OE French Borrowings The Norman Conquest of 1066

OE French Borrowings The Norman Conquest of 1066 left England as a trilingual country, although most people would only speak one or two of the dominant languages. French was the language of the Norman aristocracy and therefore also the language of prestige, government and polite social intercourse. English was the language of the common folk.

When the Normans took over England, they changed the language of government and the court almost overnight and disregarded existing institutions. Instead, they took on almost wholesale institutions derived from France, including the feudal system which guaranteed strong control by the king.

The first period represents the height of Norman power. The language spoken by the Normans, known as Norman French (different from Central or Parisian French) was the language of the King’s court, the nobles’ castles and the courts of law. Norman French was therefore the language of honour, chivalry and justice. Indeed, Matthew of Westminster said: Whoever was unable to speak French was considered a vile and contemptible person by the common people (1263).

Some of the early loans from French are questionable, e. i. prūd, prūt (proud), which might come from a French form of Vulgar Latin prōd-is and sot (foolish), which originates in Vulgart Latin sottus and might have been transffered through French sōt. Other words that were apparently adopted from French before the Conquest are: capun (capon), tumbere (dancer), gingifer (ginger), bacun (bacon), prisun (prison), arblast (arbalest), serfise (service), servian (serve), castel (castle), tūr (tower) and cancelere (chancellor). About 900 words were borrowed during this phase, with most of them showing the effects of Anglo-Norman phonology. Examples from this source are:

baron, noble, dame, servant, messenger, feast, minstrel, juggler, largess.

story, rime, lay, douzepers.

charity; chastity; chaplan; abbot; abbess; dean; friar; confessor; person/parson; preacher; evangelist; saint; fraternity; chapel; closter; abbey; faith; bible; chapter; commandment; divine; service; prayer; sermon; absolution; procession; parish; baptise; praise; glorify

There were not many French borrowings, since English continues be used, largely in its own, low-level arenas and French and English speakers were kept separate. The second period, roughly from 1250 to 1400 represents the period of English-French bilingualism in individuals (not just in the nation). The second great influx were words from Central French. Comparing the number of borrowings from these two dialects, the Central French loans are more numerous, but the Norman French loans penetrated deeper into the language.

Thousands of French loans were adopted by English in the Middle English period and 75 % of these are in use up to this day e. g. boulevard, cigarette, champagne, de luxe, etiquette, menu, restaurant, souvenir and other. The number of French loans was escalating until the end of the 14 th century when it reached its peak and after that it declined, but the borrowing continued. The Middle English French loans denote the areas in which English was influenced by French. It is for example:

religion, theology, sermon, confession, clergy, cardinal, friar, crucifix, miter, censer lectern, abbey, convent, creator, savior, virgin, faith, heresy, schism, solemn, divine, devout, preach, pray, adore, confess.

justice, equity, plaintiff, judge, advocate, attorney, petition, inquest, felon, evidence, sue, accuse arrest, blame, libel, slander, felony, adultery, property, estate, heir, executor.

army, navy, peace, enemy, arms, battle, spy, combat, siege, defence, ambush, soldier, guard, mail, buckler, banner, lance, besiege, defend, array.

habit, gown, robe, garment, attire, cape, coat, collar, petticoat, train, lace, embroidery, pleat, buckle, button, tassel, plume, satin, taffeta, fur, sable, blue, brown, vermilion, russet, tawny, jewel, ornament, broach, ivory, turquoise, topaz, garnet, ruby, pearl, diamond.

feast, repast, collation, mess, appetite, tart, sole, perch, sturgeon, sardine, venison, beef, veal, mutton, port, bacon, toast, cream, sugar, salad, raisin, jelly, spice, clove, thyme.

painting, sculpture, music, beauty, color, image, cathedral, palace, mansion, chamber, ceiling, porch, column, poet, prose, romance, paper, pen, volume, chapter, study, logic, geometry, grammar, noun, gender, physician, malady, pain, gout, plague, pulse, remedy, poison.

govern, government, administer, crown, state, empire, royal, majesty, treaty, statute, parliament, tax, rebel, traitor, treason, exile, chancellor, treasurer, major, noble, peer, princess, duke, squire, page (but not king, queen, lord, lady, earl), peasant, slave, servant, vassal.

Social: curtain, couch, lamp, wardrobe, screen, closet, leisure, dance, carol, lute, melody. Hunting: rein, curry, trot, stable, harness, mastiff, spaniel, stallion, pheasant, quail, heron, joust, tournament, pavilion. Common words and expressions include nouns - age, air, city, cheer, honor, joy; adjectives - chaste, courageous, coy, cruel, poor, nice, pure; verbs - advance, advise, carry, cry, desire; phrases - draw near, make believe, hand to hand, by heart, without fail (These are loan-translations).

This heavy borrowing from French had several effects on English: Native words were replaced: OE aeðele -- F. noble OE aeðeling -- F. nobleman OE here -- F. army OE campa -- F. warrior OE sibb -- F. peace English and French words were retained with a differentiation in meaning: hearty--cordial ox--beef sheep--mutton swine--pork calf--veal house--mansion

At least until 19 th century French was considered to be an important source of lexical borrowings. Only during the period between 1500 and 1700 its role of donor language was taken over by Latin, but in next two centuries it again became the main source of loanwords in English. The circumstances leading to borrowing during this period were very much different from those during the Middle English period. The number of loanwords penetrating into every day speech was much lower than the number of earlier borrowings, the Modern English loans were rather restricted to certain variety or stylistic level. At that time France had a leading role in social and cultural spheres, therefore the adopted vocabulary reflected its influence in these fields.

