The Story of English episode 2 - The Mother Tongue - Part 1 / 7

[Fladoodle11]

That's the most stereotypical looking frenchman I've ever seen O.o

[sonydogman]

If THE GREEK WORDS where removed from the spoken European languages, there will not be left anything to call it language!

[EaldRice]

@sonydogman Please clarify what you mean.

[gyforget]

FALSE. Language does not evolve. English is barbaric America WINS again.

USA! GOD BLESS YOU, my country of the FREE! Down with England and DOWN WITH SCIENCE!!!

[gyforget]

FALSE. Language does not evolve. Case closed I win.

God will judge you all so wipe harder.

[metalman13666]

there is no dutch in the english lenguage thats frissian....

[KatlynViers]

Hi, does anyone know if there is a written down version online of these videos? I have to watch them for my college class but I have a hearing problem and am having trouble understanding everything they say.

[JohnMatrix89]

@KatlynViers There is a book by the same name from this series if that helps?

[creamyfilling102]

haha wales. that's funny.

[1stLordTheAdmiralty1]

The Modern English language is 40% old french

[Areillis]

Some Latvian now which is very close to Lithuanian.-Agra-early,Esmu-I am,Asinis-blood,Asaru-tears of the eye,Esti-to eat,Avuota-a source,spring water,Bedathi-to worry,Darga-expensive,Duosim-w­e will give,Guovs-a cow,Griva-firth,Grab-to grab,Ganisana-shepherding,Kirm­i-a worm,Kliba-lame,Kuti-a shed,Kataras-each,Medu-honey,N­aba-a navel,Oekas-buildings,Patis-se­lf,Pludi-a flood,Patikama-nice,Raud-to cry,weep,Sunis-a dog,Skab-unhappy,Strava-stream­,Svara-weight,Vardi-words,Uden­-water,Varuoni-heroes,etc

[Areillis]

Here it is one proverb in Lithuanian that sounds very much the same to Sanskrit. -Dievas dave dantis,Dievas duos ir duonas. In Sanskrit-Devas adat datas,Devas dasyati dhanas.In English- God gave us teeth,God will give us bread .Some more similar words to you Dumas-a smoke,Padas-a sole,Vilkas-a wolf,Antras-the second one,Durti-to stab,Duris-a door,Buti-to be,Visur-everywhere,Virsus-abo­ve,Degti-to burn,Ratha-wheels,Abi-both,Bal­tha-white,Sena-long ago,Kas-who,Kada-when,Banga-a wave,Dievas-God,etc.

[Areillis]

Lithuanian is very important among the Indo-European languages because of its conservatism.It is sometimes said that a Lithuanian can understand certain simple phrases in Sanskrit.Lithuanian preserves some very old features that have disappeared from practically all other languages of the family.For example there are some words that haven't changed a bit for 5 000 years.Those are both exactly the same in Sanskrit and in Lithuanian even today.Sunus-a son,Rasa-a dew,Avis-a sheep,Viras-a man,etc.

[Chumandoo3]

English basically originates in India. This program is fairly well made, but it seems to almost ignore this fact, which is odd.

[maths82]

@Chumandoo3

what are you talking about?

[Chumandoo3]

@maths82 English is an Indo-European language. That is, it is descended from a language spoken in India thousands of years ago. Native European languages, such as Basque (still spoken among small populations in Spain) are nearly extinct. Just goes to show you that multi-culturalism at least for Western countries is a great source of innovation and strength. The Base 10 decimal system that we use today also comes from India. The calendar we use originates in Egypt, and Printing and Paper, China.

[maths82]

@Chumandoo3

I'm afraid there isn't conclusive proof of the urmheit of the proto-indo-european culture, in fact, the consensus amongst most research is that the homeland was most likely somewhere in the steppe of present day Ukraine, with no evidence present that it was in India. Likewise for the base ten number system; several ancient cultures are known to have used base ten, not soley an Indian break-through.

[GaeilgeSpraoi]

@maths82 Yeah that's true. I heard that the Indo-European languages spoken in the Indian region came from the mentioned region by spreading eastwards rather than westwards. Also, one mustn't forget the Finno-Uralic/Ugric languages such as Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian which exist also in Europe and could have been spoken before the arrival of the Indo-European languages. In linguistics, much of the origin of languages is still unknown or at least vague.

[1234weyman]

anglo saxon language, wurdon,maedhilde,swoncfe, cunnade,sefan,eacen,hyre,seonb­ende,swa,wraece,earfopa,draeg,­mycel

[1234weyman]

@psviking1 you will be soon, do you know mixed race people are the fastest growing ethnic group in britain!

