the article being written in German...

To really get to the bottom of this whole language thing, consider that English came from Latin, just the same as American English came from British English. Nobody speaks Latin anymore (except for arrogant college kids)...

No, English came from Germanic Languages. It is an amalgamation of the Languages spoken by the native peoples of England, that spoken by the Angles when they took over, and that spoken by the Saxons when they took over (and some Celtic thrown in for good measure). All of these Languages are Germanic Languages. Some French (which is latin-based) made its way in when the Normans (who were Vikings-turned-Frenchmen) conquered England in the 11th century AD. French words were used mostly by the upper ruling classes, and English was used by the lower classes. So, most of English is still based off of the ancient Germanic Languages, with a splash of French thrown in. Scientific terms are usually derived from Latin, but they are not really a part of the common everyday English language.

[ February 25, 2003, 00:04: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]