The Evolution of Language

[amateur51]

Philip (Greek, philos hippos = horse lover) would no doubt enjoy an equestrian event or cavalcade at the hippodrome.

nice one gurnemanz

[Frances_iom]

...

Ceffyl, like fenestr &c., came into Welsh via the Norman French invaders, which explains how a word of Latin origin crops up in a Celtic language.

Most terms with religious(Christian) connection in Manx come from Latin - see www.manxnotebook.com/iomnhas/lm3p059.htm for a technical (tho now old description)

[french frank]

Most terms with religious(Christian) connection in Manx come from Latin - see www.manxnotebook.com/iomnhas/lm3p059.htm for a technical (tho now old description)

A very interesting article. I'll study it in more detail. Manx being a Q-Celtic language, like Scots Gaelic, Irish and Old Gaulish (and btw, equus=hippos too).

Yes, although e.g. French developed from Vulgar Latin, once ecclesiastics, thinkers and historians wanted to write in their vernacular instead of in "classical" Latin, they didn't have the terms they needed because Vulgar Latin (of the 'common man') didn't have them. So they had to dive back into Latin and borrow the terms directly. That happened with English, too. Latin had been the written lingua franca of all educated people so those terms did exist in Latin. And so with Manx, it seems - churchmen similarly borrowed from Latin for ideas and things which their own language lacked.

[Pabmusic]

Philip (Greek, philos hippos = horse lover) would no doubt enjoy an equestrian event or cavalcade at the hippodrome.

But steer clear of the river horses, because they're very dangerous (hippos potamios).

[ardcarp]

Also beware the hippocampus:

from Ancient Greek ἱππόκαμπος (hippokampos), from ἵππος (hippos, “horse”) and κάμπος (kampos, “sea monster”).

[Bryn]

Old thread. Newer research:

https://www.pri.org/stories/2011-04-15/worlds-languages-traced-back-single-african-mother-tongue-scientists

[ardcarp]

How fascinating. Postulating that all languages have a 'common ancestor' is quite a step. Is the 'research' based entirely on reduction in the number of phonemes over time? Surely some could have appeared or disappeared any time after the exodus from Africa?