Do you believe that Latin-based words are more formal?

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Grammar Geek

#397073 Thu, 26 Jul 07 06:46 PM

In another thread, someone wrote that word of a Latin word origin are considered more formal, and therefore used by more well educated English speakers, over words of Anglo-Saxon origin.

Do you believe this to be true?

Grammar Geek

Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006

Pennsylvania, USA

Veteran Member (15,595)

Barbara, who answers in American English.

nona the brit

#397083 Thu, 26 Jul 07 07:18 PM

I don't think that most people are really that aware of the origins of the words they use, but we are all aware of what seems 'formal' or 'informal'. Also, well-educated people would use the appropriate word for the context, whether that be formal or informal. I don't see formal as 'educated' and informal as 'uneducated'. So I don't agree with that part of their statement. I think it is true that many of the more formal synonyms for anything, are often Latin in origin.

There are some interesting parallels of words of Saxon and Norman origin, with the Saxon word being the more peasant viewpoint, and the Norman word being the more gentry viewpoint, purely because of the Norman invasion. A lot of food names for example. Cow (the live animal you look after as a peasant) = Saxon. Beef (the nice stuff you get on you plate after someone else has raised it) = Norman. (as in Boeuf - French). Pig =Saxon. Pork = Norman.

nona the brit

Joined on Wed, Sep 22 2004

England

Veteran Member (11,355)

The name says it all.

Synonyms

Kooyeen

#397161 Fri, 27 Jul 07 12:04 AM

Hi,
you guys seem to like that word, "educated"... hmm.
Anyway, I think most technical terms and verbs (used in medicine, engineering, mathematics, etc.) come from Latin, but I'm not sure. If it is true, then you could say Latin words are more... advanced, at another level of complexity in the language. Smile [:)]

Kooyeen

Joined on Thu, Dec 22 2005

Italy

Senior Member (3,973)

If you don't have a sense of humor already, it's about time you buy one.

Verbs

milky

#397170 Fri, 27 Jul 07 01:11 AM

Grammar Geek wrote:

In another thread, someone wrote that word of a Latin word origin are considered more formal, and therefore used by more well educated English speakers, over words of Anglo-Saxon origin.

Do you believe this to be true?

If true, that would leave the highest percentage of English speakers as poorly-educated.

milky

Joined on Thu, Jan 15 2004

Senior Member (3,149)

Hume said that if we had perfect or complete descriptive knowledge of reality, we could not, by reasoning, derive a single valid "ought".

Grammar

Grammar Geek

#397190 Fri, 27 Jul 07 03:50 AM

Well, personally, I think it's bunk that more highly educated people use formal language most of the time. We'd sound ridiculous if everyone with a master's degree spoke in a formal way when asking about dinner plans with your family or what time the softball game started.

Nona's point about the more well educated your are, the more you are likely to know the best word choice in a given situation - informal or formal - makes sense. The same post (not Nona's - the original) said that more formal language would be used by people who studied the etymology of the words. Again, Nona's point about most people not knowing the origin rings true to me too.

But what about this etymology part - are the Latin words more formal? Meet vs. Encounter? Happy vs. Pleased? Way vs. Method?

Grammar Geek

milky

#397221 Fri, 27 Jul 07 08:25 AM

<Well, personally, I think it's bunk that more highly educated people use formal language most of the time. We'd sound ridiculous if everyone with a master's degree spoke in a formal way when asking about dinner plans with your family or what time the softball game started.>

Yes, it's bunk. Bunk, pure and simple.

milky

Cool Breeze

#397250 Fri, 27 Jul 07 10:36 AM

Hi GG

I think it is true in some cases that Latin words are a little more formal, but not nearly always. Some of the most common English words derive from Latin, like a pound. As the Normans represented the upper social classes and ruled England, it stands to reason that this is reflected in French loan words from that era - after all, French is just Latin gone bad Smile [:)]

. Many words that made their way into English in the Norman period carry less warmth and feeling than Anglo-Saxon words from the Old English period.

Here are some examples. The words aren't exactly synonymous but they refer to things that are similar in some respects.

hearty - cordial
holy - saint
folk - people
house - manor, palace

As Nona has pointed out, the common people usually raised the animals but the French-speaking ruling classes ate the meat. Therefore the word for the meat is often of French origin:

calf - veal
ox - beef
sheep - mutton

One reason why French words, originally from Latin of course, may seem more formal is the fact that the loan words from the Norman era often have something to do with high culture, the arts, science, adminstration, titles, religion, law and legislation or are otherwise abstract in meaning. Examples of such words: judge, justice, jury, court, prison, council, parliament, residence, peer, duchess, religion, service, sermon, armour, costume, beauty, column, music, courtesy, mercy, charity, cruelty, obedience.

It is immediately clear from the above examples that not all words of Latin origin are formal.

Cheers
CB

Cool Breeze

Joined on Fri, Apr 7 2006

Helsinki, Finland

Senior Member (2,858)

The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.- Mark Twain

milky

#397252 Fri, 27 Jul 07 10:52 AM

How can we tell which word is warmer?

milky

#397257 Fri, 27 Jul 07 11:20 AM

Let's not forget that much formality in English is not based on word meanings. We also create fomality by using the past tense of verbs and what are traditionally called the past tense of modal auxiliaries.

milky

Verbs, Auxiliaries, Tenses, Modals, Past tenses, Modal auxiliaries

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