TED-Ed Original lessons feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Educator Claire Bowern and Director Patrick Smith have produced a great little film that explains the origins of English. As they explain, when we talk about ‘English’, we often think of it as a single language. But what do the dialects spoken in dozens of countries around the world have in common with each other, or with the writings of Chaucer? The Origins Of English traces the language from the present day back to its ancient roots, showing how English has evolved through generations of speakers.
Going Further Back
However, illustrator Minna Sundberg went even further back. She has captured in an elegant infographic a linguistic tree which reveals some fascinating links between different tongues, illustrating how most of the different languages we speak today can actually be placed in only a couple of groups by their origin (the illustration has been shared by both Bored Panda and io9).
Using the research data from Ethnologue, Minna has used a tree metaphor to illustrate how all major European, and even plenty of Eastern languages can be grouped into Indo-European and Uralic “families”.
Bigger leaves represent more people using the language as their native tongue
A Three-part Split
The European branch splits in three: Slavic, Romance, and Germanic. A rather complicated relationship between the Slavic languages is visible.
The Germanic roots of English
For anyone wanting to delve deeper into this infographic (or print it out), a high-resolution version of these images is available on Bored Panda.
Charles Yallowitz said:
Reblogged this on Legends of Windemere.
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The Satyr said:
That’s incredible. my poor little mind is in a tiz! X
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thanks 🙂
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The Story Reading Ape said:
Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog.
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brilliantviewpoint said:
Very interesting, great illustrations.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
I thought so, too 🙂
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gibsonauthor said:
Reblogged this on s a gibson.
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robbiesinspiration said:
Very interesting post, Nicholas.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thank you 🙂
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OIKOS™-Redaktion said:
Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
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Bette A. Stevens said:
Reblogged this on Bette A. Stevens, Maine Author and commented:
Informative post with animated graphics from author Nicholas C. Rossis. FIND OUT how the English language evolved. It’s fascinating! ~Bette A. Stevens
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Blogging_with_Bojana said:
Fabulous post.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thank you 🙂
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Blogging_with_Bojana said:
Welcome.
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bamauthor said:
Fascinating and informative!
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thank you 🙂
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Billy Ray Chitwood said:
Love the tree – and, of course, the post…
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thank you 🙂
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D. Wallace Peach said:
What a cool clip. Thanks for sharing, Nicholas.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thank you, D 🙂
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Marina Costa said:
Reblogged this on Marina Costa and commented:
Because languages are always important for a writer!
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-Eugenia said:
Wow! Fabulous post.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thank you 🙂
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V.M.Sang said:
Quite fascinating. Nicholas. Strangely, although it appears to have no links, I thought Portugese, when spoken, sounds slightly eastern European. And I had no idea that Finnish was so distinct from other Scandinavian languages.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Portuguese is an odd duck, isn’t it?
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Don Massenzio said:
Reblogged this on Author Don Massenzio and commented:
Check out this interesting post from Nicholas Rossis’ blog on the origins of English.
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jjspina said:
Quite impressive illustrations about how English came into being. Fascinating post, Nicholas! Thank you for sharing! 🤗
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thank you, Janice 🙂
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aurorajeanalexander said:
Reblogged this on Writer's Treasure Chest and commented:
Nicholas C. Rossis published a phenomenal article about the origins of English. Thanks so much, Nicholas. This is exciting!
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linguistextraordinaire said:
Reblogged this on The Layman's Linguist and commented:
Great glimpse into the English branch of the language tree. Convinced me to write up a new post delving further into why a Germanic language has so many Latinate words.
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