Description

This article is from the alt.usage.english FAQ, by Mark Israel misrael@scripps.edu with numerous contributions by others.

202 provenance of English vocabulary (notes by Lucia Engkent) (Miscellany - alt.usage.english)

"Syllable Stress & Unstress" by Howard Woods, a 1978 Govt. of Canada
publication, has this breakdown:

           In a dictionary       In a daily newspaper
                               (showing frequency of use)
Anglo-Saxon     20.2%                   78.0%
French          28.3%                   15.2%
Latin           28.5%                    3.1%
Old Norse        1.4%                    2.4%
Greek            3.6%                    0.9%
other           18.0%                    0.4%

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