[psviking1]

Divine is not Anglo-Saxon, it comes from Latin! Hellig(holy) is Scando-Germanic.

[1234weyman]

if english people seriously consider themselves as pure scando-germanics then they must be complete idiots

[psviking1]

@1234weyman ENGLISH. Under the little birch tree is a grasshopper in the long grass. DANISH. Under den lille birk trae er en graeshoppe i det lange graes. NORWEGIAN. Under den lille bjork er en gresshoppe i det lange gresse. SWEDISH. Under den lilla bjorken ar en grasshoppa i det langa graset. ICELANDIC. Undir litla birki tre er grasshopper i the langur grasi.

[1234weyman]

@psviking1 french english. dommage/damage/ boucher/butcher/beof/beef/abba­toir.route/road/rivere/river/g­ibet/gibbet/idiot/idiot/ your name ps viking is, le idiot de village, the village idiot, village/village// lac/lake/ 40 percent of modern english is derived from norman french, anyway , the white race is finished you look at the amount of white females that,want negro males, masses of them,, vous etes un spastique, in english you are a spastic, ps viking, you need some negro pussy

[HesseJamez]

@psviking1

GERMAN: Unter der kleinen Birke ist ein Grashüpfer in dem langen Gras.

[Waiguurd]

@psviking1 NORDFRIISK:  Uner e latj biirkeboom as ån gjarshoppe önj e lång

gjars.

[ArcherBellGallagher]

Englands history is fascinating

[jposh707]

This is basically his language:

OURS: "Goose" ... HIS: "Goo-OOS"

OURS: "Lamb" ... HIS: "La-AAHM"

*rolls eyes*

[tiger1vkulmala]

Thanks! one of the best shows ever on the more often than not "idiot box".

[74stigma]

anglo-saxon english is a totally different from modern english, there are 10 000 words of norman french origin in modern english, there are also masses of greek vocabulary in modern english, this programme is nonsense, DNA tests on english people suggest that english ancestors pre-date saxons celts and romans

[JohnMatrix89]

@74stigma We only use a few thousand words in everyday speech, and the vast majority of those words are Germanic in origin. Most of the Latin/Greek words aren't even used, they were just that, borrowed.

Also I wouldn't put too much faith in those outdated DNA studies. Bodmer's DNA map of Britain has most of England and southeastern Scotland to be of Germanic origin.

[74stigma]

@JohnMatrix89 common words of latin origin, face,touch,view, money,pavement,medium,differen­ce,direct,solid,return,arrive,­accident,pint,task,table,villa­ge,close,fix,change,cry,fantas­tic,container,continue,claim,c­lassic,cause,carry,card,car,po­or,people,parents,deliver,conc­rete,concern,concert,rape,crim­e,attack,beat,batter,perfect,i­diot,stupid,depend,exception,e­xist,exit,exercise,massive,hou­r,bar,bank,battery,belt,bottle­,bowl,box,social,communicate,s­pecial,spend,visit,obey,silenc­e,uneducated,fool

[JohnMatrix89]

@74stigma All languages borrow vocabulary from each other. Just look for a list of common words of German or English origin in Spanish or French. I am not sure of the point you are trying to make? Are you saying English is a mixed language?

[74stigma]

@JohnMatrix89 yes! we have norse words like, window, husband, mistake, arabic words, like alcohol,sugar, matress,, hindu words, thug, bungalow, loot, greek words, agony, centre,cost,stomach, future, planet, electric, ocean, french words , beauty, butcher, button,abbatoir,vermin. beef, entrance, mutton,and germanic words like hand,foot, green, silver,gold, broken, speak, modern english is a mixed language, via english history, roman celtic, norse, saxon,french, and the english in india/persia

[ThePengie24]

@JohnMatrix89 actually spanish, french, and italian origin in german

[ThePengie24]

@JohnMatrix89 actually spanish, french, and italian along with english origin in german

[1234weyman]

@JohnMatrix89 english people are racially mixed, numerous types of people have settled in england, jews, sikhs, hindus, africans, west indians, pakistanis, these have all made an input on the english dna, mixed race relationships are common in the uk, david beckham is actually quarter jewish. there is proud tradition of mixing in england, all peoples who have settled in england have mixed, including the saxons who mixed with the romans and the french.

[JohnMatrix89]

@1234weyman I never said England was purely Germanic in all parts. I just said they were the predominant group. While it maybe true that no population is 100% pure, most people still date within their own ethnicity or race.

