Most broadly, one could state that the goal of this endeavor is to promote the use of English words of Anglo-Saxon and otherwise North Sea Germanic etymological background in all areas of discourse in the language. By extension, not only must the role of extant native words be emphasized; neologisms must also be created to take the place of the plethora of foreign words that have perhaps tainted the tongue's sense of identity but whose provision of general richness in vocabulary must not go unduplicated in the new model.
You may think this aim to be quite pointless; after all, some might say, what does it matter that English vocabulary is dominated by borrowings? From a pragmatic perspective alone, it would seem that language purification affords no clear benefits in the short term for the severity of effort that would be required to reform a major language such as English. However, I suppose that it takes a sort of aesthetic idealism or strong sense of linguacultural protectionism, or perhaps most likely some form of English nationalism, to be attracted to the romantic qualities of a more harmonious language for English-speakers.
Regardless, I feel that it is now in order to elucidate the methodology that I intend to utilize for the fulfillment of the goals of puristic lexical reform. As our first example, let us consider the text of this post (up to and including this sentence).
The text contains 290 words (including the title), of which exactly 65% (188.5) happen to be native and 35% (101.5) happen to be foreign, with the word "fulfillment" considered half native and half foreign.
Although one would of course need many long samples from many authors in many contexts to determine the most reliable figures, I believe that this exercise is enough to show that a considerable portion of words used in English are foreign, but that the number is not so high that replacements introduced gradually over time would significantly alter the core features of the language.
Now, here is the analyzed text complete with non-native words (those of etymologies that are neither Anglo-Saxon nor otherwise Teutonic) highlighted in red:
Introduction
Linguistic purism is above all
an activity: a process
of experimentation in which philological research
is undertaken to craft the prototype of a new,
"cleansed" standard for the language of concern.
Before I outline my methodology of lexical purification, I
will first try to define
more clearly the goals of Anglo-Saxon linguistic purism.
Most broadly, one could state that the goal of this endeavor
is to promote the use
of English words of Anglo-Saxon and otherwise
North Sea Germanic etymological
background in all areas of discourse in the language.
By extension, not only must the role of extant native
words be emphasized; neologisms
must also be created to take the place of the plethora
of foreign words that have perhaps tainted the
tongue's sense of identity
but whose provision of general richness in vocabulary
must not go unduplicated in the new model.
You may think this aim
to be quite pointless;
after all, some might say, what does it matter
that English vocabulary is dominated by borrowings? From a pragmatic perspective
alone, it would seem that language purification
affords no clear benefits
in the short term for the severity of effort that
would be required to reform
a major language
such as English. However, I suppose that it
takes a sort of aesthetic
idealism or strong sense
of linguacultural protectionism,
or perhaps most likely
some form of English nationalism,
to be attracted to the romantic
qualities of a more harmonious
language for English-speakers.
Regardless, I feel that it is now in order to elucidate the methodology that I intend
to utilize for the fulfillment of the goals of puristic
lexical reform. As our first example, let us consider
the text of this post
(up to and including this sentence).
To "remedy" the situation and make the sample 100% native Anglo-Saxon, there are several methods at our disposal for the replacement of foreign elements:
- using existing native synonyms that do not diminish precision in meaning,
- reviving archaic or obsolete English words of native origin that fit the desired meaning,
- deriving new words as compounds of modern elements either intuitively or as calques (loan translations) of foreign language forms, especially as found in other Germanic languages,
- modernizing, in accordance with the well-attested patterns of English sound evolution, native words from earlier forms of the language, primarily from Old English, as well as from reasonably reconstructed Common Germanic forms, into readily assimilable neologisms, and
- creating new words ex nihilo ("from nothing"), particularly when the other methods fail to produce practicable alternatives.
Using these methods, I will attempt to provide legitimate Anglo-Saxon alternatives to the foreign words from the text:
introduction = inleading; using method 3, this word is formed as a calque of the Afrikaans and Dutch word inleiding, the German word Einleitung, the Danish word indledning and the Norwegian and Swedish word inledning.
linguistic = reird-; using methods 3 and 4, this is a prefix adapted from Old English reord "voice, language" (by sound analogy to "weird", from Old English wyrd/weord), modeled after other Germanic languages' use of their words for "language" as a prefix corresponding to the English adjectival usage of "linguistic").
purism = pure + -ism = lutterdom ("pure" = "lutter"; using method 4, this word is adapted from Old English hlutor/hluttor "pure, clear", cognate to Danish lutter "sheer", + "-ism" = "-dom"; using methods 1 and 3, the use of the suffix in the sense of "-ism" is paralleled by, for instance, German Luthertum "Lutheranism").
activity = whatship (4; from Old English hwætscipe "activity, boldness").
process = foregang (3; calque of German Vorgang "process").
experimentation = overfinding (4; nominalization of "to experiment" = "to overfind", from Old English oferfindan "to test by experimentation").
