The earliest inscriptions in Old Norse are runic, from the 8th century (although there are 200 inscriptions in Proto-Norse going as far back as the 2nd century), and runes continued to be used for a thousand years. The main literary texts are in the Latin alphabet, the great sagas and eddas of medieval Iceland. As Proto-Norse evolved into Old Norse, in the 8th century, the effects of the umlauts varied geographically. The typical umlauts (for example fylla from *fullian) were stronger in the West whereas those resulting ...

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Old Norse language, Old Norse language - Geographical distribution, Old Norse language - Modern descendants, Old Norse language - Sounds, Old Norse language - Vowels, Old Norse language - Consonants, Old Norse language - Orthography, Old Norse language - Dialects and texts, Old Norse language - Old West Norse, Old Norse language - Old East Norse, Old Norse language - Old Gutnish

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Non-native speakers of English, whose native languages either lack an /h/ or use the letter "h" for different sounds, may substitute /x/ for /h/ or not pronounce it at all when speaking English. Voiceless glottal fricative - Arabic. In Arabic, the [h] phoneme is represented by the letter ه. Voiceless glottal fricative - Basque. Some dialects of Basque have [h] as a phoneme, and it is represented by "h". In other dialects, [h] has been dropped, and in some spelling syste ...

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Voiceless glottal fricative, Voiceless glottal fricative - Features, Voiceless glottal fricative - In English, Voiceless glottal fricative - In other languages, Voiceless glottal fricative - Arabic, Voiceless glottal fricative - Basque, Voiceless glottal fricative - Finnish, Voiceless glottal fricative - German, Voiceless glottal fricative - Kazakh, Voiceless glottal fricative - Romanian, Voiceless glottal fricative - Spanish, Voiceless glottal fricative - Uzbek

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The English "William" is taken from the Anglo-Norman language and was transmitted to England after the Norman Conquest in the 11th century, and soon became the most popular name in England, along with other Norman names such as Robert, Richard, Roger, and Hugh (all of Germanic origin, transmitted through the Normans' use of Old French). During the Middle Ages the word "cock" was used to describe a self-assured young man (taken after the image of a strutting self-assured rooster). As a result this nickname was applied to a number of names, including Wi ...

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William name, William name - Origins, William name - English history, William name - First Williams, William name - Name variants

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English is the second or third most widely spoken language in the world today. A total of 600–700 million people use the various dialects of English regularly. About 377 million people use one the versions of English as their mother tongue, and an equal number of people use them as their second or foreign language. English is used widely in either the public or private sphere in more than 100 countries all over the world. In addition, the language has occupied a primary place in international academic and business communities. The current ...

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English language, English language - History, English language - Classification and related languages, English language - Geographic distribution, English language - English as a global language, English language - Dialects and regional variants, English language - Constructed variants of English, English language - Sounds, English language - Vowels, English language - Consonants, English language - Intonation, English language - Tone groups, English language - Characteristics of intonation, English language - Grammar, English language - Vocabulary, English language - Number of words in English, English language - Word origins, English language - Writing system, English language - Basic sound-letter correspondence, English language - Written accents, English language - Dialects, English language - Pronunciation, English language - Social cultural or political, English language - Grammar, English language - Usage, English language - Dictionaries

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Normandy - Languages. The Norman language, a regional language, is spoken by a minority of the population, especially in the Cotentin peninsula in the far West and in the Pays de Caux in the East. Many place names show the influence of this Norse-influenced oïl language; for example -bec (stream), -fleur (river), -hou (island), -tot (homestead). Normandy - Arts. Main article is ...

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Normandy, Normandy - Population, Normandy - Geography, Normandy - Regions, Normandy - Rivers, Normandy - History, Normandy - Channel Islands, Normandy - Culture, Normandy - Languages, Normandy - Arts, Normandy - Religion, Normandy - Food and drink, Normandy - Symbols

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Normans should not be confused with other Viking groups, such as the Vikings known as Danes in England and the Vikings known as Varangians in Russia. Geoffrey Malaterra characterized the Normans as "specially marked by cunning, despising their own inheritance in the hope of winning a greater, eager after both gain and dominion, given to imitation of all kinds, holding a certain mean between lavishness and greediness, that is, perhaps uniting, as they certainly did, these two seemingly opposite qualities. Their chief men were specia ...

