The classical influence

The Renaissance was a revival of interest in ancient Greek and Roman culture. Some words from Latin had already come into English through Norman French. Now thousands more words of Latin origin flooded into English. This explains why modern English has pairs of words which mean almost the same thing, such as base, which came into English from Norman French, and basis, which came into English during the Renaissance. Hundreds of Greek words also appeared in English.

At the same time, it became more popular throughout Europe for people to use their mother tongue, not Latin, for written documents. They were especially interested in reading the Bible in their own language. By the seventeenth century, it was possible to describe something in English with words of Germanic, Latin and Greek origin. This is still true today. Compare the following:

Michael Vaughan-Rees, Geraldine Sweeney, Picot Cassidy: In Britain. 21st Century Edition, Cornelsen Verlag, 2000, page 13