The Germanic influence
The Anglo-Saxons, who invaded England in AD 350, came from Germany, Denmark and Holland. They spoke a Germanic language which became the basis of Old English. Even today, words used in modern English for everyday life are mostly Anglo-Saxon, or Germanic, in origin. Germanic languages, such as Danish, German, Norwegian and Swedish, have very similar words for the expressions in the box below. Words of Germanic origin are usually short (often just one syllable) and tend to be informal in modern English.
|
shoe clothes earth sun moon |
day man wife child friend |
house food water sleep love |
say live have be work |
Michael Vaughan-Rees, Geraldine Sweeney, Picot Cassidy: In Britain. 21st Century Edition, Cornelsen Verlag, 2000, page 12