French + Latin + German = English?

[Tedwonny]

I learnt somewhere that English is a essentially hotchpotch of different languages and a lot of words are from French (it has something to do with the Norman Conquest...). Actually, I do find learning French helps boost my English vocabulary a lot.

So, is the above formula true? Of course, there are words from other languages as well but mainly the above three?

Is there any good books that can tell me more about this? I need some citations badly.

Cheers

 

[bhaisahab]

I learnt somewhere that English is a essentially hotchpotch of different languages and a lot of words are from French (it has something to do with the Norman Conquest...). Actually, I do find learning French helps boost my English vocabulary a lot.

So, is the above formula true? Of course, there are words from other languages as well but mainly the above three?

Is there any good books that can tell me more about this? I need some citations badly.

Cheers

There is a lot of material out there. You could start by reading this: History of the English language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Tdol]

So, is the above formula true?

Not really- the basic sources of English are the languages of the Saxons and Vikings plus French and Latin.

 

[BobK]

Rather than Wikipedia, I'd go first to this video, which was made by the Open Umiversity. It's narrated by Clive Anderson - a man with plenty of Viking blood, as the name suggests (though he speaks like a middle-class Londoner and sometime barrister).

b

 

[Tdol]

I enjoyed that. ;-)