Contemplating 'Autumn' v. 'Fall' And Where This Leads Us

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I've learnt the word 'autumn' at school because in Germany school children are taught British English. I like it better than 'fall' which is strange considering what I'm going to tell you now. It is derived from the Latin word autumnus which explains the strange combination of 'mn' at the end of the word. The word 'fall' is of Germanic origin.  In Middle English it was 'fallen', in Old English 'feallan', in Old Norse 'falla'. In modern German the word is 'fallen'. So 'fall' should be the more natural word for me. 'Autumn' and 'fall' - a perfect example for the fact that the English language as we know it today is a mixture of two languages, namely Anglo-Saxon and Norman-French ("1066 And All That") which is a daughter of Mother Latin. Every possible result can be seen: the Anglo-Saxon word has remained in the vocabulary; the Anglo-Saxon word disappeared and was replaced by the Norman-French one; the Anglo-Saxon word and the Norman-French exist side by side. They're rarely complete synonyms, though. The meaning may be the same but stylistically there's a difference. Spoken English prefers the Anglo-Saxon terms, formal, written English the Norman-French ones. Just by looking at the English vocabulary you can learn how the people on the British Isles lived after 1066 when William the Conqueror and his Norman-French troops didn't return home but decided to stay. The farmers were Anglo-Saxons. They had the animals the masters wanted to eat. The words for the livestock are Germanic. German (and Scandinavian) pupils have no problems learning the words. Bull, ox, cow, calf = Bulle, Ochse, Kuh, Kalb. Where the Norman-French masters interested in the animals? No, they were only interested in the meat on their plates. They wanted 'boeuf' which you now have as 'beef'. And so it goes on. The words for simple household things are mostly of Germanic origin, administration, politics, theology and science are of Norman-French origin. (The Romans who ruled Britain from 45 BC until 440 AD didn't leave many words. Most of them were military and administrative terms. 'castrum' = 'castle'). Now you know why the English language has such a vast vocabulary. It's a mixture of two languages. But not only this. Due to British Imperialism it has also incorporated many words of the languages of the countries which became part of the British Empire. Does 'bungalow' sound English? The word entered the English language between 1660 and 1680. It is of Hindi origin (bangla) meaning 'from Bengal'. Contrary to what many English speaking people claim English is not a 'difficult' language to learn. The grammar structure isn't complicated, it's in no way comparable to, say, French, Russian or German. Foreigners learning English don't need long until they're able to form and pronounce a correct or at least understandable sentence of English. Try that in one of the other languages I've mentioned here! I'm glad that my native language is German and I had to learn English and not the other way round. The fact that English has so many words does not mean that English people have a vast vocabulary. The number of words someone uses depends on the level of education someone has. You don't need many words for everyday life. Linguists claim that an uneducated native speaker gets along with ~5.000 words. Someone with a higher level of education may know ~10.000 words. Not everyone is a Shakespeare who used  31.534 *different* words. There may have been more words which he knew passively but didn't use actively. Did you know all that or have I told you something new? ----- Photo: Hans Braxmeier, Pixabay