Latinate v. Anglo-Saxon terms in legal writing

English is a funny animal. It reached its namesake land after the Roman Empire fell and tribes from Northern Germany and Denmark (Angles, Saxons, and Jutes) invaded and settled what had up to then been peopled by people who spoke Celtic languages (who, according to John McWhorter, likely contributed the use of what he calls “meaningless do” to our language). A few hundred years later, Vikings invaded (speaking another branch of Germanic language) and, by speaking Old English poorly, simplified it, ridding it of many declensions and complicated verb conjugations. A few hundred years after that, some French-speaking Vikings from northern France (Normans) invaded and took over. Between the Norman invasion and middle-aged efforts to expand the English vocabulary with Latin-root words, it suddenly had a bunch of synonyms, with the Latinate terms generally in use among the nobility, and the Germanic terms generally in use among the lower classes–beef v. cow; pork v. pig; cordial v. hearty; reception v. welcome, etc. 

Though we are many centuries separated from those days, their legacy remains in the tone that our words convey. If you were to say that someone gave you a cordial reception, you would picture a formal event with well-dressed, high-class people drinking champagne; if you were to say that someone gave you a hearty welcome, you would picture a bunch of men in beards, wearing flannel shirts and drinking beer. Right? Though we don’t think about it consciously, we tend to associate Latin words with formality and fanciness, and Germanic words with concrete and everyday things. 

For this reason, many law students think that they sound more authoritative when they use more Latinate words. But the effect of that is too often too many words saying too little. Sprinkle in some passive voice and a bunch of nominalizations, and you’ve got yourself some nearly impenetrable prose.

If your writing is hard to unpack, the odds that your reader will follow and agree with your argument go down. To cure this, focus on a few things. First, look for “to be” verbs and get rid of as many as possible. Second, put in actors before the action. Third, prefer verbs to nominalizations. Finally, when choosing your words, generally prefer ones of Anglo-Saxon origin. If you don’t know a word’s origin, just put it into an online etymology dictionary.  If you can’t think of a good synonym, go to a thesaurus until you find a Germanic one. Doing these things will make your writing more straightforward and concrete. That way, you won’t tax your reader’s attention nearly as much, which will increase the odds that you will persuade her. And that’s what we’re all after in this business.