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Latin and Greek Elements in English: A Linguistic Journey

Explore the influence of Latin and Greek on English language evolution, from speech production in the throat to the Great Consonant Shift. This linguistic journey unravels the roots of phonemes, voiced vs. unvoiced consonants, and the development of Germanic branches. Delve into the impact of Jacob Grimm's discoveries in this fascinating exploration of linguistic history.

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Latin and Greek Elements in English: A Linguistic Journey

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  1. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law • all speech production happens in the mouth or throat • throat: larynx • most vowel sounds • produced by the continuous flow of air over the pharynx, in combination with certain configuration in the mouth • back to front: i/e/a/o/u • very variable over time and across regions • nose: middle ground between vowels and consonants • nasals = semivowels

  2. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law • all speech production happens in the mouth or throat • mouth: palate/teeth/lips • most consonants • by stopping and then releasing the flow of air • or narrowing the air stream: fricatives (f/v/z/sh/th) • spirant (/s/): air through teeth PHONEMES VOICED: B D G UNVOICED: P T C FRICATIVES: F V Z SH TH NASALS: M N LIQUIDS: L R CONTINUANTS: W Y LABIOVELARS: Gw Kw ASPIRATES: BH DH GH GwH

  3. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law • voiced vs. unvoiced consonants • based on the use of the vocal chords (or not) • voiced: b/d/g/m/z • unvoiced: p/t/c/n/sh • classes of consonants • based on where the sound is formed in the mouth • labial (lips): b/p • dental (teeth and tongue): d/t • palatal (hard palate): g/c PHONEMES VOICED: B D G UNVOICED: P T C FRICATIVES: F V Z SH TH NASALS: M N LIQUIDS: L R CONTINUANTS: W Y LABIOVELARS: Gw Kw ASPIRATES: BH DH GH GwH

  4. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law • Indo-European had most of these consonants • 18 total • but it was missing: z, sh • and it had a full set of aspirates: bh/dh/gh • these are the consonants that all IE daughter languages inherit PHONEMES VOICED: B D G UNVOICED: P T C FRICATIVES: F V Z SH TH NASALS: M N LIQUIDS: L R CONTINUANTS: W Y LABIOVELARS: Gw Kw ASPIRATES: BH DH GH

  5. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law • the Germanic branch of Indo-European • i.e. the way the IE language evolved as IE speakers moved into northern Europe • West Germanic: German, English, Dutch • East Germanic: now extinct • North Germanic (Scandinavian): Swedish, Danish, Norwegian

  6. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law • West Germanic • developed among Germanic speakers who lived between the Elbe and Oder Rivers

  7. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law WEST GERMANS Elbe River Oder River

  8. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law • West Germanic • developed among Germanic speakers who lived between the Elbe and Oder Rivers • this is the mother tongue of modern German • also English, after the Angles and Saxons invade and settle England • East Germanic • developed among German speakers who lived east of the Oder River

  9. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law EAST GERMANS Elbe River Oder River

  10. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law • West Germanic • developed among Germanic speakers who lived between the Elbe and Oder Rivers • this is the mother tongue of modern German • also English, after the Angles and Saxons invade and settle England • East Germanic • developed among German speakers who lived east of the Oder River • this branch of Germanic is now extinct • Northern Germanic • developed in Denmark, Norway and Sweden; and later Iceland

  11. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law • THE GREAT CONSONANT SHIFT • around 1000-500 BCE, there occurred a significant shift in consonants that affected all Germanic languages • before Common Germanic had begun to break up • the change affected only consonants • primarily voiced, unvoiced, and aspirate consonants • it is unclear why this change happened • “languages drift” “It is often assumed that the change was due to contact with a non-Germanic population. The contact could have resulted from the migration of the Germanic tribes or from the penetration of a foreign population into Germanic territory.” A.C. Baugh, A History of the English Language

  12. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law • the change began when unvoiced consonants (p/t/k) changed into aspirate consonants (ph/th/kh) • for some reason, our Germanic ancestors decided to start speaking breathily all the time • but then it was hard to tell what words meant, so the original aspirate consonants became voiced consonants • then the voiced consonants became unvoiced consonants, bringing all these consonants full circle UNVOICEDASPIRATEVOICEDUNVOICEDLABIALS:P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS:T > TH (F) > D > TGUTTURALS:K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C

  13. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law • that this had happened was first discovered by Jacob Grimm (1785-1863) • linguist, philologist and folklorist • as a student, he went about the German countryside, gathering evidence from locals of archaic words • language in the country often retains archaic constructions lost in the city • 1822: Grimm published evidence of the Great Consonant Shift • henceforth, “Grimm’s Law” • at the same time he and his brother Wilhelm published “Grimms’ Fairy Tales” • he also oversaw the creation of a German dictionary and grammar

  14. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law • now let’s look at Grimm’s Law: • by examining words that at first don’t look like cognates but, when you understand Grimm’s Law, you can see they are! • we’ll do this by looking at Latin/Greek words which haven’t undergone the Great Consonant Shift and comparing them to their English cognates • remember that vowels (and semi-vowels) are unstable and very likely to change — focus only on the consonants • e.g. Latin pater = English _________? • Latin p = English f • Latin t = English th father