[74stigma]

@JohnMatrix89 do not fall for the provocations of weyman bennett, who is a major player in trying to destroy english culture and history, this person is actually communist, that is against europeans in general, type his name in youtube, and see the result for yourself, weyman is the main person behind the UAF which is a violent communist organisation

[JohnMatrix89]

@74stigma I noticed this when I clicked on his profile. I didn't really take his reply too seriously either. I live in the States and even here most people overwhelmingly date within their own ethnicity. Even the ones that claim to be open to other races!

[redcoatsrule]

@1234weyman pakis indians and all that can never be English just like i can never be paki just cause they are born here doesn't make them English they should all be sent home they belong here.

[redcoatsrule]

@redcoatsrule oops missed don't out

[annakwan78]

If you want to watch a more recent documentary about the history of the English language, might I suggest Melvyn Bragg's "Adventure of English: 500 AD to 2000". It is a series of 8 episodes. It's an incredible documentary.

[JohnMatrix89]

@annakwan78 Where can we watch it at?

[annakwan78]

@annakwan78 type "The Adventure of English enlightment777" into the YouTube search bar. It should be the 4th entry down on the list where you have the series in a continuous playlist.  "enlightment777" is the person who posted the series

[retread01]

The descendants of Frisians are now cows.

Do programmes like this still get made in America? Seems like the 70s and 80s were the golden era of American mainstream intellectualism. But I might be wrong, we don't get any American documentaries on terestrial TV in Britain.

[vwbora1point8T]

I second the vague inaccuracies in this video. What else would you expect from a 30 year old video

[teatimelud]

hear that ? The sheepshaggers were here first !

[TinyArts]

Would be funny if the guys from India in the begining were shouting: Who are you! Who are you !

[luv2shop123456]

that guy is HOT.

[kolstom]

Wow. There is so much vague, inaccurate or outdated in this video..amazing.

[Saxonsoldiers]

Wrong wrong wrong.typical of an American documentary to get it wrong! The Angles came from Angeln Germany in the 5th century....NOT 2000 years ago is it. Oh and those bog bodies are IRISH!

[Sirws88]

@Saxonsoldiers The first bog body is Tollund Man and the second is Grauballe Man. Both were unearthed in present-day Denmark; specifically Jutland. MacNeil stats that English came to Briton in A.D. 449 (i.e. the 5th century). But I suspect there are mistakes present elsewhere. The documentary is a quarter of a century old afterall and our understanding of things change of course. Still, I find the program very interesting and probably contains many truths.

[Saxonsoldiers]

@Sirws88 i stand corrected.iv watched nearly all of these (i think) there is one where they are refering to the English spoken in the north of the country, and its norse influence, which i did find to be very true.and very overlooked in most cases.

[partylikeits1066]

William Jones is hot.

[darrenmsparrow]

Fascinating programme. I was at that very castle a couple years ago. You usually find people fishing from the wall he walked along.

[anisuthideyakoindu]

ick segh ju openbar

[isboff]

dejo registro de mi primer ingreso a material de apoyo segun nos indico shelick

[wilkinson8707]

English is Latin, Norman, ancient Greek and Saxon and it all got but together in England and then spread everywhere else e.g. USA that it in a nut shell anyway

[MiracleKD18]

@wilkinson8707

English originally was purely Germanic. It exsisted before the High German constant swift.

Then, the Normans latinized English. The put loads of french shit into it. And so English began borrowing words from other languages....

[sosome57]

I'm reading the companion book. It's great!! Fascinating.

[joy2559]

yes right us english are anglo saxons with blonde hair. bollox! 56 percent of english is from latin

[Ironslad1985]

@joy2559 Yes but via Old English and Old French you ignorant moron. Do NOT be so confidently wrong in future. Check out scholarly academic research (JSTOR, Google Scholar etc) and read in to the origin of the English language and the English people.

[joy2559]

@Ironslad1985 the comment i posted was a joke , i know english very well it is a mixed language.

[Bjowolf2]

@1DerekRubin1

Ah, thank you very much - you are very kind ;-)

So now we just have to something seriously about our goofy accents - LOL

and the worst "word by word" translations that are so very tempting to us, because are so alike, but don't always make any sense in E.

But the results can be quite hilarious though ;-)

Subtranslations into the purest nonsense is a much liked "sport" here :

ie. UNDER-sæt(telser) instead of OVER-sæt(telser) ( = translations or "oversettings" ).

