"...using words like "fremd", ... ,or "othersome" instead of different (jayles) is indeed just as pretentious as using words like "enhancement", if nor more so."

Here we seem to have rotten, sour grapes. I cannot understand how using a first-hand word (albeit old, not trendy or broadly in everyday speech) could be thought of as haughty(*) put-on.

So, the French, Welsh, Irish, Hawaiians, Israelis, and Icelanders, among others, are all to be thought of as - how does one say it in the tongue of the learned high and mighty - "preposterous, pretentious, racist, nationalistic, xenophobes" because they are working hard to bring their tongues back without too many loans or borrowings?

By the way, 'haughty' is a great showing of the true 'richness' that comes from free and easy fremd inflow. This Germanic/ Latin-French word is a free blending of Frankish *hauh, hōh (OE hēah, G Hoch, Du. hoog asf.) “high, lofty, proud” and Latin altus “high, deep” which gave Old French hau(l)t “high, lofty." [*hau(l)t(us)]

Frk. *hauh + L. altus -> O.Fr hau(lt) -> E. *hauteinness(e) [haughtiness] -> ME hautein, hautain -> haughty (spelling shaped by the word 'naughty' owing to the way they both are said)

Two folkways coming together lead by the mingling of folks in everyday life, not by overbearing "royal, governmental, militaristic, academic, religious" might. Words like this are what I think of, when I think of words growing/building the 'richness' of any tongue.

Again, ink-horns are not needed and words that were bereaved from the tongue should be brought back and spoken anew.

Yes, I am aware of the background of the words 'school' and 'proper.' The thing missed here is that teutonic English words make the meaning easily understood by all. Think about this: What if all lawful writings were written in mostly English words instead of Latin-French words? What would the outcome of that be?

I don't believe anyone working this site now is for "English purism", and indeed no one seems to be, as you in a way put forth, a Jingoist. Our "little band," as you so scornfully wrote of us like-minded folks here, is about many things, and one of them is finding lost old English words and bringing the to the fore for new life. I think most, if not all, of us do not think ourselves as "Anglishers." Far from it.

Indeed there is room for these old words as many of the fremd* words are ink-horn and overmuch. So much so, that if one truly takes a good look at these words from about (which are mostly 'made up'), one would see how daft and droll it is to keep them, as well as to put forth that they make English 'richer." How does a tongue become richer when its first-hand words are swapped for outlandish ones? Doesn't seem thoughtful at all.

* FREMD is still said by the Scots and likely a few others, and is in every foremost wordbook; so it is a living English word and makes me no never mind that it is not said by throngs of English-speakers. 'Academia' as a whole is manifestly blameworthy for this.

That said I could have written:

Children need good learning-houses (< OE lārhūs) if they are to learn right.

-OR-

Children need good learning-halls (or halls of learning) if they are to learn right.

Lārhūs is the first word for 'school' in English. It seems 'school' in English came to mean "house of learning" sometime about the year 1300.

"True English" here, as I wrote above, means "Germanic English words;" not borrowed; not fremd. After all, English is, first and foremost, a Germanic tongue.

High-quality learning environments are a necessary precondition for facilitation and enhancement of the ongoing learning process.

-OR-

Children need good schools if they are to learn properly.

http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/examples/before-and-after.html

Which is 'richer?" The one that is easily understood or the one with too many unneeded fremd words?

'nuff said.

"What's so wrong with glorying in the richness of the language we have, rather than wishing for some form of ethnically pure language that, thank God, we haven't?"

The thing is, everyone does not think that today's English has 'richness'. Rather, the other side is that English seems to be teeming with needless Latin-French/ Greek words. Some loans and borrowings are great when truly needed, and do help to make a tongue 'richer.' Too much, however, is... too much. Dare I say it....downright superfluous (< Latin). :-)

wale - "Something/anything that is chosen as the best." < ME wal(e) < ON val "choice" < ON velja "to choose". Akin to German Wahl (< OHG wala "to choose").

Pretentious = "Marked by an unwarranted claim to importance or distinction."

One way to say "pretentious" in true English is highfalutin(g). There are so many other ways to say it, too.

Thanks for the kind words, Gallitrot!

"Just astounding how much French there is in English!"

YES! Awkwardly afield, I say. It should become much, much less so, so the richness of true English can at last come to the fore unbridled and shine through.

@jayles:

Most folks don't know French like you do. I don't believe at all that most English speaking folks would understand "maison" to be 'house' without learning some French. If they did, then like you and I, they should see some likenesses. Indeed. most would likely mix Fr. maison up with the English word 'mason' (brick-layer) which is truly from Frankish *makjon. No sole English speaker is seeing that "endeavour

"contract" means to "draw/bring together a deal." Indeed, English didn't need this borrowed word. It must've been the overbearing Norman overlords strong stand that all things law must be written in Norman-French. O.E. handgewrit (> M.E. *handȝewrit/ *handywrit; E. *handawrit/ *handewrit) was the English word for contract. DEED also means 'contract', but today is mainly said about land dealings.

Instead of "let's sign the contract," I have heard it more often than not said, "let's do/sign the deal."

Today's French for contract is 'contrat'...the French tongue is infamously (straight from L. infām[is])known for losing bookstaves: spoken or unspoken. I guess it likes near, but I don't believe the everyday English speaker would understand that to be akin to 'contract'. At least in other Germanic tongues (Afrikaans, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, & Norwegian) it is written the same > contract or kontrakt, which is in keeping with L. contractus.

See here: "Nous devons écrire un contrat pour la maison."

Doesn't look manifestly English to me. Thoughts?