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[deleted] t1_ir9b237 wrote

Reply to comment by GronakHD in Where did the English language REALLY come from? by MagicRaptor

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Vectorman1989 t1_ir9teqi wrote

I wonder if another clue might be that the remaining Celtic languages of Britian all refer to the English as 'Saxons'. Sasanach, Saeson, Sassanach, Sows, Saoz

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xarsha_93 t1_ir9wzko wrote

>In no other former province of the Roman Empire did the invading language take over the native language aside from England,

North Africa? Latin died out wherever it had only penetrated into urban environments. In North Africa, Berber was still spoken in most rural environments and Latin was mainly spoken in coastal cities (Punic was also around). Similarly, in Roman Britain, Latin was spoken in cities and fortresses, but Celtic languages were still dominant.

In both situations, Latin was a language for primarily elites, and when the elites became Germanic or Arabic speakers, it died out.

In Gaul, Iberia, and the Italian peninsula, Latin was spoken in the countryside and wasn't so easily displaced.

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elmonoenano t1_irbv8h3 wrote

Even in Iberia you still have the Basques, and there's Galicia Belgica with Flemish and German. The claim your disputing seems like one of those claims that only really works at a very general level and as you point out, the non elites kind of could do their own thing and are often over looked at that level.

Your point about the eastern side of the empire is another good one. The Greek situation is complicated b/c of it's role as a language of high culture and the Semitic languages were in a state of flux anyway and going through all sorts of changes.

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