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A Language of Beautiful Impurity

'English is both a Germanic and a Latin language' - and that's its strength

One of the most notable campaigners was Victorian poet William Barnes, who wished to replace foreign loan words with Germanic Anglo-Saxon terms he’d made up: genealogy becomes kin-lore, grammar speech-craft and, perhaps less attractive, forceps become nipperlings. As Crystal also noted, some words have come across the Channel twice, both through Norman and Parisian French, giving us almost-twin doublets such as convey and convoy, gaol and jail, warden and guardian, warrant and guarantee, wile and guile. Thanks to the Normans we have two words for many conditions, such as friendship and amity, brotherhood and fraternity, motherhood and maternity, cheer and cherish, cave and cavern, stand and stay, thoughtful and pensive, smell and odour, help and aid, weep and cry, weird and strange, harbour and port, worthy and valuable, and knowledge and science.

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