"So quite clearly Harold Godwin just got his just comeuppance for being less than "Frank"; had he been a little more open, frank and truthful, ..well who knows?" LOL!

It seems Harold II (Godwinesunu) was not truly frank with William of Normandy, but neither was William the Bastard open and truthful with Harold II (Godwinesunu).

It has been brought forth, that in about 1064, Harold II sailed to Normandy. No one knows why. It is thought that Harold II swore some kind of an oath of fealty to William, and had it done, unbeknown to Harold II, over the bones of a saint to bind it.

They were both untruthful, weren't they? I think so.

Also, it goes a little deeper. It is said in Norman folklore that the Normans had been asking Edward for the English crown (upon death), since before the banishing (about 1051) of Godwin. Although, William himself said that Edward I swore (about 1052) to give him the crown. Furthermore, the Witenagemot chose Harold II as king, even though earlier, the the group was not friendly to Godwin and his kinfolk.

I still stand by what I wrote: "...always takes the higher, truthful, path..."

Cheers!

French-gilded Germanic word of the day:

affray(n.) L. ex- "out of" + Frankish *frithu "peace," from P.Gmc. *frithuz "peace, consideration, forbearance".

@jayles: I see. I misunderstood. I thought we were talking only about students. Anyway, English would work great in any of the work settings you wrote about. The working World is full of Latin words owing only to how folks were taught. They are at home with these words, so they are spoken for, and at, work.

Yes, we German speakers do say "Sie" in business or if we don't know someone too well. It is more truthful and open to be that way.

"You must do this now." or "We must do this now." Which is better? Well, that hangs on whether one wants to (obfuscate) the meaning or not. When one's boss (likely from Frankish *botija, but not yet borne out) says, "We", he isn't trying to speak French. He/she means "you" or "us, without me", "all of you". That is never good. Folks understand that they are the ones having to do the work. So, why not say so? English makes it hard to hide the truth. If everyone were more open and frank, more true understanding could take place. The World would be a much better place. You and I acknowledge that any word meaning is heavily marked by how something is said.

One should be able to be open and truthful with one's husband or wife:

"I love you very much honey, but your farting is: unsettling/upsetting/irksome/tiresome/trying/wearisome/wearying/bothersome/maddening/nettlesome/nettling/off-putting/sickening/a turn-off/foul/gruesome/icky/rotten/stinky/awful/bad/grim/wretched/dreadful/godawful/ghastly/raunchy (from Frankish *hring)/boorish/piggish/shameful/dirty/unbecoming" And so on and so forth. There shouldn't be a need for shades of gray here. ;-)

As for business dealings, one should learn the folkways of one's customers. Handle them with kindness, understanding, and in an open, truthful way. There is never a need to put on a "dog and pony show", if one always takes the higher, truthful, path.

Just my 2 cents. Have a good day!

@wlyan138:

You are right about Gothic have "dis-" as a word-binder: Ex. distaíran (to tear apart) and dishaban (to seize upon).

I am not so sure that a making a loan word with English words will work well here, even given the Gothic "dis-". The Anglo-Saxon already has a word that would work in the stead of "disruptive" and even for "separate, divide" or "destroyed": sunder, as in, break asunder. "sunder" means 'to break apart or in two : separate by or as if by violence or by intervening time or space ' as a transitive verb, and "to become parted, disunited, or severed" as a intransitive verb.

Ex. "She tore my heart asunder."; "The royal family was sundered by scandal."; "East and West Berlin were sundered by a wall."

Hook on whichever ending you want and there you have it.

* sundersome "I find your behavior sundersome."
* sundering "You have shown nothing but a sundering attitude today."
* sunderful "Your actions are sunderful."
* sundered "You have been sundered from your group."
* sunderish " You have sunderish behavior."

What do you think?

@jayles: I get what you're saying. I don't think that Latin words are truly "emotionally neutral", though. I think it comes down to the understanding of the student. What's more, it is that the meaning is shaped by the speaker. Said angrily, "disruptive" might come across as too emotionally charged. How something is said is key here. I guess "disruptive" will always go over better than "troublemaker"at a Parent/Teacher meeting. Why not say to a rowdy student, "you are cutting in to everyone's class-time!" instead of, "you are disrupting my class!". Or, "you are keeping everyone from learning." Using the pronoun "you" is going to make it personal, thereby making it emotional. I really don't see a difference between "he was being disruptive" vs. "his behavior was unsettling". What sense does it make to "criticize the behavior not the student", when the student is the root of the unwelcome behavior? To me, they go hand in hand.

