1. Germanic
2. Latin

“Stock” derives from the Old English word “stocc,” for the trunk of a tree. The meaning of a supply to keep for later didn’t adhere to the word until the 15th century, and scholars are not clear on how the meanings are related.

1. Latin
2. Germanic

The word “assemble” came into English from the Old French in the 14th century. Earlier Latin roots of the word show that it comes from “assimilare,” meaning to “become alike.” Only later did the word connote coming together in a group rather than just becoming more alike.

1. They have a Germanic night life.
2. They are living the Latin late hours.

“Nocturnal” has Latin roots and means “belonging to the night.” The prefix, noct, comes from the Latin nox-, which is a cognate with the Old English “neaht.” The suffix, “urnal” is simply used to show that this word relates to time.

1. Latin
2. Germanic

The word “daily” originates in Old English and thus is Germanic. “Daily” bears strong resemblance to the Old English “dglic,” so it has been part of the English language for about 1,000 years.

1. Latin
2. Germanic

The word “venison” began as a Latin verb, “venari,” meaning “to hunt.” The Germanic form of the oft-hunted antlered animal is “deer,” which originally meant any wild animal that one would hunt. Apparently deer are the quintessential hunting animal.

1. Even
2. Equal

The word “even” derives from the ancient, proto-Germanic “ebna.” A synonym for “even,” “equal,” came into English in the 14th century from the Latin “aequalis.“ “Equal,” though, means identical and exact, whereas “even” can mean more generally “level.”

1. Rapidly
2. Fast

The Germanic word "fast," from the Old English "faeste," did not originally have to do with speed. The earlier meanings of the word had to do with being held firmly, held fast. Scholars believe the meaning of speed came into being through Scandinavian influence, as running firmly and vigorously came to be called "fast."

1. Foretell it
2. Predict it

“Foretell,” the Germanic form, and “predict,” the Latin, both have nearly the exact same meaning: “to say before” or to tell something before it happens. The Old English for “tell,” though, has a slightly different nuance. It can mean to reckon, to think, and to consider, in addition to just speaking.

1. They had a penchant for Latin words.
2. They leaned to the Germanic.

The Latin-derived word “amicable” has a slightly more distanced meaning attached to it than the Germanic “friendly.” “Amicable” can mean “pleasant,” in addition to “friendly,” while “friend” originally meant “lover or friend.”

1. They are influenced by Latin.
2. They are a German lover.

The words “gift” (from Old English/Germanic) and “present” (from Old French/Latin) both have multiple meanings. “Gift” has long held the meaning of luck or talent along with a thing given. “Present” arises from the other meaning of “presence,” originally meaning “to offer in the presence of.”

1. Germanic
2. Latin

The verb “guess” arises from the Old English “gessen,” “to infer from observation.” It’s related also to “get,” which took its relevance from hunting. The Latin version, “estimate,” has to do with assigning value, or “esteem” to something.

1. Latin
2. Germanic

The Old English, Germanic word “holiday” holds its early meaning as a “holy day,” a day set apart, often for religious observance. The Latin “vacation,” has a more vacuous meaning: “free from obligations, time for leisure.” It comes from “vacare,” “to be empty.”

1. An irritation
2. An itch

The Latinate word “irritation” came into English in the 15th century to describe sores. The word in Latin and Old French meant “stimulus, incitement, wrath or anger.” So the feeling of burning and itchiness was described as the skin’s anger.

1. Latin
2. Germanic

The word “island” derives from Old English “iegland,” the “thing on the water.” This word, while very similar in appearance to the Latinate “isle,” is allegedly not etymologically related to it. The origin of “isle” is not determined and may have been brought into Latin from an unknown language.

1. What kind of ilk are you folk?
2. What sort of folk are you?

The Germanic word “ilk” comes from the Old English “ilca,” for “the same.” The word first applied to family groups and then broadened out to other categories and came to mean “of a kind,” or the same sort.

1. Do you know Latin?
2. Are you familiar with Germanic languages?

The word “recognize” can be traced to its Old French “recognizance,” meaning, “to know again.” The verb also, in the 15th century, took on the meaning of taking back land that once belonged to you.

1. That you messed up in a Germanic sort of way
2. That you screwed up Latin style.

The Germanic word “mistake” has a strong image associated with it. It comes from the Old English words for “wrongly” and “take or seize.” So, originally a mistake seems to have to do with taking something that doesn’t belong to you.

