German Fish Goulash (Helgoländer Fischgulasch)

Heligoland is a two island German archipelago in the North Sea, about 30 miles from the German mainland. In German, it is "Helgoland" and it is part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. During most of the 1800s, Heligoland was a British possession, having been seized by Britain from Denmark during the Napoleonic Wars. Denmark was Napoleon's ally. In 1890 the British and the Germans reached an agreement giving control of the archipelago to Germany in exchange for some German territories in Africa. The fact that Britain's Queen Victoria was the grandmother of the then German Kaiser, Wilhelm II, likely helped move the deal along.

The main island is only about a half square mile in size, while the second island, "Düne," lying just a very short distance to the east, is only about a quarter square mile in size. Heligoland is essentially motor vehicle and bicycle free, by law, except for authorized vehicles, like for emergencies. Heligoland is known for its beaches and sunbathing areas, its geological rock formations and red sandstone cliffs, its use as a stopping point by seals and a number of birds, making it a great place for bird watching (a bird observatory is there). Heligoland's airport is located on Düne. The actual population of Heligoland is less than 1400, many of whom are Frisians, and they speak a form of North Frisian, alongside standard German, and likely, Low German. From what I understand, a couple hundred thousand tourists visit Heligoland each year. By the way, Heligoland is exempted from collecting European Union taxes and duties on purchases, which means... CHEAP BOOZE! Ah, I mean, reasonably priced alcoholic beverages.

Food wise, Heligoland is famous for its lobsters, but naturally other seafood is common there too (hey, it's in the North Sea). This recipe from Heligoland is subtle, unlike many of the dishes I tend to like, which have strong flavors, but it cannot be highly seasoned, lest the mild taste of the seafood be overwhelmed, although there are other German recipes for fish goulash with much stronger flavors. In this recipe, however, the taste of the seafood shines through so much, you may just have a wish for some "German Egg Grog" to top off your lunch or dinner. (Here is the link to the recipe for grog: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2018/06/german-egg-grog-eiergrog.html  

Ingredients:

1 pound cod (or substitute the cheaper pollock fillets)
1/2 pound small shrimp, shelled
1/2 pound crab meat
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons butter
5 green onions, including some green, chopped
2 potatoes, diced
2/3 cup dry white wine
3/4 cup fish broth or clam broth
6 white peppercorns
3 juniper berries, crushed
1 cucumber, halved lengthwise, seeds scooped out, then sliced
2 to 3 tablespoons dill
1/2 cup sour cream (or creme fraiche)

Cut the fish into chunks (like bite-sized or a little larger), put in a bowl, then season with salt, ground white pepper, salt and lemon juice; set aside. In a pan over low heat, melt the butter and immediately add the chopped green onion. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring enough to make sure that neither the onion nor the butter brown. Add the potatoes, the white wine, the fish broth, the white peppercorns and the juniper berries. Cook for 3 minutes, then add the cucumber. Cook until both the potatoes and cucumber are tender, but not falling apart. Add the fish, the shrimp and the crab (along with any of the lemon juice collected in the bowl), stir well. Cook until the fish and the shrimp are just cooked through, then stir in the dill and the sour cream. Remove from the heat after about a minute or so.
 
Click the photo to enlarge it

WORD HISTORY: 
Cod/Cuttle-The history of these "seemingly" related words is shaky, at best, but there does seem to be some logic to what I've compiled here. They seem to go back to Indo European "gewt," which meant, "to bend, to bow;" thus also, "sack, bag." This gave Old Germanic "kuddon," meaning, "bag, sack." This gave Old English "codd," meaning, "bag, sack;" thus also, "husk for a pod." This then became "codde," before the modern version. The name "seems" to have been applied to a number of similar fish in the North Sea area in the late 1200s, with the theory being that Englishmen back then thought the fish looked like a pod husk. "Cuttle" has the same origins, but it was "cudele" in Old English and it was the name for the "cuttlefish." It then became "cutil," before the modern form. Forms in the other Germanic languages include: German "Kudele," for "cuttlefish," but the German word is now confined to some dialects (the standard German word for "cuttlefish" is "Tintenfisch; literally, "ink fish"); I found references to Dutch "kodde" being a term for "scrotum," which certainly fits in with the "sack, bag" meaning in Germanic, but "apparently" this usage is dialectal or archaic; likewise with Danish "kodde," which seems to be an archaic term for "scrotum" or "testicle;" Swedish "kudde," meaning, "pillow" (a bag stuffed with feathers, straw or rags); likewise with Icelandic "koddi," which also means "pillow."   