philological = weaflore- (3, 4; prefix as equivalent of an adjectival for "philology" = "weaflore", calque of Icelandic textafræði "philology, lit study of text", with "text" = "weaf" from Old English gewefe "web, perh text" and wefan "to weave", analogous to Hungarian szöveg "text", a nominalization of sző "to weave, spin", + "-ology/study of" = "-lore", as in "birdlore" for "ornithology", analogous to Dutch -leer, German -lehre, Danish and Norwegian -lære and Swedish -lära).
research = forshing (3, 4~5; nominalization of "to research" = "to forsh", cf. Afrikaans navors, German forschen, Danish and Norwegian forske and Swedish forska, their root being Proto-Germanic *furskōn).
prototype = ormake (1, 3, 4; "proto-" = "or-", from Old English or-, cf. German ur-, + "type" = "make", modeled after Icelandic frumgerð "prototype, lit source model/made").
standard = standhard (3; direct calque of the likely Old Frankish origin *standhard "stand firm").
language = reird (4; as stated in the entry for "linguistic", from Old English reord "voice, language" by sound analogy to "weird", from Old English wyrd/weord).
of concern = at hand (1). Alternatively a translation of the refined sense of "of interest" could be "of inbear" ("interest" = "inbear", being a calque of Greek ενδιαφέρον "interest", with corresponding forms "to interest" = "to bear in", "interesting" = "inbearing" and "interested" = "borne in").
methodology = atfareldlore (3, 4; calque of Icelandic aðferðafræði "methodology", with "methodology" = "atfareld", a calque of Icelandic aðferð "method" with "at-" = að- "to, towards" + "fareld", from Old English færeld "trip", = ferð "trip", + -lore", as mentioned in the entry for "philology").
lexical purification = wordcleansing (1, 3).
try = forseek (3; cf. German versuchen, Danish forsøge, Swedish försöka).
define = amark (4; from Old English āmearcian "to mark out, define").
clearly = clear + -ly = swettly (4; adverb form of "clear" = "swettle" from Old English sweotol "clear, manifest"; adverbial ending formed by analogy to "gentle"-"gently").
Anglo-Saxon = Anglesaxish (3; cf. Dutch Angelsaksisch, German angelsächsisch, Danish and Norwegian angelsaksisk, Swedish angelsaxisk).
state = forswettle (3, 4; cf. Dutch verklaren, German erklären; see entry for "clearly" for notes on "swettle" as "clear" = Dutch klaar and German klar).
endeavor = bestriving (3; calque of German Bestrebung, nominalization of bestreben = "to endeavor" = "to bestrive". Note: Although "strive" entered English usage as a French word of Frankish origin, its presence in Middle Dutch as strijven would dictate an identical form of "strive" to have descended from Proto-West Germanic).
promote = befurther (4; cf. Afrikaans bevorder, Dutch bevorderen, German befördern, Swedish befordra)
use = brook (2; noun form of "to brook", obsolete in the sense of "to use", from Old English brūcan "to enjoy, use"; cf. Afrikaans and Dutch gebruik, German Gebrauch, Danish brug, Norwegian and Swedish bruk).
Here is how the translated text would look so far:
While I could continue, such purification is probably to be seen as quite frivolous. Nevertheless, I hope that it is at least somewhat interesting to others to have a look at what the English language might be like without all its foreign elements.
try = forseek (3; cf. German versuchen, Danish forsøge, Swedish försöka).
define = amark (4; from Old English āmearcian "to mark out, define").
clearly = clear + -ly = swettly (4; adverb form of "clear" = "swettle" from Old English sweotol "clear, manifest"; adverbial ending formed by analogy to "gentle"-"gently").
Anglo-Saxon = Anglesaxish (3; cf. Dutch Angelsaksisch, German angelsächsisch, Danish and Norwegian angelsaksisk, Swedish angelsaxisk).
state = forswettle (3, 4; cf. Dutch verklaren, German erklären; see entry for "clearly" for notes on "swettle" as "clear" = Dutch klaar and German klar).
endeavor = bestriving (3; calque of German Bestrebung, nominalization of bestreben = "to endeavor" = "to bestrive". Note: Although "strive" entered English usage as a French word of Frankish origin, its presence in Middle Dutch as strijven would dictate an identical form of "strive" to have descended from Proto-West Germanic).
promote = befurther (4; cf. Afrikaans bevorder, Dutch bevorderen, German befördern, Swedish befordra)
use = brook (2; noun form of "to brook", obsolete in the sense of "to use", from Old English brūcan "to enjoy, use"; cf. Afrikaans and Dutch gebruik, German Gebrauch, Danish brug, Norwegian and Swedish bruk).
Here is how the translated text would look so far:
Inleading
Reirdlutterdom is above all
a whatship: a foregang of overfinding in which weafloreforshing
is undertaken to craft the ormake of a new,
"cleansed" standhard for the reird at hand.
Before I outline my atfareldlore of wordcleansing, I
will first forseek to amark
more swettly the goals of Anglesaxish reirdlutterdom.
Most broadly, one could forswettle that the goal of this bestriving is to befurther the brook
of English words of Anglesaxish and otherwise...
While I could continue, such purification is probably to be seen as quite frivolous. Nevertheless, I hope that it is at least somewhat interesting to others to have a look at what the English language might be like without all its foreign elements.