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Normans, Normans - Norman characteristics, Normans - Normans and Normandy, Normans - The Normans in England, Normans - The Normans in Scotland, Normans - The Normans in Ireland, Normans - The Normans in Italy Sicily and the Mediterranean, Normans - Sources

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Romanian language - Dacian language. The Dacian language was an Indo-European language spoken by the ancient Dacians. It may have been the first language to influence the Latin spoken in Dacia, but there is very little knowledge about it. About 300 words found only in Romanian (in all dialects) or with a cognate in the Albanian language may be inherited from Dacian, many of them being related to pastoral life (for example: balaur=dragon; brânză=cheese; mal=shore; see: Eastern Romance substratum). Some linguists have asserted tha ...

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Romanian language, Romanian language - History, Romanian language - Classification and related languages, Romanian language - Contacts with other languages, Romanian language - Dacian language, Romanian language - Balkan linguistic union, Romanian language - Slavic languages, Romanian language - Other influences, Romanian language - International words, Romanian language - Geographic distribution, Romanian language - Official status, Romanian language - Dialects and regional varieties, Romanian language - Grammar, Romanian language - Sounds, Romanian language - Diphthongs, Romanian language - Triphthongs, Romanian language - Phonetic changes, Romanian language - Writing system, Romanian language - Romanian alphabet, Romanian language - Reading rules, Romanian language - Group of letters, Romanian language - Punctuation and Capitalization, Romanian language - Language sample, Romanian language - Common words and phrases, Romanian language - Notes

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Romance languages - Evolution compared to Latin. According to the results of the study of M. Pei in 1949, which compares the evolution degree of the languages with respect of their inheritance language (in the case of Romance languages the Latin language), here are the evolution degrees: Sardinian: 8 %; Italian: 12 %; Spanish: 20 %; Romanian: 23.5 %; Occitan: 25 %; Portuguese: 31 %; French: 44 %. See also:

Romance languages, Romance languages - History, Romance languages - Status, Romance languages - Typical characteristics, Romance languages - Distinguishing features, Romance languages - Evolution compared to Latin, Romance languages - Formation of plurals, Romance languages - Omission of final Latin vowels, Romance languages - Words for more, Romance languages - The number 16, Romance languages - To have and to hold, Romance languages - To have or to be, Romance languages - Pidgins and creoles, Romance languages - Constructed languages, Romance languages - Listing, Romance languages - Ethnologue classification

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Alderney shares a history with the other Channel Islands, becoming an island in the Neolithic period as the waters of the Channel rose. The etymology of the Island's name is obscure. It is known in Latin as Riduna (giving the rarely-used adjective Ridunian for inhabitants of Alderney), but as with the names of the all the Channel Islands in the Roman period there is a degree of confusion. Riduna may be the original name of Tatihou, while Alderney is conjectured to be identified with Sarmia. Alderney/ ...

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Alderney, Alderney - History, Alderney - Politics, Alderney - Geography, Alderney - Culture

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The French language is a romance dialect derived from Vulgar Latin and heavily influenced principally by Celtic and Frankish. Beginning in the 11th century, literature written in medieval French was one of the oldest vernacular (non-Latin) literatures in western Europe and it became a key source of literary themes in the Middle Ages across the continent. Although the European prominence of French literature was eclipsed in part by vernacular literature in Italy in the 14th century, literature in France in the 16th century underwent a ...

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French literature, French literature - French literature, French literature - Literatures of other languages of France, French literature - Selected list of French literary classics, French literature - Literary criticism, French literature - Poetry

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Major articles: Politics of Jersey, Politics of Guernsey The Channel Islands fall into two separate self-governing bailiwicks. Both the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey are British crown dependencies, but neither is part of the United Kingdom. They have been part of the Duchy of Normandy since the 10th century and Queen Elizabeth II is often referred to by her traditional and conventional title of Duke of Normandy. However, pursuant to the Treaty of Paris (1259) she is not the Duke in a constitutional capacity and ins ...

