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The Germanic languages are a group of related languages that constitute a branch of the Indo-European (IE) language family. The common ancestor of all the languages in this branch is Proto-Germanic, spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe. Proto-Germanic, along with all of its descendants, is characterized by a number of unique linguistic features, most famously the consonant change known as Grimm's law. Early varieties of Germanic enter history with the Germanic peoples moving down from northern Europe in the second century BC, to settle in northern central Europe, along the boundary of Celtic civilization, in the northerly lands of the future Roman Empire. The most widely spoken Germanic languages are English and German, with approximately 309–400 million and over 100 million native speakers respectively. The group includes other major languages, such as Dutch with 23 million and Afrikaans with over 6 million native speakers; and the North Germanic languages including Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic and Faroese with a combined total of about 20 million speakers. The SIL Ethnologue lists 53 different Germanic languages. From Wikipedia under the
GNU Free Documentation License  colfa.utsa.edu 300px x 364px | 33.80kB [source page] The Proto Germanic language which evolved into three groups the northern eastern and western covered a geographical area far beyond the borders of modern Germany The  iweb.tntech.edu 545px x 313px | 21.90kB [source page] West Germanic English and German and Frisian From Yahoo Image Search: "germanic language"  romainthey.blog.com chessheraui571ui Fri, 19 Mar 2010 02:25:35 GM At Sheffield, Dutch is an integral part of the Department of Germanic Studies. Within Germanic Studies at Sheffield, Dutch is offered on a flexible basis. Dutch is a . Germanic language. spoken in the Netherlands, the northern part of ...  learngerman.cz.cc admin hu, 01 Apr 2010 02:55:52 GM I'm wondering what . language. I should focus on learning. I'm open to most . languages. that aren't too terribly complicated. Ones I won't learn are . German. and.  learn-englishonline.org admin Sun, 20 Dec 2009 08:00:00 GM Again, speakers of . Germanic languages. will find this aspect easier because they too have similar constructs. Another grammatical difficulty is the relatively complex construction of negative and interrogative forms, often involving the ... From Google Blog Search: "germanic language"  news.google.com BBC News Black Country dialect comes from Old English with some Germanic influence. Brian Dakin, whose organisation Roosterspake performs songs and readings in the ... and more » news.google.com 411mania.com The term "gay" has been around since the 12th century, likely with Germanic origins and initially meant "bright and showy" and "carefree". ... and more » news.google.com Independent But one of the joys of the abundant vocabulary of the English language , full of duplicates of Germanic and Romance origin that mean similar things, ... From Google News Search: "germanic language" If English is considered a 'Germanic' Language, then why do we have derivatives from Latin? Q. I'm taking Latin class, and my teacher likes to mention that English is a Germanic language, not a romance one. Minutes later, she starts talking about derivatives that are in English. Can anyone explain why English is a Germanic language? Asked by noel w - Wed Jul 22 14:35:21 2009 - - 4 Answers - 0 Comments A. When the English language started out, it was heavily based on Germanic languages. During the early second millennium, many French, and therefore Latin words were introduced and incorporated into English. Even after this, the language is still considered Germanic. Answered by unknown - Sat Jul 25 00:40:11 2009 If English people are more Celtic than Germanic why don't they speak a Celtic language anymore? Q. Does anyone know why when did people in what is now England stop speaking a Celtic language if English people are more Celtic than Germanic how come they speak a Germanic language instead of a Celtic language the Scottish the Welsh and the Irish still speak a Celtic language as well their national language which is Germanic i'm just wondering why English people don't speak a Celtic language as well as a Germanic language their national language is Germanic how come they don't speak both a Celtic language and a Germanic language like the Scottish the Welsh and the Irish do. Asked by maxiumus - Tue Nov 3 11:55:13 2009 - - 5 Answers - 0 Comments A. First of all, the majority of English have not been Celts since the 500's. The Anglo-Saxons and other Germanic tribes pushed the Celts to the western parts of what is now "Great Britain" in the 400-500's. As with any conquering group, the Germanic tribes forced their language onto the conquered peoples. Only in outlying areas did people retain their original Celtic language and customs. People in towns and most of the country started speaking Germanic languages. When Alfred the Great started unifying parts of England, his area's dominant dialect became the standard English. The "German-ness" of English became further entrenched when the Norsemen came into England in the 800-900's, dominated many areas, and added words from their… [cont.] Answered by Susie T - Mon Nov 9 19:58:11 2009 Is Irish Gaelic related to the North germanic languages?
Q. Because whenever i hear it spoken, It sounds like a very old Nordic Scandinavian type of language, I have been wanting to learn for a long time now but can anyone tell if it's related to those languages? Asked by ChrisW - Tue Nov 17 10:28:10 2009 - - 4 Answers - 0 Comments From Yahoo Answer Search: "germanic language" |