Spiked North German Coffee: Pharisäer

As the story goes, this drink started circa 1870 as a way for some Lutheran parishioners on one of the North Frisian islands to fool their devout, anti-alcohol pastor. North Frisia, "Nordfriesland," in standard German, is located on the eastern edge of the North Sea, just below the border with Denmark.* The region is battered by the winds and the waves from the North Sea, making alcoholic beverages a part of life for the people there, as they try to take the chill off of the often windy, damp weather. The pastor fervently tried to reform his alcohol drinking flock, holding regular religious meetings in a pub, where only coffee would be served to attendees. To get around the "coffee only" meetings, the men of this North Frisian island added rum to their coffee, then topped the cup with whipped cream to hold down the smell of the rum from the pastor's nose. At some point, the pastor got a whiff of the rum and shouted, "Ihr Pharisäer!" ("You Pharisees!") This biblical reference gave the name to the drink, "Pharisäer." (Pronounced as if, "far-ee-zay-ah")

Ingredients (per cup):

6 oz. strong hot coffee
3/4 oz. rum
1 tablespoon sugar, or to taste
whipped cream

Pour the coffee into a cup, add the sugar and stir, then add the rum. Top with a thick layer of whipped cream. (The amount of sugar can be adjusted as you like.)

* The boundaries of what has been called "North Frisia" have changed somewhat into modern times, although the basic area is the same. North Frisian, a dialect of a general Frisian language, another West Germanic language, has a long history in the region, but Low German Saxon has also been present in the general area going well back in history, and it gradually lessened the number of North Frisian speakers, although a number of North Frisians speak both North Frisian and Low German. In modern times, standard German, based upon High German dialect (technically, "middle high"), has been taught in schools and is spoken and understood by everyone, so many North Frisians are, therefore, tri-lingual, and some few even speak a fourth language, Danish, or Danish dialect. The overall Frisian language is often mentioned as the closest living language to English, with Low German also being very close, but this is not all that surprising, as Frisian, more especially the North and East Frisian dialects, and Low German Saxon, occupy the area of the ancestral homeland of English, the land of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes (see note below). The Angles seem to have totally picked up and sailed to Britain, along with a large contingent, but not all, Saxons and Jutes, and also many Frisians, where these Germanic people founded England, and where their dialects melded into English. (NOTE: The Jutes have long been seen as a distinct Germanic tribe, but some historians have thought them to be a part of a broader "Saxon" Germanic tribe, or at least affiliated with a Saxon-led confederation of Germanic tribes.)

WORD HISTORY:
North-This word, for one of the directions of the compass, "likely" goes back to Indo European "ner/nert," which meant "left." This then gave Old Germanic "nurtha," meaning "north," with the idea being that when facing the rising sun to the east, north is the direction to the left. This gave Old English "norþ," with essentially the "þ" symbol being the modern equivalent of "(e)th," and indeed, as English and the other Germanic languages adopted the Latin alphabet, the spelling became "north." The other Germanic languages have: German "Nord," Low German Saxon "Noord," West Frisian "noard," Dutch "noord," Danish and Norwegian "nord," Swedish "norr," and Icelandic "norður" (equivalent to "northur"). A special note, Old French borrowed the word from English as "north" (modern French "nord"), and Italian (nord), Rumanian (nord), Spanish (norte) and Portuguese (norte) all borrowed their forms from French, making English the common source.

English & Its Closest Relatives, Part Two

So which modern languages are the closest relatives of English? Most linguists say Frisian is the closest relative; in fact, Frisian and English belong to a subgroup of West Germanic, created by linguists, called "Anglo-Frisian." Frisian is spoken along the North Sea coastal areas in northwestern Europe, which includes parts of the Netherlands and northern Germany. Southern Denmark once had a few thousand Frisian speakers, but the language there is now virtually extinct. Frisian is divided into three dialects (variations), which are limited in mutually intelligible. The largest Frisian dialect is West Frisian, spoken by 300,000-400,000 Frisians in the Netherlands. East Frisian has declined markedly, but Saterland Frisian, spoken by a couple thousand people in northern Germany, is a remnant of the dialect. There is also North Frisian, spoken by some 10,000 in northern Germany, including on the islands off of the North Sea coast.

