Your language is not your own . The words you speak have been borrowed , modified , and mould by the forces of linguistic evolution . And the sentences they mold are not so much “ English ” as they are a shapeshifting hodgepodge of unlike lyric that have intersected with English over the years .
Not that many of us would ever know it . Sure , the etymology and histories of many word may only be a dictionary - consultation away , but few of us have the time or tendency to inquire where these words — allow alone integral sentences — actually come from .
Unless , of course , you ’re Mike Kinde , who maintains the laughably enthralling data point visualisation blogIdeas Illustrated . Looking to better read the character of alien words in his day - to - 24-hour interval use of the English speech , Kinde whipped up a computer programme that would let him to in reality see precisely that :
Using Douglas Harper ’s on-line dictionary of etymology , I paired up words from various passages I find online with entries in the dictionary . For each Son , I pull out the first lean spoken communication of lineage and then re - constructed the schoolbook with some extra hypertext markup language substructure . The HTML would leave me to colligate each give-and-take ( or tidings fragment ) with a color , title , and hyperlink to a definition .
Kinde link Old English with pink , Middle English with crimson , Anglo - French with orangeness , Old French with sluttish Orange River , Middle French with pale orange , Classical & Medieval Latin with yellow , Gallo - Roman & Middle Low German with gray , and American with green . His system appropriate him to analyze everything from simple , etymologically homogenous - looking conviction :
Thequickbrownfoxjumpsoverthelazydog .
To complex Monty Python quotes :
Supremeexecutivepowerderivesfromamandatefromthemasses , notfromsomefarcicalaquaticceremony .
To passsages from classic American lit , like this excerpt from Mark Twain ’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer :
Tomgaveupthebrushwithreluctanceinhisface , butalacrityinhisheart . AndwhilethelatesteamerBigMissouriworkedandsweatedinthesun , theretiredartistsatonabarrelintheshadecloseby , dangledhislegs , munchedhisapple , andplannedtheslaughterofmoreinnocents . Therewasnolackofmaterial;boyshappenedalongeverylittlewhile;theycametojeer , butremainedtowhitewash . BythetimeBenwasfaggedout , TomhadtradedthenextchancetoBillyFisherforakite , ingoodrepair;andwhenheplayedout , JohnnyMillerboughtinforadeadratandastringtoswingitwith – andsoon , andsoon , hourafterhour . Andwhenthemiddleoftheafternooncame , frombeingapoorpoverty - strickenboyinthemorning , Tomwasliterallyrollinginwealth . Hehadbesidethethingsbeforementioned , twelvemarbles , partofajews - harp , apieceofbluebottle - glasstolookthrough , aspoolcannon , akeythatwouldn’tunlockanything , afragmentofchalk , aglassstopperofadecanter , atinsoldier , acoupleoftadpoles , sixfire - crackers , akittenwithonlyoneeye , abrassdoor - knob , adog - apprehension – butnodog – thehandleofaknife , fourpiecesoforange - peel , andadilapidatedoldwindowsash .
Things get even more interesting when Kinde starts create Proto-Indo European charts that liken the word origins in work by American vs non - American authors , or in sound texts , medical publications , and sports articles . The two pie charts show here , for example , exemplify the pronounced difference between word of honor origin in the Tom Sawyer passage and a paragraph from a medical journal . With etymological underpinnings like these , it ’s no wonder hoi polloi can find medical and scientific articles so impenetrable ; only about half the Word have line in Old English . Compare that to something like a sports article , where Kinde finds that figure hovering around 80 % .
Kinde pronounce a site where you could upload your own passages and have them analyzed and color - rag is in the kit and caboodle . In the meantime , however , you ’ll retrieve many more Bible - origin visual image and dispersion breakdowns on his blog , Ideas Illustrated . ( By the way : I was n’t kidding about it being enchant ; if you have the slightest interest in information science , innovation , or visualization , Kinde ’s blog entries will ingest hours of your time . You ’ve been warned . keep with carefulness . )
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