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Generally, words coming from French often retain a higher register than words of Old English origin, and they are considered by some to be more posh, elaborate, sophisticated, or pretentious. However, there are exceptions: weep , groom and stone (from Old English) occupy a slightly higher register than cry , brush and rock (from French).
The meanings of these words do not always correspond to Germanic cognates, and occasionally the specific meaning in the list is unique to English. Those Germanic words listed below with a Frankish source mostly came into English through Anglo-Norman, and so despite ultimately deriving from Proto-Germanic, came to English through a Romance ...
Quite a few of these words can further trace their origins back to a Germanic source (usually Frankish [1]), making them cognate with many native English words from Old English, yielding etymological twins. Many of these are Franco-German words, or French words of Germanic origin. [2]
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This is a list of English words inherited and derived directly from the Old English stage of the language. This list also includes neologisms formed from Old English roots and/or particles in later forms of English, and words borrowed into other languages (e.g. French, Anglo-French, etc.) then borrowed back into English (e.g. bateau, chiffon, gourmet, nordic, etc.).
While doublets may be synonyms, the characterization is usually reserved for words that have diverged significantly in meaning: [1] for example, the English doublets pyre and fire are distinct terms with related meanings that both ultimately descend from the Proto-Indo-European word * péh₂ur.
Often, a Germanic word was adopted and given a new shade of meaning in the process. Such was the case with Old English gōdspell ("gospel") for Latin Evangelium. Previously, the Old English word simply meant "good news", but its meaning was extended in Old English to fit a religious context.
Root Meaning in English Origin language Etymology (root origin) English examples ob-, o-, oc-, of-, og-, op-, os-[1]against: Latin: ob: obduracy, obdurate, obduration ...