Re: OT: Official language post
| From: | Joe <joe@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Saturday, March 29, 2003, 12:41 |
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Tristan McLeay" <zsau@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2003 4:27 AM
Subject: Re: OT: Official language post
> On Sat, 29 Mar 2003, Joe wrote:
>
> > I think the reason is the disproportionate number of compound words
> > in(other) Germanic langs. That and the high amount of replacement of
native
> > Germanic words with Romance ones. And a good deal of the Germanic words
in
> > English have Romance-based synonyms, which helps with deciphering
Romance.
>
> Rarely are they synonyms, actually. Related words with similar meanings,
> yes, but in many of the ones with a Germanic equivalent, the
> Romance-derived word is much classier, eg. house vs mansion.
>
I don't know...they're used in different contexts(most of them), but they
mean the same thing. Take 'liberty' and 'freedom'. They mean the same
thing, but are used in different contexts.