[Bjowolf2]

@Bjowolf2

"have to DO something about our goofy accents. ", that is -

since we already speak some weird sort of pseudo-English, I mean ;-)

I am sure you are or would fairly easily be able to read many simple sentences in "Scandinavian".

[Bjowolf2]

@Bjowolf2

"because THE WORDS are so alike" , that is -

I can't type today, it seems ;-(

[Bjowolf2]

Excellent - thank you ;-)

It really brings things into perspective and makes the points that I have "subconcisously" known all along, ever since I first started to learn English

and began to wonder why this language is so strangely familiar & similar in its basic vocabulary & grammatical structure - and mostly fairly easy for us to learn as Danes, as if we already know half of it from the start and don't have to think very much ;-)

[seamuspowers]

@Bjowolf2 The Angles, Saxons, Jutes came from Denmark, and even during the viking age a Dane and Anglo-Saxon could understand one another.

[Bjowolf2]

@seamuspowers

Yes, I know - I hope, I haven't said otherwise here LOL

As I mentioned the similarities are many and deep, and even today it's as if we "mysteriously" know half of English already from the start - and that we don't have to think very much ;-) - always a good thing LOL

[Bjowolf2]

@Bjowolf2

There are so many similar words - some are just disguised a bit by the odd spelling or various, but rather systematic consonant shifts ( v ~ w, -g ~ k, -b ~-p, sk ~ sh ( D vs. E. ) .. ) - and the basic grammars are remarkably similar too - even down to the irregular verbs.

[Bjowolf2]

@Bjowolf2

So to us learning English often feels more like expanding our own language than learning a completely new one. Oh, if only all languages were as easy as that ... ;-)

[Ironslad1985]

@seamuspowers Um you are not completely right; the Saxons ostensibly came from what is now Saxony in Germany.

[kolstom]

@Ironslad1985 Not correct either; Lower Saxony only; todays saxony's population is not saxon in culture and language; they got their name only much later from the rulers who came from today lower saxony

[mmedefarge]

Thanks for uploading this tremendous video series.

[TheWidukind]

My understanding that the Angles originated from Skane in modern southern Sweden. Two brothers Dani and Anghulf invaded Jutland sometime during the third century. Dani renamed Jutland Denmark. Anghulf moved south, a mixture of his own follows, Jutes and Saxons all caming under his banner. They then came none to be the Angles with their homebase in south western Denmark. Can anyone collaborate the existence of these two brothers?

[Pitcarin7]

Hi Widukind: The "Germanic" tribes, which consists today of Germany (and German speaking countries), The Netherlands, Scandinavia, and England were related peoples, speaking, at one point in time a similar language. Over time, dialects developed as the people moved into different areas. The Saxons and the Anglii, along with the Jutes, who all spoke basically the same language are the ones, from Schlewig/Holstein, and Jutland who invaded Britain

[Bjowolf2]

@TheWidukind

It's "just" a legend (afawk) based on a real historic background (two related neighbouring peoples). The two brothers Dan and Angul, sons of Humle

founded the tribes of the Danes and the Angles, which later migrated to England.

It's desbribed in Saxo Grammaticus' "Gesta Danorum" ´( Deeds of the Danes).

[Bjowolf2]

@TheWidukind

The Anglian tribe is said to have lived in South of the Jutland, around the

peninsule which still bears their name - "Angeln", just South of the present day

Danish-German border in the Sourthern part of the dutchy Slesvig / Schleswig,

which was fully part of Denmark until 1864. The northern part returned to DK after a referendum in 1920 (after WWI.)

[wealthycutie]

thank you!!

[LoNgBoArDsFoRLiF]

Thx for this

[savita1926]

Yes, this fuck up generation started from here and we will two world wars and that would cause 65 million lives.

Something is seriously wrong here. Nothing to be proud of at all.

[LoNgBoArDsFoRLiF]

@savita1926 chill out there drama queen there have been worce wars. War is a part of human history and human nature. Ppl say humans ar ehte only living creature that kill eachother in mass war. But this is not true. Ants do hte same. War is good. Withought it you would not have been able to mke your comment cause computers would not exist.

[savita1926]

No only sick europien bastard would think like that.

We do not need war, we have natu desaster to take care of that. Human race almost got extinc 80,000 years a ago. Few survived and populated teh planet.

Your theory is wrong, go to the white board start working again.

[mmedefarge]

Al Qaeda would be in agreement with you, only they call it "Jihad".

[FatherFalcone3]

@LoNgBoArDsFoRLiF alright, lets put you in the front lines if you think it's so good.