Although the living language closest to English is Frisian, so that was probably closer to the point of diversion. It's still miles from English.

Suzy Izzard did a program a long time ago about English and part of it had to do with the relation to Frisian.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeC1yAaWG34

April 05, 2026 - 05:33 UTC

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Then the French invaded England and messed everything up.
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That being said, English is in some regards more phonologically conservative than the continental west Germanic languages, particularly with the thorn sound, and thanks to nerds preserving Old English literature like Beowulf we know quite a lot about English’s evolution.
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