sigaloenta:

languageramblings:

One of my favourite aspects of English vocabulary is the existence of Old English, French, and Latin triplets, where the same idea can be expressed with three different words (hence triplets), where the most colloquial originates from Old English, a slightly more literary version from French, and the most literary version from Latin. 

Some examples: 

• kingly / royal / regal
• ask / question / interrogate 
• rise / mount / ascend 
• holy / sacred / consecrated 
• foe / enemy / opponent
• start / commence / initiate 

Additionally, we can consider the triplets where the final word (the most literary word) arrived in English via Greek: 

• teaching / instruction / pedagogy 
• witty / humourous / sarcastic 

Additional reading:

1. Latin Alive: The Survival of Latin in English and the Romance Languages (Solodow 2010)

2. Words, Meaning and Vocabulary: An Introduction to Modern English Lexicology (Jackson & Amvela 2000)

My favorites are the triplets where the French-derivative is from the same Latin word as the (usually later-borrowed) Latin-derivative, for example:

kingly // royal // regal
lawful // loyal // legal [this one is especially good because the Germanic-derived word and the Latin-derived words share the same PIE root]
friendly // amiable // amicable
trustworthiness // faithfulness // fealty // fidelity [faith was borrowed from French and naturalized to Germanic word-formstion patterns, and in addition the cognate was borrowed]
wrong // fault // falsity
cow // beef // bovine [there’s also a common PIE root here]

There are also French/Latin doubles where there isn’t a good single Germanic synonym, e.g. court // cohort

And then there are “Germanic” doubles where the a word was borrowed from Norman French twice (guarantee // warranty) or borrowed into English when it already existed in English (guard // ward // [custody]) or borrowed much later with a specialized meaning (guerrilla // warrior).