German, English, Swedish, and the other Germanic languages belong to the Indo-European family, but they’re odd members. They and Proto-Germanic, their common grandparent, have a lot of vocabulary and grammar utterly unlike other Indo-European languages. Rather, it resembles Semitic languages, like Hebrew and Arabic. That suggests a fascinating lost history, with civilized Middle Easterners setting up camp among the primitives of northern Europe’s great forests. Continue reading “Did Ancient Semites Father the Germanic Languages?”
Tag: Indo-European
Town and Garden: Words Across Time
The English word “garden” sounds like the Serbian and Russian suffixes grade, grad, and gorod, all of which mean “town.” You see them in city names like Belgrade, Leningrad, and Novgorod. The word “town,” on the other hand, sounds a lot like the Dutch tuin, for “garden.” What’s the connection? Continue reading “Town and Garden: Words Across Time”
