01-10-2007, 12:49 PM
Quote:I think the article fails to note the closer example to Britain, that of Roman Africa, there Latin vanished without leaving any trace on Arabic. Social prestige and cultural identity explain that.
I would like to know how many words of the pre-Roman languages entered North African Arab.
The amount of Gallic words entering into Latin, a few hundred, was also disappointing, given that Latin and Gallic were spoken next to ach other for half a millennium? If one compares that to British words entering into English, the very low number is not so surprising.
Maybe Celtic was just too difficult for Latin- and Germanic speakers to enter into their vocabulary? I like that explanation better than to conclude that no British were present to speak to the Anglo-Saxons!
Coming back to this particular topic, of course Scutt nor Oppenheimer have answered the question how they think it was possible that English and British were spoken on the same island for thousands of years, and still only that dozen British words entered into English, or a vice versa.
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
