29: Brief Talk on Roots Jan 6, 2015
Many of you may have noticed that lots of the origins of the words
posted about on Word Facts have come from a Germanic language or from
Latin and Greek. There are reasons for this. English is quick to borrow
words from other languages, primarily from its conquerors, the Romans
and the Normans. English has very few borrowed words from such languages
as Chinese languages. This is due to the lack of interactions until
fairly recently. What words are borrowed are borrowed through
transliteration. Certain words such as 'kung fu' English has borrowed
but has not retained any of its meaning, "achievement of man".