Here are some other words to think about:

* upsetting
* irksome
* trying
* troubling/ troublesome

More French-Gilded Germanic words in English:

1. Choice (from O.Fr. chois (12c., Mod.Fr. choix), from verb choisir "to choose", from Frankish *kiosan, from P.Gmc. base *kaus-; cf. Gothic kausjan "to taste, test"). Related to Eng. "choose", O.E. ceosan, from P.Gmc. *keusanan.

2. Dance (from O.Fr. dancier (12c., Mod.Fr. danser) from Frankish *dansōn)

3. Rob (from O.Fr. rober, "to rob," roub "spoil, plunder", from Frankish *rōbon, from P.Gmc. *raubojanan, from *raub- "to break".

4. Fletcher ("arrow-maker", from O.Fr. flechier, from Frankish *fliugica)

5. Grape (from O.Fr. grape from Frankish *krāppa, from P.Gmc. *krappon "hook". OE equivalent was O.E. winberige "wine berry").

6. Bastard ("illegitimate child", from O.Fr. bastard. From from Franish *bāst- "marriage" (*banstuz (“bond, tie”)) + *-ard "bold, daring, fearless"; pej. ending from Frankish *hardjan)

7. Allot (from O.Fr. aloter (Mod.Fr. allotir) "to divide by lots, to divide into lots", from à "to" + loter "lot". Lot is from P.Gmc. *khlutom. cf. O.E. hlot, O.N. hlutr, Goth. hlauts)

8. Ambush (from O.Fr. embuscher, ""to lay an ambush". From em- + Frankish *busk)

9. Banish (banischen, from banniss-, extended stem of O.Fr. banir, "announce, proclaim; levy; forbid; banish, proclaim an outlaw", from Frankish *bannjan)

0. Braggart (from ON bragr, from ON *braka + *-ard "bold, daring, fearless"; pej. ending from Frankish *hardjan)

1. Cry (from O.Fr. crier, from V.L. *critare, from L. quiritare, ultimately from Frankish *krītan (“to cry, cry out, publish”))

2. Halberd (from M.Fr. hallebarde, from M.H.G. halmbarte "broad-axe with handle," from halm "handle" + barte "hatchet," from P.Gmc. *bardoz "beard.")

3. Dungeon (from O.Fr. donjon, from Frankish *dungjo (“prison, dungeon, underground cellar”), from Proto-Germanic *dungijō, *dungijōn, *dungō (“enclosed space, vault, bower, treasury”)

4. Install ( in- + Frankish *stall (“stall, position, place”), from P.Gmc. *stallaz (“place, position”)). The Latin and Germanic prefix both mean "in, into".

5. Mayhem (from Anglo-Fr. maihem (13c.), from O.Fr. mahaigne "injury", *maidijanan (“to cripple, injure”). Related to the Germanic word "mad".)

6. Race ("people of common descent", from M.Fr. razza "race, breed, lineage", from It. razza, probably from Lombardic *raiza "line of descent". Cf. OHG *reiza "line". For contrast, O.E. þeode meant both "race" and "language;" as a verb, geþeodan, it meant "to unite, to join.")

7. Seize (from O.Fr. seisir "to put in possession of, to take possession of," from L.L. sacire, from Frankish *sakjan "lay claim to", from P.Gmc. *sokjanan or P.Gmc. *satjan)

8. Vermouth (from Fr. vermouth, from Ger. Wermuth, from O.H.G. wermuota)

9. Waste (from Anglo-Fr./ O.N.Fr. waster "to spoil, ruin" and O.Fr. wast, from Frankish *wastjan (“a waste”). Could be that Latin vastō may have merged with Low Frankish *wōstin, *wōstinna (“a waste, wasteland”), from Proto-Germanic *wōstin-)

0. Band ("an organized group" also "a flat strip, something that binds", from M.Fr. bande and O.N.Fr. bende, from O.N. band, from P.Gmc. *bindan) Related to Germanic "bind" and "bend".

Germanic => O.N.Fr./ O.Fr. => Germanic (English)---these words are all Germanic. They are said in English almost the same as their root words, even though the went through O.N.Fr. first. Speak them proudly!

One more I forgot:

Mod. German 'reich (rich, wealthy, affluent) and 'Reich' (Kingdom, Realm, Empire, regnum-from biology)

Latin Regnum (inheritable power to govern)

There are so many! It is hard to keep track!

