Comparison
The following table demonstrates the relation of modern West Germanic languages to each other, showing some closely related word-forms, as descended from the Proto-Germanic roots *se/*þe, *hwa, and *he, within the three main West Germanic languages (English, Dutch, and High German). (Note: the Proto-Germanic roots given here are simplifications of three sets of related roots that were similar in form, in that they either shared the same initial consonant sound or, in the case of *Se/*þe, alternated between two consonants.)
| Description | From *Se/*þe | From *Hwa | From *He | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | Dutch | German | English | Dutch | German | English | Dutch | German | ||
| Nominative | Masc. | the | de | der | who | wie | wer | he | hij, ie | er |
| Neuter | that | dat | das | what | wat | was | it | het | es | |
| Fem. | she | zij, ze | sie, die | (who) | (wie) | (wer) | ME/Dial. hoo | |||
| Plural | they | zij, ze | sie, die | (who) | (wie) | (wer) | ||||
| Demonstrative | this | dit, deze | dies- | |||||||
| Adverbial/Nominal | so, thus | zo, dus | so | while | wijl | Weile | ||||
| Relative | such | zulk | solch- | which | welke | welch- | each | elk | MHG elch- | |
| Dual | whether | weder | ||||||||
| Description | From *Se/*þe | From *Hwa | From *He | |||||||
| Dative | Masc./Neuter | den | dem | whom | wien (obsolete) | wem | him | hem | ihm | |
| Fem. | der | der | (whom) | (wie) | (wem) | her | haar | ihr | ||
| Plural | them | den | den | (whom) | (wie) | (wem) | 'em | hen/hun | ihnen | |
| Genitive | Masc./Neut. | diens, zijn | des(sen), sein- | whose | wiens | wessen | his | |||
| Fem./Plural | their | dier | der(en) | wier | her | haar | ihr- | |||
| Locative | there | daar | da, dar- | where | waar | wo, war- | here | hier | hier | |
| Allative | thither | der | hin | whither | wer(waarts) | wohin | hither | her, heen | her | |
| Ablative | thence | (van) daan | (von) dannen | whence | woher | hence | ||||
| Instrumental | why, how | hoe | wie | |||||||
| Temporal/ Conjunctive | I | then | dan | dann | when | wanneer | wann | |||
| II | than | (dan) | denn | (when) | wen | wenn | ||||
| Description | English | Dutch | German | English | Dutch | German | English | Dutch | German | |
| From *Se/*þe | From *Hwa | From *He | ||||||||
Read more about this topic: West Germanic Languages
Famous quotes containing the word comparison:
“It is comparison than makes people miserable.”
—Chinese proverb.
“The difference between human vision and the image perceived by the faceted eye of an insect may be compared with the difference between a half-tone block made with the very finest screen and the corresponding picture as represented by the very coarse screening used in common newspaper pictorial reproduction. The same comparison holds good between the way Gogol saw things and the way average readers and average writers see things.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“But the best read naturalist who lends an entire and devout attention to truth, will see that there remains much to learn of his relation to the world, and that it is not to be learned by any addition or subtraction or other comparison of known quantities, but is arrived at by untaught sallies of the spirit, by a continual self-recovery, and by entire humility.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)