#italic languages

[sequencer987]

Sometimes I really wonder what the world would be like if there were still some extant Italic languages that weren’t descended from Latin.

[ezra-earith]

Latin

testis

witness; one who testifies or attests

For *terstis, from Proto-Italic *tristis, from Proto-Indo-European *tristh₂s ("a third party standing", after the two parties to a contract or dispute), from *tréyes (“three”) and *steh₂- (“to stand”).

WIKTIONARY

[dsm-wannabe-linguist]

[allthingslinguistic]

There was a linguistics category on Jeopardy last night! Start at minute 13 for the entire linguistics category in a row. (Spoilers for the answers in the tags.)

[lasavecuvia]

“Sakreu perakneu upetu, revestu, puře teřte, eru emantu herte, et pihaklu pune tribřiçu fuiest, akrutu revestu emantu herte... “

Let him select the sacrificial victims, and when they are given over, let him inspect them to see if any of them are to be accepted, and in the case of a triple offering, let him inspect them in the country to see if they are to be accepted.

Text in Ancient Umbrian, Italic Language, taken from the Iguvine Tablets, tablet Va, lines 6–10 (written in the native alphabet on the tablet):

[nivenus]

Man, I learn something new everyday [in regards to how formal is usually derived from Latin vs Old English informal]. I never noticed that before. I honestly thought most of our language was derived from German [which came from latin ofc]? Well, I am sort of an etymology nerd, but only because of my anatomy class and how learning the roots helped you understand the vocab :x Oh, and how the Eng language is unique in that it's super time oriented and individualistic...

Actually, if you do a word-by-word count of English, Latin provides a significantly larger portion of our vocabulary than does Old English. But most of those words are highly technical or formal and your everyday vocabulary is more likely to be peppered with words of a Germanic origin.

Latin and Old English actually belong to separate branches of the Indo-European language family (which also includes Hindi and Russian). So they are related, but English (and Old English) aren’t usually considered descendant of Latin anymore than Latin is itself a descendant of Greek or Japanese is of Chinese. There are however many languages that are much more completely descended from Latin, such as French or Spanish, which belong to the Romance branch of Indo-European languages.

As you say, English is classified as Germanic.