Walter and the Wasp Go to War
Language is fluid and always changing, evolving in strange and often contradictory ways.
So, for example, while North American and British English are mutually intelligible, several hundred years of separation have produced different sound systems and different vocabularies. These differences would be much more pronounced if we did not have printing presses and modern media to keep us communicating with each other.
Imagine a time when most people never heard the speech of the next county. That was Europe of the early Middle Ages, a time when our modern European languages were just emerging from various blends of Vulgar Latin and the old Germanic languages. The evolution of speech in each valley and region meant that neighbours, over centuries, became less and less able to comprehend one another.
As English, French and German evolved from their roots, certain vowel and consonant “shifts” occurred. A perfect example is in the male name Walter. In German, he became “Walther”, with the “w” pronounced as “v”. In French, he became “Gauthier”. An identical pattern is seen in the name William: William, Wilhelm, Guillaume.
In English we have war, in German “wehr” (pronounced “vair”) and in French “guerre”. A wasp becomes “vespe” in German or “guêpe” in French. (An interesting hint is that the circumflex accent in French tells you that there used to be an “s” following the “a”.)
Similarly, the hard “c” sound of many Latin words continued unchanged in English, but evolved into a softer “ch” in French: “charbon”, “château” etc. (See that “missing s” again?)
Is there a lesson to be taken from today’s whimsy? Simply this: language is a living thing and will always change and grow. In future Briefings we’ll look at becoming a better communicator by taking advantage of linguistic fluidity.