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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.
The language of slang, in common with the English language, is changing all the time; new words and phrases are being added and some are used so frequently by so many, they almost become mainstream. While some slang words and phrases are used throughout Britain (e.g. knackered , meaning "exhausted").
List of English words of Australian Aboriginal origin; List of English words of Brittonic origin; Lists of English words of Celtic origin; List of English words of Chinese origin; List of English words of Czech origin; List of English words of Dravidian origin (Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu) List of English words of Dutch origin
It is a member of the West Germanic language family. The modern English language evolved from Middle English (the form of language in use by the English people from the 12th to the 15th century); Middle English was influenced lexically by Norman-French, Old French and Latin. In the Middle English period Latin was the language of administration ...
The English language and British cultural norms were transmitted by energetic young British business agents on temporary assignment in the major commercial centers, where they invited locals into the British leisure activities, such as organized sports, and into their transplanted cultural institutions such as clubs and schools.
The Nobel Prize laureate in Literature Thomas Stearns Eliot, in his 1948 book Notes Towards the Definition of Culture, credited the prominent Christian influence upon the European culture: [8] "It is in Christianity that our arts have developed; it is in Christianity that the laws of Europe have--until recently--been rooted."
There was a shift away from the use of the Cornish language between 1300 and 1750, with the Cornish people gradually adopting English as their common language.. The first speakers of English resident in Cornwall were Anglo-Saxon settlers, primarily in the north east of Cornwall between the Ottery and Tamar rivers, and in the lower Tamar valley, from around the 10th century onwards.
Coates suggests that some British island and River names may derive from these languages, giving the English examples of Thanet, Scilly, Humber and Severn. [11] There is also evidence that a pre-Celtic, but Indo-European, language provides the etymologies of various English rivers, as part of the theorised Old European hydronymy .