Another very close relative is Low German, sometimes simply called, get this, "Saxon," or "Low Saxon." The very terms tell you the language is close to English. Low German is not really so much of a written language, in the sense of a "standard" version, rather it has a good many dialects. The dialect in the general area around Hamburg-Bremen-Kiel is located in the ancestral homeland of English, and indeed many words are still very similar to English. As mentioned in "Part One," the Saxons were a large Germanic tribe, only part of which participated in the invasion of Britain. The language of the Saxons who remained in northern Germany is called "Old Saxon" by linguists, and it later became what is termed "Low German." Low German spread across northern Germany, even far into northeastern Germany, to regions now belonging to Poland and Lithuania. The vast territory covered by Low German gave rise to numerous dialects, as the language was influenced and altered by interaction with other languages, like Polish, Lithuanian, and certainly High German. The language of Berlin was originally Low German, but as the city rose in importance in the German state of Prussia, standard German, based largely upon High German, moved into Berlin as the language of government. An interesting situation developed, as High German could not totally displace the Low German of the city's populace. Instead, High German prevailed for the most part, but with certain Low German words and even Low German pronunciation of some sounds remaining. This gave Berlin the unique dialect called "Berlinerisch."* Numbers are difficult to verify, but somewhere between three and five million Germans seem to speak Low German on a fairly regular basis, if not daily. Several million more have substantial knowledge of Low German, but not enough to be considered truly fluent.

In the final installment, more close relatives of English.

* Standard High German came to be taught in schools throughout much of the German speaking world to make communication easy. Previously, when regional dialects were commonly spoken (some still are regularly used among families and friends), a person from Hamburg (Low German) and a person from Vienna (High German), for example, would not easily have understood one another (that's putting it mildly). The use of High German as a standard eliminated this problem, although dialects are still quite common, and these dialects also influence how people speak standard German. 
   
WORD HISTORY:
Behold-The ultimate origins of this word are unclear, although some believe it to be Indo European. It goes back to the Old Germanic compound "bihaldanan," which meant "to keep, to retain, take hold of." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "behealdan," which had similar meanings, but also "keep in view, hold in view," an additional meaning seemingly peculiar to English. The participle form, "beholden," is still used with the meaning "be obligated to," from the sense "be held to an obligation." German has "behalten," which means "keep or retain, including in memory; that is, remember;" Low German Saxon has "behoolden," with the same meaning as standard German; Dutch has "behouden" (notice the "l" is gone), meaning "keep, maintain, preserve;" Danish and Norwegian have "beholde" meaning “to keep, hold on, retain." Apparently Frisian, Icelandic and Swedish do not use related forms of the compound "behold," at least in modern times, but they do have forms of "hold," and that will be the subject of a history very soon..  

English & Its Closest Relatives, Part One

Old English, also called Anglo-Saxon, was formed from two or three Germanic dialects* taken to Britain in the mid 400s A.D. by elements of Germanic tribes from what is today northern Germany.** Modern linguists classify English and its closest relatives as being "West Germanic," a branch of the broader family of "Germanic languages,"*** which itself is a branch of the Indo European language family.

Originally, it is "assumed," I'd say with a good deal of certainty, that the Germanic tribal elements that founded England could understand one another, although they had spoken different dialects (variations) of Germanic, and more particularly of West Germanic. As many of the dialects of West Germanic and of Germanic, in general, developed further, they grew further apart in mutual intelligibility; that is, how much speakers of the respective dialects could understand one another. English then was influenced by the related North Germanic, as Old Norse (an old form of North Germanic) was carried to England by raiders and settlers, usually Danes, but also some Norwegians, who settled mainly in the northeastern part of England, and also in southern Scotland. All of the Germanic dialects were influenced to varying degrees by Latin at one time or another in two ways: the Roman domination of much of Europe gave various military and government terms to other peoples; and, the adoption of Christianity by the Romans, and the subsequent spread of Christianity throughout Europe (and elsewhere), provided a wide variety of words, not just religious, to other peoples, too, as Latin became the language of the Christian Church. English borrowed some Latin words early on, but it saw a more substantial borrowing from Latin in a roundabout way, as the Norman dialect of French was brought to England by the "Norman Conquest," in late1066 A.D. Old French was a Latin-based language, with Germanic influences from the Germanic tribe the Franks, and the Norman dialect (from the Normandy region) was somewhat different from the dialect of Paris and environs, and it had some North Germanic influences, as Norse raiders had settled in the area; thus giving their name to the region and its people (Northmen=Norman). In this case, the Norse speaking rulers adapted to the regional French dialect, but some Norse words (and "perhaps" some pronunciation) were picked up by the French dialect in the process. Their successful invasion of England brought Norman administration to the English speaking populace, and eventually, although after many word borrowings, Norman French was overwhelmed by English, but it was a gradual process.**** The word borrowings from the Normans, in particular, is what has come to differentiate English vocabulary from its Germanic relatives on the Continent, but the most commonly used English words still trace back to the Germanic roots of English.