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Channel Islands, Channel Islands - History, Channel Islands - Politics, Channel Islands - Geography, Channel Islands - Economy, Channel Islands - Transport and Communications, Channel Islands - Culture, Channel Islands - Other islands in the English channel

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As a language, English is derived from the Anglo-Saxon, a dialect of West Germanic (as was Old Low German), although its current vocabulary includes words from many languages. The Anglo-Saxon roots can be seen in the similarity of numbers in English and German, particularly seven/sieben, eight/acht, nine/neun and ten/zehn. Pronouns are also cognate: I/ich; thou/Du; we/wir; she/sie. However, language change has eroded many grammatical elements, such as the noun case system, which is grea ...

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Etymology, Etymology - Basic ideas in etymology, Etymology - English etymology, Etymology - History of etymology, Etymology - Bibliography

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Jèrriais, the island's Norman language, is spoken by a minority of the population, although it was the majority language in the 19th century. Among those who still speak the language one can identify the parish of origin of a speaker by differences in phonology and lexis. Many place names are in Jèrriais, and French and English place names are also to be found. Anglicisation of the toponymy increased apace with the migration of English people into the island since the end of the Napoleonic wars. Since 1900, English has been permitted in debates in ...

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Culture of Jersey, Culture of Jersey - Languages, Culture of Jersey - Literature, Culture of Jersey - Art, Culture of Jersey - Performing arts, Culture of Jersey - Music and dance, Culture of Jersey - Religion, Culture of Jersey - Folklore and customs, Culture of Jersey - Food and drink, Culture of Jersey - Sport

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English-speaking Europe - Wales. The English language was spread through Europe, as indeed throughout the world, by British colonial expansion. The oldest of the English colonies is Wales and this nation has been subjugated since 1282, when Edward I of England defeated Llywelyn the Last, Wales's last independent prince, in battle. Edward constructed a series of great stone castles in order to keep the Welsh under control and set in place English domination of the area which was to last until the present day. With ...

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English-speaking Europe, English-speaking Europe - History of English in England, English-speaking Europe - Classification and related languages, English-speaking Europe - The spread of English, English-speaking Europe - Wales, English-speaking Europe - Ireland, English-speaking Europe - Scotland, English-speaking Europe - English outside the British Isles, English-speaking Europe - Gibraltar, English-speaking Europe - Cyprus, English-speaking Europe - Malta

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Sark is often considered to be the last feudal state in Europe. The Seigneur of Sark is the head of the feudal government of the Isle of Sark. Many of the laws, particularly those related to inheritance and the rule of the Seigneur, are little changed since they were enacted in 1565 under Queen Elizabeth I. Sark's constitution has been democratised in recent years since the death of Sybil Hathaway, Dame of Sark. More power is now in the hands of the elected members of the leg ...

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Sark, Sark - Geography, Sark - Politics, Sark - History, Sark - Sercquiais, Sark - Clameur de Haro

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Pays de Caux - Independent Gaul. The Caletes Julius Caesar’s account of his military campaigns (Bellum Gallicum, The Gallic War) gives details of the Caletes, ancestors of the Cauchois (see Book II, 4, 9, ; Book VII, 75, 3-4, Book VIII, 7, 4) Pays de Caux - Roman Gaul. Rescue archaeology undertaken on the line of the A29 autoroute revealed several Gallo-Roman villas. One of the most important is that of Sainte-Marguerite-sur-Mer, on the coast ...

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Pays de Caux, Pays de Caux - Etymologgy, Pays de Caux - Geography, Pays de Caux - Neighbouring natural regions, Pays de Caux - History, Pays de Caux - Independent Gaul, Pays de Caux - Roman Gaul, Pays de Caux - Medieval, Pays de Caux - Manoirs of the 15th and 16th centuries, Pays de Caux - Literary connections, Pays de Caux - The coast: la côte d'Albâtre the Alabaster Coast, Pays de Caux - Inland: the plateau, Pays de Caux - Two writers from Rouen, Pays de Caux - Artistic connections, Pays de Caux - Bibliography, Pays de Caux - External link

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The history of the Basse-Normandie region concerns that part of Normandy termed Basse-Normandie (or "Lower Normandy") that was created in 1956, when the traditional region of Normandy, with an integral history reaching back to the 10th century, was divided into Basse-Normandie and Haute-Normandie ("Upper Normandy"). During the Roman era, the region was divided into several different city-states. That of Vieux-la-Romaine was excavated in the seventeenth century, revealing num ...

