Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2023 March 13

= March 13 =

== Calques (istorija) versus coining (povijest) --  if I understand properly the definition of the terms -- for purpose of linguistic  distinction and resistance to foreign influence. Any history of English (post-1066) refusing to take loan words ? == Hello , Aroused my interest by a member's remarks in the most recent March 10th dated topic which concerns the calque of  terms related to time-counting from German to Polish. Of course for several centuries in middle-late medieval period German was the language of trade, scholarship and so on -- not necessarily a prestige language,  but a language which  had developed more useful terms and concepts  for these technical subjects. Same with direct introduction to Russian language of Western European terms  first by Peter the Great then in Bolshevik period (radio, telefon),    versus newly coined terms (samolyot). Contrast with the introduction of terms from prestige languages,  to describe concepts with which --  the non-prestige language was already familiar and could perfectly grasp, e.g.  cow from french cu -- if I'm not mistaken. And the question is this -- evidently English was willing (or forced by Norman yoke) to adopt such foreign vocabulary,  and in later centuries would dish it out,  but was there ever a time (say during  French cultural hegemony or Renaissance period)  when English was not the dominant language,  and instead of taking foreign words,  would invent their own and so on like  described Fishing Publication (talk) 12:35, 13 March 2023 (UTC)


 * See Linguistic purism, inkhorn term and Ander-Saxon and their links. --Error (talk) 16:12, 13 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Fwiw, cow is from Old English cū; you may be thinking about beef, which came from Old French. 46.31.101.81 (talk) 18:11, 13 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Also mutton (from Old French mouton&thinsp;), pork (from Old French porc&thinsp;) and veal (from Old French veel&thinsp;).  --Lambiam 00:02, 14 March 2023 (UTC)


 * Lambiam -- the pattern of native English animal names vs. borrowed French meat names was famously pointed out by Sir Walter Scott in an early 19th-century novel.
 * Fishing_Publication -- there was very little "forcing" in the sense of modern centralized government language policies. From about 1066 to 1250, the upper classes spoke Norman French among themselves, and deliberations in law courts and Parliament were largely conducted in French, but this started to diminish after Normandy was separated from England in 1204, and there was a natural process of assimilation between Normans and Saxons.  Everybody was free to speak whatever language they chose to speak, but learning French could open some paths to upward mobility.  During the 15th century, the official facade of French was wearing thin in a number of ways, and after the Tudors ascended in the 1480s, it was mostly confined to very limited ceremonial roles.
 * As for linguistic calques, direct Latin-to-English calques had a certain prevalence in Old English and early Middle English (see the title of the Ayenbite of Inwyt), but were mostly superseded by French and Latin loanwords... AnonMoos (talk) 01:15, 14 March 2023 (UTC)