How much of modern english has come from other germanic languages?
Please keep in mind the difference between “German,” the language (Deutsch) spoken in Germany, and “Germanic,” the ancestral language (sometimes called Proto-Germanic) of the Germanic languages, like German, Dutch, English, etc. They are not the same thing. According to the Wikipedia article on the English Language that quotes several surveys, 25% of Modern English words are taken directly from Old English (the Germanic source). Here’s what it says about a survey of 80,000 words: * Langue d’oïl, including French and Old Norman: 28.3% * Latin, including modern scientific and technical Latin: 28.24% * Other Germanic languages (including words directly inherited from Old English): 25% * Greek: 5.32% * No etymology given: 4.03% * Derived from proper names: 3.28% * All other languages contributed less than 1% Calling German and Germanic the same thing would be something like considering Italian and Latin the same languages, respectively, which is incorrect.
