English Language
The particular genius of the English language, Barfield observes, "seems to have lain not so much in originality as in the snapping up of unconsidered trifles; and where it has excelled all the other languages of Europe, possibly of the world, is in the grace with which it has hitherto digested these particles of foreign matter and turned them into its own life's blood. Historically, the English language is a muddle; actually it is a beautiful, personal, and highly sensitive creature" (HEW 78).
 
See in particular History in English Words, passim and Speaker's Meaning, passim.