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The English language descends from Old English, the West Germanic language of the Anglo-Saxons. Most of its grammar, its core vocabulary and the most common words are Germanic. [ 1 ] However, the percentage of loans in everyday conversation varies by dialect and idiolect , even if English vocabulary at large has a greater Romance influence.
Merchants and lower-ranked nobles were often bilingual in Anglo-Norman and English, whilst English continued to be the language of the common people. Middle English was influenced by both Anglo-Norman, and later Anglo-French. See characteristics of the Anglo-Norman language. The percentage of modern English words derived from each language group:
The following are lists of words in the English language that are known as "loanwords" or "borrowings," which are derived from other languages. For Old English-derived words, see List of English words of Old English origin. English words of African origin; List of English words of Afrikaans origin. List of South African English regionalisms
Even after the vowel shift the language still sounded different from Modern English: for example, the consonant clusters /kn ɡn sw/ in knight, gnat, and sword were still pronounced. Many of the grammatical features that a modern reader of Shakespeare might find quaint or archaic represent the distinct characteristics of Early Modern English.
Spanish borrowed many words from other European languages: its close neighbors such as Catalan or Portuguese, other Romance languages such as Italian and French (this particularly during the Neoclassicist to Napoleonic periods, when French language and culture became the fashion at the royal court), and Germanic languages like English. For example:
A portion of these borrowings come directly from Latin, but some also from Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish; or from other languages (such as Gothic, Frankish or Greek) into Latin and then into English. The influence of Latin in English, therefore, is primarily lexical in nature, being confined mainly to words derived from Latin and Greek roots.
Derived from caño, "a pipe, tube, gorge, tube;" ultimately from Latin canna meaning "reed." [8] carabao from Spanish from Visayan language kalabaw, from Malay language kerabau. caramba from Spanish, meaning "heck"; expression of dread, displeasure, or disapproval, euphemism for carajo carbonado from carbonada, from carbón meaning "coal" cargo
In all these countries, Latin American Spanish is the vernacular language of the majority of the population, giving Spanish the most native speakers of any Romance language. In Africa it is one of the official languages of Equatorial Guinea. Spanish was one of the official languages in the Philippines in Southeast Asia until 1973.