SC - question: linguistics and food

[allilyn at juno.com]

guenevere,

The Oxford English Dictionary, referred to as the OED, would be your best
bet.  There are home desk versions, but a good library should have a
large, complete one.  There are other dictionaries on line.  I haven't
tried the ones for which I have URLs, but they may use enough band-width
to give you at least the source language.

Don't make too many assumptions--there were certainly upper class
Anglo-Saxons, a whole royalty of them, some of whom survived William's
battle, as did their families.  Learned people used Latin, but many
clerks came from humble beginnings, as it was one of the few roads to
prominance if you were not born into the upper spheres.  Your basic
differences are Latin roots versus Nordic or Germanic roots.

Check with your research librarian as to what she may have available on
the history of the English language.

McCrum, Robert; Cran, William; and MacNeil, Robert.  _The Story of
English_.Elisabeth Sifton Books, Viking. New York, NY, 1986.  ISBN 0 670
80467 3.

This book is a companion to the PBS television series.  Your library may
even have it on tape for borrowing.
Regards,
Allison,     allilyn at juno.com


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