English

Use this forum to suggest Good Words for Professor Beard.
eberntson
Lexiterian
Posts: 457
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 10:48 am
Location: Cambridge, Mass
Contact:

English

Postby eberntson » Thu May 17, 2012 3:49 pm

English
adj
Definition of ENGLISH
: of, relating to, or characteristic of England, the English people, or the English language

Origin of ENGLISH
Middle English, from Old English englisc, from Engle (plural) Angles
First Known Use: before 12th century

What is the root of this word? It holds so many meanings.
EBERNTSON
Fear less, hope more;
eat less, chew more;
whine less, breathe more;
talk less, say more,
and all good things will be yours.
--R. Burns

User avatar
Slava
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 8039
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Finger Lakes, NY

Postby Slava » Thu May 17, 2012 9:32 pm

Excellent catch, this one. How can it be that our own language has not yet crossed our bows?

Does this mean we're all bent?
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

Philip Hudson
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2784
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:41 am
Location: Texas

Postby Philip Hudson » Fri May 18, 2012 12:12 am

The root is simple. Anglia and England both mean Land of the Angles, a Germanic people originating in the north German peninsula of Angeln. Farther back than that is not known. A Roman Pope, whose name I can't remember, mistook the name for Angel and declared it a fitting description for people so handsome and fair. Of course, the British were handsome and fair before the Angles and Saxons came to Britton. We Celts lost our language but I think we got the better deal on that count. Have you ever heard anyone speak Welsh? Except for place names, The only Celtic word we have in English is whiskey. While the Celts were conquered, they did not die out. Celtic blood runs deep through most English people.

Celt that I am, I am certainly a linguistic Anglophile.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.

LukeJavan8
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 4423
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2009 6:16 pm
Location: Land of the Flat Water

Postby LukeJavan8 » Sat May 19, 2012 11:20 am

I actually heard three boys speak Welsh in the village of
LlanfairPG, the town with the 58 letters. I had one of
them write the name of the town on a piece of slate
for which Wales is famous ("How Green was My Valley",
Morgan Llewelyn) using a nail. The three went on and
on. However the Wales News OnLine reports the
spoken Welsh is losing daily.
-----please, draw me a sheep-----


Return to “Good Word Suggestions”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Semrush [Bot] and 35 guests