Is It True? English is a really a form of Plattdeutsch or…
““Is It True? English is a really a form of Plattdeutsch or Lowland German, the way it was spoken during the 5th century. It all happened when Germanic invaders crossed the English Channel and the North Sea from northwest Germany, Denmark and Scandinavia to what is now Scotland or Anglo Saxon better identified as Anglo-Celtic. English was also influenced by the conquering Normans who came from what is now France and whose language was Old Norman, which became Anglo-Norman. Christianity solidified the English language, when the King James Version of the Bible was repetitively transcribed by diligent Catholic monks. Old English was very complex, where nouns had three genders with der, die and das denoting the male, female and neuter genders. Oh yes, it also had strong and weak verbs, little understood and most often ignored by the masses. In Germany these grammatical rules survive to this day, whereas in Britain the rules became simplified and der, die and das became da, later refined to the article the! It is interesting where our words came from, many of which can be traced to their early roots. “History” started out as his story and when a “Brontosaurus Steak” was offered to a cave man, he uttered me eat! Which has now become meat and of course, when our cave man ventured to the beach and asked his friend if he saw any food, the friend replied “me see food,” referring to the multitude of fish or seafood! Most English swear words, which Goodreads will definitely not allow me to write, are also of early Anglo-Saxon origin. Either way they obeyed their king to multiply and had a fling, with the result being that we now have 7.6 Billion people on Earth.””
About This Quote
This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.
English evolved from early Germanic dialects, absorbed influences from Norse, Norman, and religious texts, simplifying over centuries.
In simple terms: English grew from Germanic roots, mixing many languages and simplifying grammar.
Appreciate language history to understand modern usage.
Themes
Mood
Type
When to use this quote
- studying etymology
- teaching language history
- tracing word origins
- understanding linguistic change
- appreciating cultural heritage
Key Concepts
Questions to Reflect On
- How does language simplification affect cultural identity?
- What benefits arise from knowing a word’s origin?
Simplification can obscure original meanings and grammatical richness.