Well, I am ready to put weeks into it.
I early realized that I am VERY prejudiced about language. I have been known to say that if I could get into a time machine and travel to any when that I wanted, I would not hesitate for a moment and travel to 1066. I would tell Harold the Saxon to not look up (in order to avoid that arrow in the eye).
German, I feel, is the very heart and soul of the English language. What the Normans brought in was, for the most part, just extra. Now, regarding science and law, I will admit that the Saxon speech may have been inadequate, but what does that matter when it comes to heart, soul, and poetry?
Wow, an interesting opinion, and one I will attempt to disagree with politely.
German was not the language spoken in England before 1066, it was Old English, or more precisely Intermediate Saxon, a dialect with closer relations to Old Norse than German, which is so similar to Icelandic that Oxford and Cambridge English majors (used to?) have to study that language as part of their study of English. Here is a bit of
Beowulf:
Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum,
þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon,
hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon.
Oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum,
5 monegum mægþum, meodosetla ofteah,
egsode eorlas. Syððan ærest wearð
feasceaft funden, he þæs frofre gebad,
weox under wolcnum, weorðmyndum þah,
oðþæt him æghwylc þara ymbsittendra
10 ofer hronrade hyran scolde,
gomban gyldan. þæt wæs god cyning!
ðæm eafera wæs æfter cenned,
geong in geardum, þone god sende
folce to frofre; fyrenðearfe ongeat
15 þe hie ær drugon aldorlease
lange hwile. Him þæs liffrea,
wuldres wealdend, woroldare forgeaf;
Beowulf wæs breme (blæd wide sprang),
Scyldes eafera Scedelandum in.
20 Swa sceal geong guma gode gewyrcean,
fromum feohgiftum on fæder bearme,
þæt hine on ylde eft gewunigen
wilgesiþas, þonne wig cume,
leode gelæsten; lofdædum sceal
25 in mægþa gehwære man geþeon.
Him ða Scyld gewat to gescæphwile
felahror feran on frean wære.
Hi hyne þa ætbæron to brimes faroðe,
swæse gesiþas, swa he selfa bæd,
30 þenden wordum weold wine Scyldinga;
leof landfruma lange ahte.
þær æt hyðe stod hringedstefna,
isig ond utfus, æþelinges fær.
Aledon þa leofne þeoden,
35 beaga bryttan, on bearm scipes,
mærne be mæste. þær wæs madma fela
of feorwegum, frætwa, gelæded;
ne hyrde ic cymlicor ceol gegyrwan
hildewæpnum ond heaðowædum,
40 billum ond byrnum; him on bearme læg
madma mænigo, þa him mid scoldon
on flodes æht feor gewitan.
Nalæs hi hine læssan lacum teodan,
þeodgestreonum, þon þa dydon
45 þe hine æt frumsceafte forð onsendon
ænne ofer yðe umborwesende.
þa gyt hie him asetton segen geldenne
heah ofer heafod, leton holm beran,
geafon on garsecg; him wæs geomor sefa,
50 murnende mod. Men ne cunnon
secgan to soðe, selerædende,
hæleð under heofenum, hwa þæm hlæste onfeng.
ða wæs on burgum Beowulf Scyldinga,
leof leodcyning, longe þrage
55 folcum gefræge (fæder ellor hwearf,
aldor of earde), oþþæt him eft onwoc
heah Healfdene; heold þenden lifde,
gamol ond guðreouw, glæde Scyldingas.
ðæm feower bearn forð gerimed
60 in worold wocun, weoroda ræswan,
Heorogar ond Hroðgar ond Halga til;
hyrde ic þæt wæs Onelan cwen,
Heaðoscilfingas healsgebedda.
þa wæs Hroðgare heresped gyfen,
65 wiges weorðmynd, þæt him his winemagas
georne hyrdon, oðð þæt seo geogoð geweox,
magodriht micel. Him on mod bearn
þæt healreced hatan wolde,
medoærn micel, men gewyrcean
70 þonne yldo bearn æfre gefrunon,
ond þær on innan eall gedælan
geongum ond ealdum, swylc him god sealde,
buton folcscare ond feorum gumena.
ða ic wide gefrægn weorc gebannan
75 manigre mægþe geond þisne middangeard,
folcstede frætwan. Him on fyrste gelomp,
ædre mid yldum, þæt hit wearð ealgearo,
healærna mæst; scop him Heort naman
se þe his wordes geweald wide hæfde.
80 He beot ne aleh, beagas dælde,
sinc æt symle. Sele hlifade,
heah ond horngeap, heaðowylma bad,
laðan liges; ne wæs hit lenge þa gen
þæt se ecghete aþumsweorum
85 æfter wælniðe wæcnan scolde.
ða se ellengæst earfoðlice
þrage geþolode, se þe in þystrum bad,
þæt he dogora gehwam dream gehyrde
hludne in healle; þær wæs hearpan sweg,
90 swutol sang scopes. Sægde se þe cuþe
frumsceaft fira feorran reccan,
cwæð þæt se ælmihtiga eorðan worhte,
wlitebeorhtne wang, swa wæter bebugeð,
gesette sigehreþig sunnan ond monan
95 leoman to leohte landbuendum
ond gefrætwade foldan sceatas
leomum ond leafum, lif eac gesceop
cynna gehwylcum þara ðe cwice hwyrfaþ.
Swa ða drihtguman dreamum lifdon
100 eadiglice, oððæt an ongan
fyrene fremman feond on helle.
Wæs se grimma gæst Grendel haten,
mære mearcstapa, se þe moras heold,
fen ond fæsten; fifelcynnes eard.
I'd be interested in hearing which characteristics of this language you find are the heart and soul of English. I myself love the bastard duality of our language (and as a Viking myself, I am predisposed to look favourably on its Nordic heritage). In my view, it is the very lack of purity which makes English so flexible and adaptable. There is nothing like the
Académie française in the English-speaking world, nor could there ever be.
That's why we are utterly shameless in innovating, and do it better than most other languages, who borrow our words at every generation (think of download, boot, etc.).
Our language is so organic precisely because we have multiple forms of logic with which to manipulate it. We can be poetically rustic as in the quote above from the King James Bible, and yet we can fly as high into the clouds of abstraction as any Latin language.
After the Invasion, the Normans quite simply brought modern civilisation to Britain, along with its legal, scientific and artistic vocabulary. While Beowulf spoke of blood, guts, love and fear, Middle English brought us a much higher degree of wit. You'll notice that already, in Chaucer, about half the words are Norman French, and are pronounced as such.
Today I find that the writers with the greatest sensitivity to the nuances of English always betray a subtle and intimate knowledge of the French usages associated with our words. You can tell by context. But I think I'm getting too long for one page here.
One more rib-poke for you, Harald the Saxon married a Viking princess and his descendants learnt Danish from her. So it was Vikings coté cour, and Vikings coté jardin, for England's throne.