A lot of words in English have a Germanic and Latin version. The Germanic one tends to be more common in everyday use, while the Latin one tends to be more formal, a consequence of French being the language of the aristocracy back in the day. Spanish is all Latin-derived, so they would of course be the everyday words.
English indeed belongs to the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family i.e. has german it its core structure and basic vocabulary (pronouns, basic verbs, nouns). Also some idiomatic expressions are also rooted in its Germanic heritage.
Latin influence primarily came through old English (Latin via christianity) and middle English when the Normans invaded England. This Latin is mainly in areas like law, governance, religion and literature. It’s estimated that over 60% of modern English vocabulary is derived from Latin, often via French.
Greek is everywhere in the fields of science, medicine, philosophy, and the arts. It makes up a smaller percentage compared to Latin—perhaps around 10% of the English vocabulary, though it forms the basis of many complex and specialized terms.
A modern German speaker might recognize some English words with Germanic roots, but the recognition is often less obvious due to centuries of language evolution.
For Greek speakers, recognizing Greek-derived words in English is significantly easier and straightforward. This is because the words have been adopted verbatim, with barely any transformation. And these words usually fall in the category of more academic, high-level English.
In the parent comment for example, 4 out of 6 words are purely Greek (Cacography, Epeolatry, Kakistocracy, Oikophilia).
I’ve got six of them:
That list is going to send me down a rabbit hole looking for the etymology of words
Feel like tenebrous being on a list of obscure words is tenuous, but maybe I just have esoteric interests.
Unlike many of these I’d heard it before but didn’t know its true meaning. It fits.
Darth Tenebrous
I’m a master in Cacography!
“Pardon my cacography” sure has a better ring to it than, “can you read this?”
Oh, I also really like Mammonism: “the greedy pursuit of riches”, from the Biblical “Mammon”.
‘Tenebroso’ is commonly used in Spanish, at least in Spain. This whole thread is very interesting.
Voldemort is Señor Tenebroso.
A lot of words in English have a Germanic and Latin version. The Germanic one tends to be more common in everyday use, while the Latin one tends to be more formal, a consequence of French being the language of the aristocracy back in the day. Spanish is all Latin-derived, so they would of course be the everyday words.
Confusing and confused comment.
English indeed belongs to the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family i.e. has german it its core structure and basic vocabulary (pronouns, basic verbs, nouns). Also some idiomatic expressions are also rooted in its Germanic heritage.
Latin influence primarily came through old English (Latin via christianity) and middle English when the Normans invaded England. This Latin is mainly in areas like law, governance, religion and literature. It’s estimated that over 60% of modern English vocabulary is derived from Latin, often via French.
Greek is everywhere in the fields of science, medicine, philosophy, and the arts. It makes up a smaller percentage compared to Latin—perhaps around 10% of the English vocabulary, though it forms the basis of many complex and specialized terms.
A modern German speaker might recognize some English words with Germanic roots, but the recognition is often less obvious due to centuries of language evolution.
For Greek speakers, recognizing Greek-derived words in English is significantly easier and straightforward. This is because the words have been adopted verbatim, with barely any transformation. And these words usually fall in the category of more academic, high-level English.
In the parent comment for example, 4 out of 6 words are purely Greek (Cacography, Epeolatry, Kakistocracy, Oikophilia).
See also kleptocracy: rule by thieves. I not infrequently refer to our government as a kleptocratic kakistocracy