After the Norman invasion of England the Normans became the ruling class. As they had spend a long time in Normandy first they spoke french. As the ruling class they got to eat the meat that the Anglo-saxon peasants raised. So naturally the meat got the french term and the animal got the German term.
Latin and German
English has many French words due to the historical influence of the Norman Conquest in 1066, during which the Normans brought their language, Old Norman, which eventually evolved into Middle English. This led to the borrowing of French words into English, particularly in areas of law, government, cuisine, and fashion.
yes it is because Spanish, french and German is easier than English because there is more words in English than there is in Europe.
English is a Germanic and, for the longest time, old English resembled old German. In German, you pronounce every letter of a word and a lot of German words are still present in modern day English. That is why a lot of modern English words require you to pronounce every letter. An example is "hat" which is "hut" in German. When the vikings and Norms (French) conquered Britain during the middle ages, new words started to enter the English language. And, it is from these non-Germanic words that you get these silent letters. Salmon comes from the old french word "salmun." The French removed the "l" and changed it to a "u" so the modern french word is now "saumon." English just kept the "l". Reference: I speak German and English and know the background of both language (as well as french since all 3 languages are related).
The book the History of English states that English is a combination of many languages. There are many French words. German words, a bit of Latin, and words from many sources including Native American.
Mémé is a French equivalent of the German word Oma. The two feminine singular words translate as "gran," "grandma" or "granny" in English. The respective pronunciations will be "mey-mey" in French and "O-ma" in German.
German!
The letter 'w' is pronounced as 'double ve'. The letter comes from the non-French and non-Romance language words that add to French vocabularly. Many of the words are of German, English or Arabic origin.
Some English words that are similar to French words include: Date (English) / Date (French) Cafe (English) / Café (French) Table (English) / Table (French) Animal (English) / Animal (French)
Cognates. Example: English "blue," French "bleu," and German "blau," are all cognates. Not all similar-sounding words are cognates. Example: The English "become" does NOT have the same meaning as the German "bekommen" (which means "get" in English).
English is peppered with German words but the most words are scientific. Words like auto, wiener, frankenfurter, kapput, and Schadenfreude all come from German.
KindergartenZeitgeistAngstPoltergeistDoppelgängerSchadenfreudeErsatzare all German words that have made it into the English language