BTW: "track" is another French-gilded Germanic word. It is from M.Du. trecken (cf. M.L.G. trecken, O.H.G. trechan).

Thanks for your thoughts wlyan138 and jayles. They are well taken.

@wlyan138: You are right. New words do need to be made for those that are taken out of the word-stock. I think that, at least at first, English speakers should again learn the words they have forgotten, like "wont" and as jayles wrote, "bridled". These words are still in the tongue waiting to be born again. Indeed, I am for speaking, reading, and writing mainly English, but also, some of the borrowed words rightfully belong. And, yes, my writing does show that English is still Germanic!

@jayles: An 'A' is good. As for "disruptive" or "unruly", methinks I know not what you mean by that. Both are Latin words. Although, I like "unruly" ("rule") much better than either "disruptive" or "inappropriate behavior". Here are a few Germanic words that are good to know for bad children:

* bad
* bawdy (French-gilded Germanic word from Frankish 'bald', which is from P.Gmc.
* balthaz, meaning "bold, swift, daring, fearless")
* hardheaded
* headstrong
* heedless
* loath, loathesome
* mean
* naughty
* on-a-tear
* reckless
* rollicking
* rowdy
* stubborn
* unyielding
* wayward
* wild
* willful
And so on, and so forth. There are a lot of words to talk about bad kids!

One would say "wield" in English when one means "rule; to excercise power and influence effectively; to use a tool or weapon with skill and control".

It is indeed old, but it is there. It has the same root as the Germanic name "Walter, Walther": both from P.Gmc. *wal-t- (to rule). "Walther" (walt + hari, heer) truly means "ruler of the army".

Sadly, Replaced O.E. wealdan (wield) was taken out and "L. rule" (from O.Fr. riule, from V.L. *regula, from L. regula) was put in its stead. I would earnestly think about keeping it in English, since it comes from the PIE base *reg- ("to rule, to lead straight, to put right") like the following Germanic words:

* Gothic 'reiks (a leader), raihts (correct)'
* Old English ' right (correct, froward of left), -rice (kingdom), -ric (king, rich, powerful)
* Old High German 'recht' (right, correct, froward of left)
* Old Swedish 'reht' (mod. Swed. "rätt") meaning 'right'
* Old Norse 'rettr' (mod. Norwegian "rett") meaning 'right'

Other sister words that share the same PIE *reg- and meanings are:

1. Latin regere (to rule), rex (king, leader), rectus (right, correct)
2. Gaulish -rix (king)
3. Old Irish ri (king)
4. Gaelic righ (king)
5. Persian rahst (right, correct)
6. Sanskrit raj (king, leader)

Ya, I think "rule" is cool. I'd keep it.

French-gilded Germanic word of the day: see "bawdy" above.

My words with "all those latinate words" written only in English and with borrowings that belong:

"Old English was SLAUGHTERED" is far-fetched Balderdash! Too much is always made of the "take-over". Had Harold Gōdwines sunu not been trying to fight a two-way onslaught, things today would indeed have gone another way. Anyway, it cannot be true, for if it were, we'd all be speaking French. Why do I write that?

Well, keep in mind that there was an unbroken, wonted handing-down of (Old) English from one set of offspring to the next (the bridled folks spoke English, not French), but they also picked up new Norman-French words and ways of speaking, too. An oft made likening is that the look of "before-hand" comes from Norman "avaunt-main". It is striking to see that almost no French loan words are found in English between the years 10 and 11 hundred. Furthermore, late West Saxon and South Saxon were spoken well after the Norman take-over, even though, the written word was mainly Latin or Anglo-French.

Old English, like most Germanic tongues, had a very strong way of teaching folklore/ways through the spoken word, which did not end with the slaying of most of the thanes. In truth, Anglo-Saxons didn't begin steadily writing things down until their switch to Christianity. Before 597 AD, hardly anything was ever written down. It must also be said that the Norman blue-bloods never tried to earnestly crowd out the English tongue at all.

Now, one could make a great to-do about the Old English written works dying with Wulfstan of York in 1023 A.D., but indeed not that it was brought about by the Norman onslaught. The switch from Old English to Middle English is given as 1100 A.D. or thereabouts (not 1066 AD), and it was not an outcome of the Norman take-over. Besides, English was already freely broadening itself on its own before the Norman raids, thanks to the inflow and bearing of Scandinavian (Danish & Norwegian) words. The Norman meddling frankly sped up this happening and took English slightly onto another path with its wordstock.

