Re:How French Was Medieval England?
by vidarh on Saturday January 27, 2024 @06:14AM
(#39154597)
We (my first language is Norwegian, German is my 3rd, so I'm speaking mostly from my experience with Norwegian) tend to see it as far less of an act of "creating a word" than English-speakers tend to when confronted with our languages, though.
English speakers are often amazed at how we "have words for everything", which makes it seem like it's been some conscious act of establishing a new world on purpose. Of course sometimes that is the case, but that process happens in English too.
But exactly because of what you say, directing that amazement at us just combining words is pretty much the same as if we expressed amazement at how English has sequences of words for everything.
It just looks different to English-speakers for whom the merging of multiple words into a combination they've not seen before is not a frequent occurrence.
English speakers are often amazed at how we "have words for everything", which makes it seem like it's been some conscious act of establishing a new world on purpose. Of course sometimes that is the case, but that process happens in English too.
But exactly because of what you say, directing that amazement at us just combining words is pretty much the same as if we expressed amazement at how English has sequences of words for everything.
It just looks different to English-speakers for whom the merging of multiple words into a combination they've not seen before is not a frequent occurrence.