Why is English used in so many places? Many people say it is because the successes of English–speaking countries in the last 300 years. Because of technology. Because of business. But perhaps they are wrong. Almost 2,000 years ago, the Celts in England did not have powerful culture of their own. Invaders to their island became its occupiers, so the original Celtic speakers simply used Latin from the Romans, and then a different set of words from every new conqueror who came along. Bowing. Smiling. Gathering up words over the centuries. It became a habit. It became English. This map will give you some idea why there is so much diversity in the English language. Its island location was a crossroads for invaders by sea.

At the same time, all of the strongest cultures were forming well-developed languages. For instance, the Chinese had 70,000 individual characters to write. These strong cultures usually considered new words from other countries to be a threat to their superiority.

The Japanese created a written sub-language of 48 syllabic characters, the katakana, as a way to distinguish -- and pronounce -- all foreign words. (Bi Za Bo RU is "baseball") The French created an Academy to screen out most foreign words and create French words if none existed. Borrowing foreign words was considered to be weak, or a destructive influence, by these strong cultures. (In 1215, the Magna Carta was the temporary solution to an uprising of common people in England, who insisted -- with pitchforks and, perhaps, Robin Hood -- that their French conquerors make laws understandable in English.)"

Sometimes English is called a "borrower" language, and for that reason, there are often more words available than you need. You have "dwelling" though all you need is "house". You have "stone" though all you need is "rock." In the case of "rock" sometimes the same word has different meanings from different sources; in this case "to sway" comes from the old French word roke

Diversity is always about some mix of cultures. English took the diverse words that are available from other cultures rather than creating new English words for new occasions. In addition, English will often twist or reconstruct the words it does have. Often a slang word becomes an accepted idiom, and finally becomes an acceptable part of vocabulary. For instance, right now, could we say that some Rock music is stoned? See another article on this site - N2V2A - for more twisting and turning (Nouns to Verbs to Adjectives).

Here are just a few common words in English that came from other places:

Arabic - alcohol, caliber, monsoon, zero...
Czech - pistol, polka, robot
Dutch - boss, cookie, lottery, yacht
Egyptian - ammonia, ebony, ivory, paper
Flemish - brick, duffel, gas, hunk
French - ambulance, diplomat, parachute, sauce
Gaelic (Celts) - bard, golf, slogan, whiskey
Hungarian - coach, goulash, paprika
Italian - bankrupt, fascist, opera, umbrella
Japan - judo, karate, soy, tycoon
Latin - calendar, data, maximum, uniform
Mayan (Mexico) - cigar, shark
Nahuatl (Mexico, Central) - chocolate, guacamole, Mexico, tomato
Norse - berserk, husband, reindeer, window
Russian - bistro, cosmonaut, mammoth, vodka
Spanish - canyon, guitar, patio, tornado
Taino (Carribean) - hammock, hurricane, potato
Turkish - caviar, kebab, tulip, yoghurt

(Thanks to www.krysstal.com for the words above.)

And for those of you too absorbed for words, here is the really big picture:

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