Next....The closest relatives of English
  
* The two principal Germanic tribes were the Angles and the Saxons. Research seems to show that the entire tribe of the Angles left what is now northern Germany for Briton in the mid 400s. The Saxons, a much larger tribe (probably a confederation of several Germanic tribes), however, did not all participate in the Germanic invasion of Briton. The Jutes were thought to have been another Germanic tribe that participated in the invasion, but in more recent times historians have been divided over this, with some believing the Jutes to have been part of the Saxons (the confederation I mentioned above). Research seems to show that some Frisians and even some Franks participated in the invasion, but not necessarily in great numbers. "Anglo-Saxon" is the term often used for the early English language, or also Old English, and the terms are interchangeable, although to this day "Anglo-Saxon" is sometimes used for the modern English people or for the language, seemingly meant in an affectionate way.   

** Prior to the Germanic invasions, Britain was Celtic speaking (the people being called "Britons"), although the Romans had been in a large part of the main island for a few centuries, but not in sufficient numbers to change these Celts to Latin speaking. The Romans withdrew their forces from Briton for the defense of Italy and Rome itself circa 410 A.D. The Germanic invasions seem to have diminished the Celts from most of what was to become England in several ways: first, the Germanic invaders killed many of the Celts; second, other Celts were made slaves by the conquerors, and they eventually died off or mixed in with the new Germanic population; third, a number of Celts fled into what is now modern Wales in the west of Britain, to Cornwall in modern southwestern England, and to what is now Brittany in modern France. Few Celtic words besides some place names were borrowed into English, leaving many scholars to believe most of the Celts either escaped or were killed by the Anglo-Saxons. Whatever the case, a whole new Germanic speaking society was formed.  

*** There are two other branches of the Germanic languages: North Germanic, represented in modern times by Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Faroese, and Icelandic; and, East Germanic, which is now extinct, but consisted of Gothic, Vandalic, and Burgundian. Sorry, there is no South Germanic, y'all. Remember, these are "modern" classifications, and the speakers of these various Germanic dialects did not go around claiming to speak "West Germanic, North Germanic, or East Germanic."

**** The Romans conquered what is modern France and remained a major presence there for a few centuries before the Germanic speaking Franks conquered much of the area. The area was Celtic speaking before the Romans marched in, but the Romans administered and stationed so many troops there, the area became Latin speaking. When the Germanic speaking Franks conquered much of the area, they were insufficient in numbers to convert the Latin speaking population to their own language; in fact, ever so gradually (a few hundred years), the Germanic speaking Franks lost their language, as it "blended in" with the Latin dialects of the area, although they gave their name to the territory, "France," and their language name to the language of France, "French." Similar happened in England after the Normans took over. Anglo-Saxon society and language were so rooted in England, the Normans were too small in numbers to have their Norman French dialect overtake English, but their administration gave many words to English, but usually from written texts, not from spoken word; thus these former "French" words were not pronounced in the Norman French manner; they were "Anglicized." 

WORD HISTORY:

Tongue-This word goes back to Indo European "dnghweha," which meant "tongue." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "tungon." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "tunge," which then became "tonge," before the modern version. The meaning "language" also developed from the original meaning "organ of speaking or of speech." Common throughout the other Germanic tongues, ah, I mean languages: German has "Zunge," Low German has "Tung," Dutch has "tong," Frisian has "tonge," Icelandic and Swedish have "tunga," Danish and Norwegian have "tunge."  