  15. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law GEN(US) “race, family” genus, genesis, genetic K_N UNVOICEDASPIRATEVOICEDUNVOICEDLABIALS:P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS:T > TH (F) > D > TGUTTURALS:K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C _______________ KIN

  16. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law GEL(I)D(US) “frozen” gelid, congeal, Jell-O C _ LD UNVOICEDASPIRATEVOICEDUNVOICEDLABIALS:P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS:T > TH (F) > D > TGUTTURALS:K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C _______________ COLD

  17. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law CHOL(OS) “bile” cholera, melancholy G _ L(L) UNVOICEDASPIRATEVOICEDUNVOICEDLABIALS:P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS:T > TH (F) > D > TGUTTURALS:K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C ___________________ GALL

  18. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law HOST(IS) “stranger” host, hostile, hostel/hotel G _ ST UNVOICEDASPIRATEVOICEDUNVOICEDLABIALS:P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS:T > TH (F) > D > TGUTTURALS:K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C ___________________ GUEST

  19. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law DA(CTYLOS) “digit, finger, extremity” dactylic, pterodactyl T__ UNVOICEDASPIRATEVOICEDUNVOICEDLABIALS:P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS:T > TH (F) > D > TGUTTURALS:K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C _____________ TOE

  20. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law D(UO) “pair, both” duo, dual, duplicate T __ UNVOICEDASPIRATEVOICEDUNVOICEDLABIALS:P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS:T > TH (F) > D > TGUTTURALS:K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C _____________ TWO

  21. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law TH(EMA) “act, accomplish” theme, synthesis, antithesis D_ UNVOICEDASPIRATEVOICEDUNVOICEDLABIALS:P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS:T > TH (F) > D > TGUTTURALS:K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C _________________ DO

  22. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law POL(Y) “many, much” polygon, polygamy F_LL UNVOICEDASPIRATEVOICEDUNVOICEDLABIALS:P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS:T > TH (F) > D > TGUTTURALS:K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C _________________ FULL FILL

  23. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law FER(O) “carry” fertile, transfer, refer B__R UNVOICEDASPIRATEVOICEDUNVOICEDLABIALS:P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS:T > TH (F) > D > TGUTTURALS:K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C _________________ BEAR

  24. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law FRAG(ILIS) “crush, destroy” fragile, fragment, fracture BR__K UNVOICEDASPIRATEVOICEDUNVOICEDLABIALS:P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS:T > TH (F) > D > TGUTTURALS:K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C _________________ _______________ BREAK

  25. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law PISC(ES) “sea creature” Pisces, piscary F_SH UNVOICEDASPIRATEVOICEDUNVOICEDLABIALS:P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS:T > TH (F) > D > TGUTTURALS:K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C _________________ _____________________ FISH

  26. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law DOM(US) “house” domestic, domicile, dome T_ME UNVOICEDASPIRATEVOICEDUNVOICEDLABIALS:P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS:T > TH (F) > D > TGUTTURALS:K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C ______________ TIM(BER) T_M TAME (BER)

  27. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law FER(VO) “become hot” fervid, effervescent B_R(N) UNVOICEDASPIRATEVOICEDUNVOICEDLABIALS:P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS:T > TH (F) > D > TGUTTURALS:K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C _________________ BUR(N)

  28. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law GRAN(US) “grain” granary, granola C_R(N) UNVOICEDASPIRATEVOICEDUNVOICEDLABIALS:P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS:T > TH (F) > D > TGUTTURALS:K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C _______________ COR(N)

  29. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law CORN(U) “antler” unicorn, cornet H_R(N) UNVOICEDASPIRATEVOICEDUNVOICEDLABIALS:P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS:T > TH (F) > D > TGUTTURALS:K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C ______________________ HOR(N)

  30. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law DENT(ES) “molar, incisor” dentist, dentition, indent T__TH UNVOICEDASPIRATEVOICEDUNVOICEDLABIALS:P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS:T > TH (F) > D > TGUTTURALS:K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C __________________ ______________ TEETH

  31. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law AG(E)R “field” agriculture, agronomy _CR_ UNVOICEDASPIRATEVOICEDUNVOICEDLABIALS:P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS:T > TH (F) > D > TGUTTURALS:K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C _______________ ACR(E)

  32. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law TON(ITUS) “loud noise” intone, astonish,detonate TH_N UNVOICEDASPIRATEVOICEDUNVOICEDLABIALS:P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS:T > TH (F) > D > TGUTTURALS:K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C __________________ THUN(DER) (DER)

  33. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law FLO(RA) “flower” florid, florist,flourescent BL__ UNVOICEDASPIRATEVOICEDUNVOICEDLABIALS:P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS:T > TH (F) > D > TGUTTURALS:K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C _________________ BLOOM (M)

  34. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law AP(O)- “away from” apostate, apostrophe, apostle _F UNVOICEDASPIRATEVOICEDUNVOICEDLABIALS:P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS:T > TH (F) > D > TGUTTURALS:K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C _________________ OF OFF

  35. Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law PR(O)- “in place of, in behalf of” progress, proceed, pro F_R UNVOICEDASPIRATEVOICEDUNVOICEDLABIALS:P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS:T > TH (F) > D > TGUTTURALS:K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C _________________ FOR

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