Old English truthfully underwent the same fate that Latin did: It wholly became something else--Middle English--but, it was still seen as English...not Anglo-French (although, "Anglo-Norman" was put forth to mark itself off from French in France, since Anglo-Norman was quickly being thought of as too hoary and folksy shortly after 1066 AD--maybe owing to English? By the middle of the 1100's, Norman-French had lost its "cleanliness". This is upheld by the many tales of English Knights who sent their kids to France to learn French.), Latin-Saxon, or Frenglish. The truth is that English hung on as the folks-tongue for the whole Norman kingship, and even those in the highest standing, in time, had taken English as a mother-tongue.

Yes, to say the working folks of middle standing were "ashamed" did yield a muddled meaning. The Normans were said to be cold toward English, which is worse. There is no bickering about whether or not English was thought of as uncouth (i.e. boorish) and unworthy of the middle and higher ranks. Ænglisc did fall away as the tongue of the high-born, higher learning, Statecraft, and business (more or less) being taken over by, what else, Norman-French. The church is not to be left out, since only Latin and French were spoken at this time.

When the tokens of truth are thoughtfully looked over, it can be understood that the Norman take-over itself had left little to no mark on the English tongue. The guilt lies with the church and the high-brow thinkers. Now, the University of Paris comes into the frame, which was built in the 1100's. Later on, the "Renaissance Thinkers" shoulder the rest of the guilt. To highlight this even more, it was, at one time, needful that Oxford eggheads learned either Latin or French. Latin was the speech of learning and holiness, and French was the speech of "Well-to-do".

I hope everyone can understand!

A few standard words that, in my view, truly belong to English seeing that they were borrowed so long ago (Latin and Germanic folks meeting beginning from 100 B.C.), put forth a new idea/thing, or may have filled in a gap:

1. The sixth day of the Week- Saturday: Germanic folks followed the Roman's framework for setting up the Week. The Germanic folks took out the names of the Roman Gods/ideas, and put in the names of Germanic Gods/ideas. Germanic folks did not have a God for "Saturn", so it was borrowed to fill-in the gap.

* Sunday (Goddess Sunna, sister of Máni, + Day; 'Sun's day')
* Monday (God Máni, brother of Sunna, + Day; 'Moon's day')
* Tuesday (God Tiw/Týr + Day; "Tiw's day.")
* Wednesday (God Woden + Day; 'Woden's Day'
* Thursday (God Thor + Day; 'Thor's Day')
* Friday (Goddess Fríge + Day; 'Feyja's Day')
* Saturday (Roman God Saturn + Day; Saturn's Day)

The Anglo-Saxons had more to do with the Roman's, and that is likely why Saturn was borrowed (cf. Icelandic "laugardagur", Old Norse "Laugardagr"/ sunnunótt, Danish & Bokmål "lørdag", Swedish "lördag", German "Sonnabend"-although "Samstag" (from low Gk. *sambaton", meaning Saturn) is also said).

2. Baptizm (New Holy Idea): Given to Germanic folks by the Christian church. The word is from L. baptizare >> Gk. baptizein >> baptein "to dip, steep, dye, color" >> PIE base *gwabh- "to dip, sink."

3. Church (New Thing): O.E. cirice from W.Germanic *kirika (yet from Gk. kyriake). Germanic folks had few, or likely never had, holy houses of worship the way we have today. This word shows the Greek-to-Germanic headway made by Christian words, by way of the Goths; it was most likely wielded by W.Germanic folks before they became Christians.

4. Kitchen (Food Idea): O.E. cycene, from W.Gmc. *kocina (cf. M.Du. cökene, O.H.G. chuhhina, Ger. Küche, Dan. kjøkken), likely borrowed from V.L. *cocina (L. coquina "kitchen)," from of coquinus "of cooks," from coquus "cook," from coquere "to cook".

5. Priest (New Holy Rank): O.E. preost, shortened from the older Germanic word O.S., O.H.G. prestar, O.Fris. prestere, from V.L. *prester "priest," from L.L. presbyter "presbyter, elder," from Gk. presbyteros.

6. Banana (New Food): This word was borrowed by Spanish or Portuguese from a W. African word, and taken into English.

And, there are so many more! The thing is, not all outside ideas/words are unseemly in English. What else would one call a banana? A "Yellow Bowed Moon Berry"?! How silly.

French-gilded Germanic word of the day:

flank (late O.E. flanc, O.Fr. flanc, from Frankish *hlanca)