1. It’s noon.
2. It’s midday.

The word “noon,” has roots in Latin, coming from “non,” for nine. “Noon” used to signify the ninth hour after sunrise, three o’clock. Nones was also a time for afternoon prayer. “Non,” however, also derives from Old English, so this word has Germanic roots as well.

1. Let’s do something else.
2. Let’s do something different.

The Germanic word “else” finds its roots in the Proto-Germanic word “aljiiz,” meaning “other.” Early Germanics, upon being faced with the prospect of karaoke, may well have said, “anything other than this.”

1. Germanic
2. Latin

The Germanic word “stale” is often used to describe bread that has sat out for too long and has become hard. The original Old English word, though, has a less negative connotation, meaning “settled.” It was used to describe beer that had sat out long enough to let the particles settle down.

1. Latin
2. Germanic

The Latinate word “mutton” comes into English from the French “mouton.” Aside from the confusion about what language the word comes from, there is a discrepancy about what type of meat you get when ordering mutton vs. lamb. Mutton generally refers to the meat of an adult sheep, whereas lamb refers to young meat.

1. Germanic
2. Latin

The Germanic word for an establishment that offers items for sale, “shop,” comes from an Old English word meaning “barn.” The Latin word, “store,” on the other hand, had the meaning both for constructing a building and storing provisions.

1. Look out for that snake!
2. Watch out for that serpent!

The Germanic word “snake” and the Latinate word “serpent” both derive from verbs for “to creep or crawl” in their respective languages. Both languages also use the word in figurative senses to describe someone who is out to trick you.

1. Germanic
2. Latin

The Germanic word “thought” contained some of the same meaning we now ascribe to it in its Old English form, ”process of thinking, a thought.” It also connoted something that is not always thought of as thought: “compassion.” The Latin “idea” is connected to the Platonic ideals, the forms.

1. Germanic
2. Latin

The Latinate word “ensue” follows the French word “ensivre,” “to follow close upon.” The Old English-derived word, “follow,” also has the meaning of to accompany, adding a meaning of discipleship.

1. Germanic
2. Latin

“Forbid” hails from the Old English “forbeodan.” “For” meant “against,” and “beodan” meant “command.” The word for “command” held the meaning “to make aware,” making the original meaning “to make aware against” something.

1. Germanic
2. Latin

The word “liberty” has roots in Old French and Latin before that. The word entered into English in the 14th century, from the French meaning of “free choice, free will.” The older, Latin word, “libertatum,” had a more literal civil and political meaning of freedom from bondage.

1. Former
2. Previous

“Former” comes from the Old English, Germanic word “forma,” meaning first in time. The Latin version, “previous,” means going before and has the roots for the road before. So, the Latin version contains the image of going on the road before you.

1. Gladness
2. Joy

The Latin-derived word “joy” comes from the word “gaudia,” which meant “expressions of joy,” as in the act of rejoicing. The French took this word and attached to it the meaning of pleasure, including erotic pleasure. The Germanic version, “gladness” comes from an Old English word meaning brightness.

1. Germanic
2. Latin

The Old English word, “god,” has retained its form over the millennia. The word describes the “supreme being or the image of a god.” The word may have come from the Proto-Indo-European root, “ghut,” which meant “that which is invoked.”

1. Germanic
2. Latin

The Germanic word “good” derives from the Old English “god,” spelled like the word for god, but with a long vowel sound. The word came from the Proto-Indo-European word for “fitting.” The Latin version, “beneficial” holds the meaning of “advantageous.”

1. Germanic
2. Latin

The word “forsake” comes from the Old English roots “for,” meaning “completely,” and “sacan,” to “struggle, accuse, or blame.” The word shows a connection between turning against something or someone and the struggle that may be entailed in doing so. So, if you forsook a ship, you abandoned it.

1. Inquiring
2. Asking

The Latin-derived word for asking, “inquire” means “to ask a question, but it also has the meaning, “to learn by asking.” The Old English variation also has the meaning of “demand,” and it comes from an earlier word for “wish.”

1. Germanic
2. Latin

The English word “belly” comes from the Old English “belg,” meaning “bag.” The word did not transition to carry the meaning of the stomach until the 12th century and was associated with gluttony.

1. Germanic
2. Latin

“Color” comes into English in the 13th century from the French. Both the French and the Latin before it had the meaning of complexion of the skin as well as color in general. The Proto-Indo-European root it comes from, “kel,” had the sense of “to color or conceal.”