{"id":40938,"date":"2019-08-22T18:02:40","date_gmt":"2019-08-22T16:02:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oxfordhousebcn.com\/?p=40938"},"modified":"2019-09-04T16:29:07","modified_gmt":"2019-09-04T14:29:07","slug":"the-secret-french-words-hidden-in-the-english-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oxfordhousebcn.com\/en\/the-secret-french-words-hidden-in-the-english-language\/","title":{"rendered":"The Secret French Words Hidden In The English Language"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe problem with the French is that they have no word for entrepreneur.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

This phrase was attributed to George W. Bush, evidence of his famed<\/strong><\/em><\/span> stupidity. \u2018Entrepreneur\u2019 is a French word, duh! In fairness, he almost certainly<\/a> never said this, but it\u2019s still a fun example of what\u2019s called a loanword.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s a loanword? Well, just as it sounds, it\u2019s a word that\u2019s taken from one language and incorporated into another. Sometimes this process is also called \u2018borrowing\u2019, which is funny because it\u2019s not like we\u2019re ever going to give those words back!<\/p>\n

Can you think of any examples in your language?<\/p>\n

With the relative dominance of English as a global language, especially in business and technology, this borrowing tends to go mostly in one direction. And not everyone is happy<\/a> with having so many anglicisms<\/strong><\/em><\/span> in their language.<\/p>\n

But borrowing words is nothing new. All languages do it. In fact, English is full of loanwords, too. This week we\u2019ll take a quick look at the history of the language and find out why so many English words actually come from French.<\/p>\n

The French Connection<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

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You can think of the English language is a kind of hybrid, composed of words of many different origins. It is classified as a Germanic language, but as much as two thirds of English vocabulary comes from French and Latin.<\/p>\n

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Source: https:\/\/simple.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/English_language#\/media\/File:Origins_of_English_PieChart_2D.svg<\/p><\/div>\n

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Why is there so much French? To answer this we need to go back to 1066, the year of the Norman Conquest<\/a>. William the Conqueror did what he was good at, took over the British Isles and introduced Anglo-Norman French as the language of administration. Most of the population continued speaking Anglo-saxon, but borrowed many terms from the ruling elite<\/strong><\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Of course, due to the proximity of the two countries, many other words and phrases have been taken from French over the years. Here are some of the thousands of words<\/a> of French origin used in English today. See if you can use them in a conversation today!<\/p>\n