this post was submitted on 19 Nov 2025
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I always found it super interesting that you can sort of see the class divide in English based on the French and Germanic roots, especially when it comes to food and farming. For example:
Cow = Germanic (Kuh), Beef = French (Boeuf)
Hen = Germanic (Henne/Huhn), Poultry = French (Poulet)
Sheep = Germanic (Schaf), Mutton = French (Mouton)
Wheat = Germanic (Weizen), Flour = French (Farine/Fleur in old French)
It's not all words of course, but there are quite a few ones where you can see that the people who grew the food used the Germanic, and the people who ate the food used the French.
Wheat flour was actually historically spelled flower and used to be the same word.
Damn I never noticed that, that is pretty interesting