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Does English sound like other Germanic languages?
<<Actually, German is more conservative than English overall, not only in phonology, especially regarding its vocabulary.
Ironically, you take farwo (Farbe) as an example, an expression which doesn't even exist in English. >>
Proto Germanic farwo exists in English as "fard" (to put on makeup). It comes through that other important germanic language, French.
perhaps Pgmc gelwaz (English "yellow", German "gelb") is a better forbus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtbkz8jKKew
again if its a question of how it sounds than listen to that.
I starting to think Englishis a German Norse hybrid with a latin polish
or as i like to think english is a dutch boy raised by vikings and schooled in french.
If this thread is not about historical relations, at the least you gotta admit when english is sung it sounds alot like swedish. While german don't fit in there at all. German vocalist sound like Innuit throat singers in comparison.
Anent the proto-Germanic farwo, farawa ~
I wonder whether a fallow field and a farrow cow, as both being dun-coloured, might in their respective adjectives bespeak some kinship to the German word Farbe ("colour, dye") ?
<<Anent the proto-Germanic farwo, farawa ~
I wonder whether a fallow field and a farrow cow, as both being dun-coloured, might in their respective adjectives bespeak some kinship to the German word Farbe ("colour, dye") ? >>
'fallow' as in "a fallowed field" is the Old English word 'fealh' from PGmc 'falgo' "harrow, broken up ground" from PIE 'fel-' "to turn"
the other word in Nowly English, 'fallow' "light brown", from a ellous, or "different", root also means "dun". That word, however, is akin to French 'fauve' ("tan blee'd").
'farrow' (of a cow) withbears to her being eacon, or "pregnant", and comes from Old English 'fearr' "bull" (--the cound, or "sex", of which can never worth "eacon" ;), which is the witherward to the bear-back to pigs, which means they are "giving birth". This meaning is from 'fearh' "pig, little pig".
Nice play on words though
Wrength:
<<withbears to her being eacon, or "pregnant", >>
This should read:
withbears to her *not* being eacon, or "pregnant", (like a bull)
Thanks for that, Leasnam.
Well then, might there be a kinship betwixt one of the fallows and one of the farrows ?- What say you fellows ?
O. E., fearh, "swine, pig", being related to furh, "furrow," from PIE, *perk-, "dig, furrow" [cf. L. porcus, Dutch vark, Ger., Ferkel].
I mean, isn't the soil being not only "turned", but "dug up" by the harrow (O. E., fealh), just as truffles are rooted up by swine ? [O. E., fealh, "fallow land", from Proto-Gmc. *falgo ; cf. O. H. G. felga, "harrow", E. Friesian/^/, falge, "fallow" and falgen, "to break up ground"]
Golly, I cannot dispel that ghost of a colour connection. [O. E., fealu, "pale, faded, dark, yellowish-brown", from Proto-Gmc. *falwaz ; cf. Ger., falb]
I'm a city boy meself (Dalkey-Kingstown-Dublin, St. John's-Nfld., Seattle, Portland-Oregon), but I gather that the farrow cow (or ferry cow ; cf. Dutch vaarkoe) was so named for her ability to give milk throughout the winter, not pregnant, yet no virgin she ~ still lactating as having calved the year before.
This is no mere jeu de moo !
[/^/ By the way, what happened to the spelling of "Friesian" ~ as in cattle and horses ?]
Quizzically,
~Q~
Sorry to change the subject. You can go right back to that, but I'd just like to point this out. I actually pointed it out before and other people had said something similar, but here's some videos to demonstrate it. One of these videos is in Frisian. Even though it's a different language, I still think you can hear their accent. The other video is from northeastern England. This is supposed to demonstrate how similar the Frisian accent and the northeastern English accent sound. I think it really is remarkable.
Frisian - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDKm-8MyFnQ&feature=channel
Northeastern English - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hThqwcDpOPY&feature=player_embedded
Another thing I find remarkable is how similar the names of towns in northwestern Germany sound to English towns. Listen to this.
I kid you not, these are in Germany, not England.
Winsum, Dunum, Wittmund, Ihlow, Jever, Westerstede, Delmenhorst, Loxstedt, Elsfleth, Cuxhaven, Hemmoor, Wilster, Wingst, Elmshorn, Quickborn, Thumby, Barkelsby, Idstedt, Cloppenburg
Of course only about 30% of the names sound like that, but that's still something to remark on.
***I kid you not, these are in Germany, not England:
Winsum, Dunum, Wittmund, Ihlow, Jever, Westerstede, Delmenhorst, Loxstedt, Elsfleth, Cuxhaven, Hemmoor, Wilster, Wingst, Elmshorn, Quickborn, Thumby, Barkelsby, Idstedt, Cloppenburg***
Well then, let's see about that.....some of those names, or something similar, could well appear on the map of England, bearing in mind the historical (please remember to aspirate the "h" here) linkls between modern day English and modern day German.
Let's start off with "Winsum" - well, the city of Norwich, in East Anglia, is situated on the River Wensum - a name originating from the Anglo Saxon. So that explains that one.
Dunum? Dunno for sure.....probably not quite like that, but there are plenty of places in England with the "Dun" prefix in their names - eg Dunchurch, in Warwickshire (please remember NOT to pronounce the second "w" in that one!)
Wittmund? No, not really, but there is a Wittering in Cambridgeshire and a Wittersham in Kent - again on the geographical side of England closest to Germany.
