Re: [conculture] Re: Greetings!
| From: | dunn patrick w <tb0pwd1@...> |
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| Date: | Monday, March 29, 1999, 18:42 |
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On Mon, 29 Mar 1999, Mathew Willoughby wrote:
> they speak the same English as we do has it evolved completely differently? I
> would
> imagine that they might have more celtic loanwords than
> our English does. Also, with greater resistance to the Viking invasions, I
> imagine that it would have far less of a Norwegian/Danish influence
> than our English does.
Actually, even *with* the Danelaw, there's been a surpisingly small
influence of Danish on English -- Old English resisted, somehow, influence
from Danish. Those things that look, on the surface, to be similarities
are in fact evolved, frequently, from the fact that they're both Germanic
languages. You'll notice if you glance at the OED that most actual
borrowings from Danish come *after* the Norman invasion!
Which is not to say, of course, that there are *no* influences, just
surprisingly small ones.
--Patrick