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From: simon@rheged.dircon.co.uk (Simon Brooke)
Subject: Re: Scots and English (was: Re: Flemish and Dutch)
Message-ID: <D8uF69.1v9@rheged.dircon.co.uk>
Organization: none. Disorganization: total.
References: <3nqtn1$b7v@bertha.gssec.bt.co.uk> <17MAY199508184980@cc.weber.edu> <D8rGGz.5FM@midway.uchicago.edu> <3ph342$o3m@clarknet.clark.net>
Date: Fri, 19 May 1995 20:49:20 GMT
Lines: 37

In article <3ph342$o3m@clarknet.clark.net>,
*Expletive Deleted*) thedavid@clark.net ( <> wrote:
>
>
>What I don't get is the equation of Scottish with Germanic.
>Unless one means "Scottish English," I'd thought Scots was
>Gaelic--i.e. Celtic. Please enlighten.
>

There is an ambiguity here. Scots Gaelic has occasionally been
referred to simply as 'Scots'. However, this is not common modern
usage; the language called by most Scots 'Scots' is the language of
lowland Scotland, which is a language derived primarily from the
Anglian form of Old Low German, and is thus rather similar to English.

>Also I'm not quite sure if English can any longer be
>classified as Germanic. Rather damn Latinate in it's
>vocabulary, ain't it?

It may be, but I don't think that worries the linguists, who are as
much concerned about grammar and so on. In any case Scots uses far
fewer latin loan words than English.


PS My spelling checker comes up with 'Blemish' for 'Flemish', 'Ditch'
for 'Dutch', and 'Satin' for 'Latin'. However, as it prefers for
'Simon' a choice between 'Simian' (ape like) or 'Simony' (the practice of
buying and selling holy offices), perhaps we'd better draw a veil over
the whole thing....

Simian^h^h^h^h^h^h
Simony^h^h^h^h^h^h
-- 
------- simon@rheged.dircon.co.uk (Simon Brooke)

	to err is human, to lisp divine
				 ;; attributed to Kim Philby, oddly enough.