The German Question, Part Sixty

"Bismarck" Part Five/E "Bismarck as Chancellor & A Treaty With 'Contentious Relatives' ""Ethnic Minorities in Bismarckian Germany/"Northwest/Frisians"

Since the Polish areas of eastern Germany (prior to World War I) have been mentioned in some of the previous articles in this series, for those interested, "Anna Anderson," the woman who claimed to be "Anastasia," the daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, was from that area. I did four articles on her. Here are the links, in sequence:

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2007/07/we-all-love-mystery.html

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2007/07/some-additions-to-we-all-love-mystery.html

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2007/10/update-on-mystery.html

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2008/11/mystery-solved.html

The Frisians were an old Germanic tribe that settled along the northwest coastal areas of Europe (modern Netherlands, Germany, Denmark). Their language is close to English, and indeed they live in the same general area of the old Germanic tribes the Saxons, the Angles and the Jutes. These were the main Germanic elements which participated in the invasion of Briton, and historians believe that a fair number of Frisians were also counted among these invaders. Not all Saxons participated in the invasion, and their Germanic dialect, now referred to as "Low Saxon," or "Low German Saxon," flourished in that general northwest area of Europe, what is now the Netherlands and Germany. No question that over time, "Low German" (English, Frisian and Low German are all close relatives) made big inroads into the Frisian speaking population in the region. The 1900 census of Germany shows 20,600 Frisian speakers. How much that would have changed (downward) from Bismarck's time, I don't really know, but probably at least some. Not only was Frisian losing speakers to Low German, but by Bismarck's time, his promotion of standard German in schools would have made many Frisians bi-lingual, if not tri-lingual (Frisian, Low German, and standard German), and in somewhat rarer cases, multi-lingual (Frisian, Low German, standard German, and a dialect of Danish).* Today, Frisian, specifically "West" Frisian** is spoken in the Netherlands, adjacent to Germany, where there are approximately 350,000 (West) Frisian speakers.*** In Germany, our main concern in this article, "East" Frisian has been in decline for quite some time, and there are only about 2,000 remaining speakers of a dialect of East Frisian called "Saterland," in the German state of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen, in German). "North" Frisian has about 10,000 speakers in the German state of "Schleswig-Holstein," where it is also spoken not only on the mainland, but on some German islands off the coast. In all cases, these East and North Frisian speakers also speak standard German, something that was undoubtedly not so true in Bismarck's time. The main thing about Bismarck and the Frisians is, he promoted the teaching of standard German in schools throughout the country, which gradually made Frisian and German dialects less and less important, although even today, Frisian is still used as an every day language by some in Germany, as are some German dialects, with standard German being used to communicate with German speakers from other areas.

(A Word History is below the notes)

* Low German speakers too were increasingly bi-lingual, being taught standard German in school. Today, Low German speakers have dwindled considerably, as standard German is used more and more. Low German has declined so much, that efforts have been made to promote the teaching of Low German in schools as a second language to keep it from further decline.

** Linguists break Frisian down into three dialects, "West," "East," and "North."

*** I am only using an approximation, and according to several sources, there are many more people of Frisian heritage in the Netherlands who understand West Frisian to varying degrees, but who are not considered fluent in the language, with some of these also being able to read and write some basic Frisian.

WORD HISTORY:
Schnell-This is one of the words frequently heard in movies or on TV when Germans, usually in a World War Two setting, are involved. You may be surprised to know that English has its own very similar word, although it is now archaic. I cannot find an Indo European root for this word, so I can only start with Old Germanic, which had "snellaz," meaning "quick, active." (There seems to have been a secondary meaning of "bold," and I found this additional meaning for both English and German.) This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "snel/snell," with the same basic meaning, and Old High German "snel," again with the same meaning. The word fell out of common usage in English at some point in the Middle Ages. The German word, eventually spelled "schnell," is still very much in use. In German, a "Schnellzug" is an "express train." Low German has "snell," Dutch has "snel." A form of the word was borrowed into some of the Latin-based languages from Frankish ''snel."

How Do You Say That In English?

English... a language that has almost conquered the world and may yet do so. So how did English become English? Well first, linguists, who nowadays prefer to be called "philologists," classify languages just as we do with relationships between people, in a sort of "family tree." (Here I'm going to continue to use the term "linguist.") There are more than twenty language "families" in the world, and English belongs to the "Indo European" language family, along with German, Czech, French, Spanish, Latvian, Italian, etc, etc. Just because the term "European" is used, doesn't mean that all languages spoken in Europe belong to the Indo European family, as Hungarian, Estonian and Finnish, for example, do not. In fact those three languages are related to one another, as well as to Turkish. By the same token, the "European" terminology is deceiving the other way around, as Persian, spoken mainly in modern Iran, Kurdish, spoken in southern Turkey and northern Iraq, and Hindi, one of the main languages of India, are obviously not located in Europe, but they are Indo European. You may be surprised to learn that English is indeed related to Persian, Kurdish and Hindi. (NOTE: The list of languages here is not complete, as there are many other members of the Indo European family, but these are just some examples. The same note will apply to languages mentioned below.)

