If you thought that most English is largely derive from old Germanic influences, you are correct -- but only for one-syllable words. For words of more than one syllable: Wrong! It turns out that French and Latin influences are overwhelmingly dominant.
At least that is what a check of between 17 and 20 randomly selected words for syllable lengths one through five indicates.
I used the Random Word Generator site
https://randomwordgenerator.com/
to generate 20 words for each syllable class, but then erased occasional words that for one reason or another were unsuitable (I will argue that this selectivity only faintly diminishes the randomness).1
I then checked the
Online Etymology Dictionary
https://www.etymonline.com/
for the major etymological roots of each word.
I used the criteria of Old English, Germanic, French, Latin and Greek. Other influences, such as Old Norse, I did not include. In many cases, the categories overlap. Old French and Latin frequently occur together, as do Old English and Germanic. Interestingly, I saw only one instance of a Celtic influence (which I did not include).
Here are the results (be aware that the percentages sum to more than 100 because of shared influence):
One-syllable words
Old Eng. 63%, Germanic 53%, French 42%, Lat. 32%. Greek 0%.
Two-syllable words
Old Eng: 22%, Germanic 22%, French 39%, Lat. 56%, Greek 5%
Three-syllable words
Old Eng. 15%, Germanic 10%, French 50%, Lat. 60%, Greek 5%
Four-syllable words
Old Eng. 0%, Germanic 6%, French 44%, Lat. 50%, Greek 22%
Five-syllable words
Old Eng. 12%, Germanic 18%, French 59%, Lat. 88%, Greek 0%
We have the oddity that 22% of four-syllable words checked are of Greek lineage versus 0% of five-syllable words. This may have to do with the fact that many five-syllable words are compounded of shorter words, which show little Greek influence. Though I can think of hundreds of common English words of Greek lineage, I am satisfied that, as to plain statistics, Latin is the heavy hitter, completely eclipsing Greek, despite the fact that educated readers are very likely to run across Greek-derived words many times in a day.
1. For example, if a shorter variant of a word had already been used, it seemed nonproductive to count it again. Or, occasionally appearing would be two separate words that the computer saw as a phrase that is virtually a word. I eliminated such phrases as not really being multi-syllable words.
At least that is what a check of between 17 and 20 randomly selected words for syllable lengths one through five indicates.
I used the Random Word Generator site
https://randomwordgenerator.com/
to generate 20 words for each syllable class, but then erased occasional words that for one reason or another were unsuitable (I will argue that this selectivity only faintly diminishes the randomness).1
I then checked the
Online Etymology Dictionary
https://www.etymonline.com/
for the major etymological roots of each word.
I used the criteria of Old English, Germanic, French, Latin and Greek. Other influences, such as Old Norse, I did not include. In many cases, the categories overlap. Old French and Latin frequently occur together, as do Old English and Germanic. Interestingly, I saw only one instance of a Celtic influence (which I did not include).
Here are the results (be aware that the percentages sum to more than 100 because of shared influence):
One-syllable words
Old Eng. 63%, Germanic 53%, French 42%, Lat. 32%. Greek 0%.
Two-syllable words
Old Eng: 22%, Germanic 22%, French 39%, Lat. 56%, Greek 5%
Three-syllable words
Old Eng. 15%, Germanic 10%, French 50%, Lat. 60%, Greek 5%
Four-syllable words
Old Eng. 0%, Germanic 6%, French 44%, Lat. 50%, Greek 22%
Five-syllable words
Old Eng. 12%, Germanic 18%, French 59%, Lat. 88%, Greek 0%
We have the oddity that 22% of four-syllable words checked are of Greek lineage versus 0% of five-syllable words. This may have to do with the fact that many five-syllable words are compounded of shorter words, which show little Greek influence. Though I can think of hundreds of common English words of Greek lineage, I am satisfied that, as to plain statistics, Latin is the heavy hitter, completely eclipsing Greek, despite the fact that educated readers are very likely to run across Greek-derived words many times in a day.
1. For example, if a shorter variant of a word had already been used, it seemed nonproductive to count it again. Or, occasionally appearing would be two separate words that the computer saw as a phrase that is virtually a word. I eliminated such phrases as not really being multi-syllable words.
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