Comments by "Lynott Parris" (@DenUitvreter) on "Is English really a Germanic language?" video.

  1.  @RaoDGuitar  True, but the Germans and also the Dutch can compound way further than two, and that matters.
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  2. Is the same thing but also not. I think taking a latin base kind of formalizes it and makes it more abstract, if we look at all the new words for new animals from the age of exploration we see the English make it sound like people who knew latin studied it, while the Dutch named them Dutcher and more grassroots. So the English have hippopotamus, turtle/turtoise and platypus, the Dutch have 'nile horse', 'shield toad' and 'birdbeak animal'. I you'd heard the word, you'd recognize the animal when you saw it. For Latin speakers that would have worked the same with hippopotamus, but not with English speakers. So I think it is also about who got the naming rights, the 18th century English upper class bioligists, or the 17th century sailors from Dutch ships, many of which were of other Germanic origin.
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  3. @ Yes, and that's what you often get with using words from a foreign origin, contrary to the Romans for themselves, you 'elevate' them, disconnect them from the people and their language somewhat.
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