Further, Indo-European is divided into various subfamily groups, some of which are: Celtic, Slavic, Romance (that is, Latin based), and Germanic. English belongs to the Germanic subfamily. Further still, Germanic is broken into three branches: East Germanic, which no longer has any "living" member languages, North Germanic, which has Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic and Faroese, and West Germanic, which has German, Dutch, Flemish, Frisian, Afrikaans, Yiddish and English. You should take note that the term is "Germanic," and not "German." Linguists further divide the Germanic languages to particular geographic areas, and it gets very technical, so I'll leave things right here.

The basic idea of these various language families and their subdivisions was that, at some point in mankind's history, people began to communicate through speech. As groups of people separated from one another, variations (called "dialects") developed. Keep in mind, until fairly recently in history, travel wasn't all that easy nor fast, and at various times in history (but obviously not always), a large percentage of people lived and died within a very short radius of where they were born, or they had little, if any, contact with people speaking another dialect or language. Altitude and climate had an effect upon how people talked, and thus there developed a difference in pronunciation of the same words. (Linguists, or at least most linguists, would say that if there are 6.5 billion people on Earth, that there 6.5 billion different ways of speaking, as just as people are individuals, so is our way of speaking.) As time passed, these differences developed into more than just "dialects," but rather into separate languages, although often the relationship between these languages was and is still evident.

I'm not a linguist, so I can't really tell you what criteria they use to call one pattern of speech a "dialect," and another a "language," and I don't believe that all linguists agree anyhow. Certainly in more modern times, with national boundaries more firmly established, that has some effect on the terminology, but again, obviously not a total effect, as Americans speak English (although not all Englishmen would agree on that) but we're separate from England. (I believe it was George Bernard Shaw who said, "Americans and the English are two peoples separated by a common language!) Another big difference in a language is whether it is written or spoken.

All languages "borrow" words or terms from other languages, although in most cases, the borrower pronounces or spells the borrowed words in their own manner. Over time, many borrowings have tended to come from military actions, conquests and trade. English is closely related Frisian, German (even more closely to the north German dialects), and Dutch. The reason for this is because the Angles and the Saxons and other Germanic tribes lived in the same general area of northern Europe. Then the Angles and Saxons (along with some smaller Germanic elements) began to raid Britain. Eventually, these Germanic groups overtook Britain, settled there, and established what was to become England.

Frisian is classified by most linguists as a separate language. It is spoken in a very small part of southwestern Denmark, the northwest coast of Germany, and the northeast coast of Holland (or The Netherlands, for the purists). Not surprisingly, it has three "dialects;" that is, variations, each having been influenced by the "larger" language in the region in which it is spoken; that is, Dutch has influenced Frisian speakers in that area, German in that area, and Danish in that area. Frisian and the north German dialects are close to English in many ways, and basic communication between speakers of those dialects and English can be made. I spent a few days in Hamburg, which is in northern Germany, a number of years ago, and there are indeed some remarkable similarities between the dialect of the Hamburg area and English. Just for example, water is spelled the same as in English, although the people I spoke with pronounced the "w" as something between our "w" and the more typical German pronunciation, which is as "v." Standard German, on the other hand, spells it "Wasser," which is pronounced as "vahsser." (Even here, you see the relationship of English and German.)

Over time, there was a reinforcing shot of Germanic speakers into England; these being primarily Danish and some Norwegian speakers, and they gave English some new variations. English, however, was forever changed by the Norman Invasion of England in 1066. Now, this change didn't just happen thirty days after William ( thereafter known as, "The Conqueror") triumphed. There was a big disconnect between the Norman rulers (who spoke a dialect of French) and the Germanic speaking common people. It frequently took hundreds of years for the words English took from Norman French to truly become an established part of our language. We certainly do NOT pronounce them in the French way, as English basically acquired these words through writing, and Englishmen therefore put their own pronunciation to them. These borrowings from the Normans gave English a great deal of flexibility, as some French words gradually supplanted the original English word in one meaning, leaving the original English word to develop a secondary meaning. In "Part Two," I'll give some examples.