Ihlow? No chance, but there is a place in West Yorkshire going by the name of Ingrow - let's hope the residents there don't have any problems with their big toenails.
Jever? Well, the "J" would obviously be pronounced as the English "y" but there is nothing on the map of England resembling that at all, so we can ignore Jumpers Common in Dorset and Joyford in Gloucestershire and even cute little Jugbank in Staffordshire and the even cuter Juniper Green here in Edinburgh.
Westerstede? How about Westerham, in Kent - this is where the mansion known as Chartwell is located, the former home of Sir Winston Churchill. There are several places called Westerton all around England and aslso here in Scotland, which must surely be the closest equivalent of this German name - bearing in mind the similar derivations of the D "stede" and the GB "ton" suffixes.
Delmenhorst? Well, here the interesting bit is the "horst" suffix - probably the same meaning as the English "hurst", which occurs in many UK placenames.....Billingshurst in West Sussex and Hawkhurst in Kent being just two of them.
Loxstedt? Again the ending of the name is the crucial factor here - similar to the German "stadt" and the English "stead", as in highly cosmopolitan Hampstead, in London, and the glorious Moretonhampstead down in glorious Devon, or the ornithologists' paradise known as Finchhampstead, near Wokingham in Berkshire.
Elsfleth? Nope - Elstead in Surrey is too much like all those other "steads" - I can see no "fleths" on the map of England.
Cuxhaven - obviously a coast town and port - there is a Cuxwold in Lincolnshire, a Cuxham in Oxfordshire and a Cuxton in Kent, and as for the "haven" bit, well there is Newhaven in Sussex, a ferry port to Cherbourg in Brittany.
Hemmoor? Hemsworh in Yorkshire and Longmoor in Hampshire.
Elmshorn, Quickborn, Thumby and Barkelsby could well appear on the map of England, mainly confined to eastern districts as the "by" suffix is very Anglo Saxon, and most places with that ending are found in those parts of England closest to the Continent.
Elmshust in Kent, again. "Quick" is too English for words, and so is "born" - why on earth is Quickborn appearing on the map of Germany. Linguistically speaking we really are closer to each other as we think, not to mention geographically and now politically as well.
There is a place in Greater Manchester which is simply called Quick. The mind boggles at the fun you could have relating the name to various local businesses and services available in the area.
That's very interesting, but I was just thinking more about the sound of the names. I actually thought some of these sounded English because they sounded like people's names. Wittmund reminds me of Edmund, which I think sounds pretty English. Jever reminds me of Jeeves, even though I think that's short for Geoffrey, which is from French. Elsfleth is kind of like Ethelfleth, who was an Anglo-Saxon member of a royal family. Finally, Wilster reminds me of Wooster from "Wooster and Jeeves."
Deutchland - England
Nordenham - ?
Dunum - Dunham on Trent (north east Midlands)
Wittmund - Widmouth (far western England)
Ihlow - Hounslow, Marlow Wilmslow etc (hundreds of -low endings all over England)
Westerstede - Weststead (Liverpool) and -stead/sted endings all over Eng aka Stansted. Also Wester element used in English and Orkney/Shetland place names. Wester is also an English word meaning 'to go west'
Delmenhorst - -hurst endings up and down England esp southern Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire and Wessex. Also beyieldered as herst as in Amherst.
Cux - Cux bit in lots of towns and -haven is found in Whitehaven, Newhaven, Peacehaven, North Haven (Poole) Greenhaven, Yachthaven, Langstonehaven (now Langstone Harbour) Keyhaven, Whithaven, Ganderhaven, Gannerhaven (West Yorkshire) Oldliverpoolehaven, New Haven, Totteneyshaven, Middlehaven (Teesmouth) English Milfordhaven influenced Welsh word for haven 'hafan' akin to ice. Hafn. Note: the Romance-loving elites of England replaced lots of 'haven' endings with 'port' still happens with replacing 'dock' with more trendy 'quay' aka 'Surrey Docks' swapped into 'Surrey Quays'
Loxsted - Lockstead English surname and place name.
Elsfleth - Toxteth, Croxteth, Penketh, Aigburth (esp found around Liverpool & Birkenhead) if 'fleth' - fleet: Ebbsfleet (Kent) Purfleet (Essex) Benfleet (Essex) Herringfleet (Suffolk) Broomfleet, Faxfleet, Ousefleet, Yorkefleet, Adingfleet, Swinefleet. -fleet is an allgarden ending up and down England. Elstree for Els element.
Henmoor - Hensmoor (Cumberland) also behundreths of -moor endings and beginings Englandwide and 'hen' found in lots of place names and surnames aka Henman and Moorhen. Damian would have u think that there was only one effing place in England with 'moor' in it.
Thumby and Barkelsby (German -by endings found mostly in far north east corner of Germany near Angeln) English -by endings found (in far greater maniness) on paralel latitude aka north east Midlands of England.
Quickborn - Holborn, Sherborn + other born and born, bourne endings everywhere. Note Quick would be nicer English spelt Qwick Qween etc. Quick in English means 'alive' not just 'fast'
Elmshorn - lots of -horn and 'elm' endings and parts aka Runkhorn and Walshorn + surnames like Blinkhorn etc.
Herford - Hereford etc
Itzehoe - Wivenhoe etc
German -wick endings - English -wick endings etc etc etc
Lots of other akinsomeness betwixt Deutchland and England placenames but too many to be bothered with. Make do with the abovens.
* note: 'Cux' should come underneath a 'Cuxhaven' heading*
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