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dntbnmpls | 5 years ago
Full context: "English started out as German. Old English, also called Anglo-Saxon, really is a foreign language, and requires serious study. I don't think an anglophone can learn to read it with mere tricks."
> Can we not do better than this?
Can you just stop copying and pasting things out of context?
> But this is like saying that "Spanish started out as French" or "Romanian started out as Italian"
It's more like saying spanish started as latin given the context.
> English is descendended from the Anglo-Saxon dialects
So english started out as german?
cmrdporcupine|5 years ago
Did you even read what I wrote?
German and English started from a common ancestor yes. About at least 2500 years ago, probably. But English did not start out as German any more than German started out as English. They are cousins. The ancestor they share in common is/was not called German. By anybody.
dntbnmpls|5 years ago
"Full context: "English started out as German. Old English, also called Anglo-Saxon, really is a foreign language, and requires serious study. I don't think an anglophone can learn to read it with mere tricks."
> Did you even read what I wrote?
Yes, I even responded on a point by point basis. Did you read what I wrote?
> German and English started from a common ancestor yes
It is clear the author was talking about german as in germanic. Hence why he referred to old english and anglo-saxon. Nobody is saying that english came from the modern german language.
You sneakily copied one sentence out of context to argue nonsense - that the author claimed english came from modern german. You built up a silly straw man and you got called out.
Once again. The author wasn't claiming the modern english language came from modern german. But the language that english descended from was german. Just like the anglo-saxon people were german. As in germanic. Okay?