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Dominion terms

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BryGuy:
I'm learning German. I find it interesting how "Koffer" means suitcase and how many English words are translated into German by changing the "c" to a "k". An example: (English) camera = Kamera (German)

Holger:

--- Quote from: BryGuy on May 03, 2023, 09:51:27 pm ---I'm learning German. I find it interesting how "Koffer" means suitcase and how many English words are translated into German by changing the "c" to a "k". An example: (English) camera = Kamera (German)

--- End quote ---

Yes, German does not use the C as a single character, it only appears in the combinations CH, SCH and CK (with a few edge cases in words of foreign origin like Café or Cello). I suppose that in most words of Latin origin, the C was changed to K when the German language developed. Or maybe historical English changed K to C in German-origin words, like "können" -> "can"...
It's quite annoying in German Scrabble when you draw a C without an H or K.  ;)

Good luck with your learning!  :D German is supposed to be a rather complicated foreign language to learn, as far as I've heard.

AJD:
In early stages of English, only c was used, even in native Germanic-origin words: consider Old English cynd (modern kind), cyning (king), cepan (keep). The letter k was introduced to English writing in the Middle English period, i.e., after the 11th century.

Old High German, on the other hand, seems to have used both k and c interchangeably, before standardizing on k in the modern period.

(Disclaimer: I am a linguist, but this isn't my area of expertise; I don't know much detail about the history of writing systems in the Germanic languages and I could be mistaken here.)

J Reggie:
When I was studying German, I was telling a friend about how c is much less common in German than in English, and he said that's why Americans say "from c to shining c"

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