Hi, Saturday, February 12, 2005, 10:57:12 AM, Jens wrote:
> Not all Scandinavian (Norway, Sweden, Denmark) words are similar to the > English ones. > They are all germanic languages, though. > Before the middle ages I guess the English and the Scandinavians could > easily understand eachother. > I guess the North Sea is responsable for this :-) > Many basic words are still very similar: > Eye = �je > Hand = h�nd/hand > Finger = finger > House = hus > Nose = n�se > Arm = Arm > Knee = kn� > Foot = fod > Horse = hest > Waggon = vogn > Cat = kat > Water = vand > Sea = S� > Drink = drik > etc. etc. > Bite = bid > The list seems to go on for ever. That's because we're all one big, happy family united in love, the desire to buy the world a Coke, and the genetic imperative to wear Benetton clothing! > After the middle ages, where the nations were kinda closed, the languages > developed differently. > The English language got a lot of foreign influence (French and Latin i.e.). > I dont know the origin of the Scaninavian word laks (salmon). It has cognates in many languages: Icelandic lax(fiskur), Russian losos, German Lachs, meaning 'salmon'. Some linguistics deduce that the proto-Indo-European ancestor was 'loks'. This could show that the PIE people came from a region of salmon rivers. This evidence is supported by some of the other reconstructed words such as sneighw (snow), bherhgo (birch) and so on. On the other hand, the cognate of loks in some other languages means 'trout', or just 'fish'. http://dienekes.angeltowns.net/articles/ieorigins/ -- Cheers, Bob