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Basse-Normandie, Basse-Normandie - History, Basse-Normandie - Culture

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All speakers must adhere to some standard of pronunciation in order to be understood by others. But standards vary among groups, and the extent to which any group has authority to claim that their standard is better, or even that they have the right to impose such a standard, is often the main source of contention. Those who make claims about correct pronunciation often cite dictionaries as their authority, and so at this point a summary of the principles by which pronunciation guides in dictionaries are written may be helpful. We start by discussing two distinc ...

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Mispronunciation, Mispronunciation - Standards of pronunciation, Mispronunciation - Prescription versus description, Mispronunciation - The move from prescription to description, Mispronunciation - Treatment of pronunciation in dictionaries, Mispronunciation - Pronunciation change, Mispronunciation - Omission of phonemes, Mispronunciation - Adaptation to a different language, Mispronunciation - Mispronunciation terms

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The written records from the conquest onwards display certain striking features. In the first place, they are early: the first medieval French literature appears in England, and some of the first non-literary documents in Old French (charters, etc.) are in Anglo-Norman. The most likely explanation for this is that there was a long-standing insular tradition of vernacular writing of religious, literary a ...

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Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman language - Use and development, Anglo-Norman language - Characteristics

Read more here: » Anglo-Norman language: Encyclopedia II - Anglo-Norman language - Use and development

Romanian is spoken mostly in Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia and Montenegro, Bulgaria, but there are also Romanian language speakers in countries like Canada, United States, Germany, Israel, Australia and New Zealand, mainly due to immigration after World War II. Romanian language - Official status. Romanian is the official language of Romania. In Vojvodina it is established as equal in rights to the official languages, but in fact its status is inferior to that of Serbian due to the small numbe ...

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Romanian language, Romanian language - History, Romanian language - Classification and related languages, Romanian language - Contacts with other languages, Romanian language - Dacian language, Romanian language - Balkan linguistic union, Romanian language - Slavic languages, Romanian language - Other influences, Romanian language - International words, Romanian language - Geographic distribution, Romanian language - Official status, Romanian language - Dialects and regional varieties, Romanian language - Grammar, Romanian language - Sounds, Romanian language - Diphthongs, Romanian language - Triphthongs, Romanian language - Phonetic changes, Romanian language - Writing system, Romanian language - Romanian alphabet, Romanian language - Reading rules, Romanian language - Group of letters, Romanian language - Punctuation and Capitalization, Romanian language - Language sample, Romanian language - Common words and phrases, Romanian language - Notes

Read more here: » Romanian language: Encyclopedia II - Romanian language - Geographic distribution

Romanian nouns are inflected by gender (feminine, masculine and neuter), number (singular and plural) and case (nominative/accusative, dative/genitive and vocative). The articles, as well as most adjectives and pronouns, agree in gender with the noun they reference. Romanian is the only Romance language where definite articles are enclitic: that is, attached to the end of the noun (as in North Germanic languages), instead of in front (proclitic). They were formed, as in other Romance lang ...

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Romanian language, Romanian language - History, Romanian language - Classification and related languages, Romanian language - Contacts with other languages, Romanian language - Dacian language, Romanian language - Balkan linguistic union, Romanian language - Slavic languages, Romanian language - Other influences, Romanian language - International words, Romanian language - Geographic distribution, Romanian language - Official status, Romanian language - Dialects and regional varieties, Romanian language - Grammar, Romanian language - Sounds, Romanian language - Diphthongs, Romanian language - Triphthongs, Romanian language - Phonetic changes, Romanian language - Writing system, Romanian language - Romanian alphabet, Romanian language - Reading rules, Romanian language - Group of letters, Romanian language - Punctuation and Capitalization, Romanian language - Language sample, Romanian language - Common words and phrases, Romanian language - Notes

Read more here: » Romanian language: Encyclopedia II - Romanian language - Grammar