World’s Oldest Language
It is not possible to answer exactly how many languages of the world are there. According to an estimate, the total number of languages in the world is about 6809, out of which the number of speakers of 90 per cent of the languages is less than 100000. There are about 200 to 150 languages that are spoken by more than 1 million people. There are about 357 languages that only 50 people speak. Not only this, but there are also 46 languages whose number of speakers is only one.
About 80 percent of the entries in any English dictionary are borrowed, mainly from Latin. Over 60 percent of all English words have Greek or Latin roots. In the vocabulary of the sciences and technology, the figure rises to over 90 percent. About 10 percent of the Latin vocabulary has found its way directly into English without an intermediary (usually French).
For a time the whole Latin lexicon became potentially English and many words were coined on the basis of Latin precedent. Words of Greek origin have generally entered English in one of three ways: 1) indirectly by way of Latin, 2) borrowed directly from Greek writers, or 3) especially in the case of scientific terms, formed in modern times by combining Greek elements in new ways. The direct influence of the classical languages began with the Renaissance and has continued ever since. Even today, Latin and Greek roots are the chief source for English words in science and technology.
Why has Latin influenced English more than Greek?
3 Answers. Show activity on this post by posting something Thanks !
. English (and most other Western-European languages) adopted many words from Latin and Greek throughout history, because especially Latin was the Lingua Franca all through Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and later.
Is English a mixture of Latin and Greek?
British and American culture. English has its roots in the Germanic languages, from which German and Dutch also developed, as well as having many influences from romance languages such as French. (Romance languages are so called because they are derived from Latin which was the language spoken in ancient Rome.)
Is Russian Latin based?
Russian belongs to the group of Indo-European languages, and is therefore related to Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, as well as the modern Germanic, Romance, and Celtic languages, including English, French, and Gaelic.
What language is English closest to?
The closest language to English is one called Frisian, which is a Germanic language spoken by a small population of about 480,000 people. There are three separate dialects of the language, and it’s only spoken at the southern fringes of the North Sea in the Netherlands and Germany.