Here are some example loans reflecting artistic and cultural ties with France: artist, baroque, renaissance, rococo, ballet, burlesque, chanson, vase, memoir(s), essay, précis, cartoon, brochure, envelope, etc. Another group of French borrowings is connected with politics, trade and industry: patriot, republic, regime, aristocrat, democrat, dissident, cabinet, diplomacy, ideology, socialism, communism, etc. Words from French cuisine and fashion is a next group of French loans: cuisine, pastry, muscat, champagne, cutlet, picnic, canteen, tricot, vogue

In 18 th century an interest in mountains (especially the Alps) grew in England, which caused penetration of geological terms into English: glacier, moraine, plateau, debris, avalanche, etc. To have the list complete a mixed group of loanwords can be added: comrade, pilot, trial, entrance, attitude, detail, zero, apartment, bureau, development, garage, chauffeur, fiancée, practicable, invalid, entrap, develop, detach, embarrass

The fact that for many of the above words Germanic equivalents already existed in English and continued to exist led to a stylistic splitting of the vocabulary of English. Thus a word like work is a Germanic word and the normal everyday word whereas labour is a Romance loanword which is regarded as being on a higher level, cf. ‘I have some work to do now’, ‘The value of labour in our society’. In other cases the Romance loanword has come to have a slightly different meaning to the Germanic base word, cf. ask and demand where the latter (Romance) word has the implication of insisting on something. the period in which Middle English borrowed from French through direct contact, are those which led to a mixing of Germanic and Romance elements. Thus one has cases of assimilation in which an English word was created on the basis of a similar sounding French word. Here one has an instance of the French form complementing the English one. For example, the English verb choose obtained a noun choice on the basis of a borrowing of French choix.

In some cases one can no longer decide whether the Germanic or the Romance form of a word has survived into Modern English. Thus in the case of the adjective rich one cannot tell whether it is a continuation of the Old English rice or the later French borrowing riche. However, one can in many cases see a contamination of the morphology of words due to French borrowing. With the previous adjective one can see the Romance suffix in the noun formed from it: richess as opposed to Old English richdom with the Romance ending -ess. meaning having been affected. With the Old English word iegland /iland (cf. German Eiland) one arrives at the later spelling island under the influence of French isle. Note that the s here is unetymological, i. e. was never pronounced in English. Some French loanwords were influenced by changes later than Middle English. This is for example the case with Old French viage which was borrowed into Middle English but where the later French form voyage was borrowed into English and adapted in its pronunciation. The same is true of the Middle English noun flaute which was changed under the influence of later French flute.

Evidence for the strong influence of French on Middle English is nowhere as forthcoming as in the area of hybridisation by which is meant that a word consists of two elements, one of Germanic and the other of Romance origin. Consider the following: (1) The formation of verbal nouns from a French stem and the Germanic ending {ing}: preaching, serving. (2) The formation of nouns by the addition of Germanic suffixes: {ness}: faintness, secretiveness; {dom}: martyrdom; {ship}: companionship, relationship. (3) The addition of the ending {ly} (< OE -lich) to French loanwords: {ly}: courtly, princely. The same applies to the following endings {ful}: beautiful, powerful; {less}: colourless, pitiless, noiseless.

The reverse can also be the case, i. e. the ending of a word is French in origin and the stem is Germanic. Consider the following: (1) The formation of nouns by the addition of suffixes: {age}: mileage, shortage, leakage; {ment}: endearment, enlightenment, bewilderment. (2) The formation of adjectives by the use of endings: {able}: likeable, loveable, proveable, drinkable, bearable. In the case of the last examples one can see that many of the French suffixes became productive in English. Indeed the productivity can exceed that of the donor language. This can be seen in the case of the word mutiner ‘to mutiny’ which in English has lead to no less than six forms: mutine, mutinously, mutinousness, mutiny, mutineer. The number of word forms may also have developed differently in the course of time, thus English has entry, entrance while Modern French only has entreé, and of course English has the latter as a recent loan meaning ‘something small before starting a full meal’. adjective veri which originally meant ‘true, real, genuine’ (as is seen nowadays in expressions like You're the very man I'm looking for) and which came to be used in Late Middle English as an intensifying adverb and which has retained and expanded this function since. Originally the English adverb full was used as an intensifier and is still found in fixed phrases like You know full well.

In order to understand this sphere of borrowings from French one must bear in mind that the first loans were to be found in the upper classes who spoke Anglo-Norman. This fact led to French loans being automatically placed on a level above the normal everyday English vocabulary. Up to the present-day this characteristic of French words in English has remained. While it is true that some of the common French borrowings have become part of the basic stock of English vocabulary (cf. air, age, cry, change, large, manner, mountain, place, point, village, voice) a large quantity of words has remained on a stylistically higher level alongside the lower English terms. This results in such word pairs as the following which are distinguished more by register than by basic meaning: dress : clothe; amity : friendship; commence : begin; conceal : hide; nourish; feed; liberty; freedom.

The historical events that occurred at the beginning of 11 th century were undoubtedly the most significant ones for English-French language contact. From 1070, when William the Conqueror became the English King, French started to be spoken on every social level and remained the official language for another 300 years. The largest number of French loans were borrowed during this period – approximately 70%. Within the vocabulary of exotic food - probably fruit, vegetables, herbs, spices, nuts and seeds – we will find items that were transeferred to fill gaps in the indigenous lexis. Some items were probably borrowed thanks to associative relations – more words of the same family were integrated. Perhaps the group of meat could be a good example of this phenomena: beef, pork, mutton, veal.

The majority of the French loans were borrowed because of fashion and prestige. The upper classes had set the standard in lifestyle trends and fashion, which is reflected by the number of French loans belonging to these semantic fields and the situation is very similar with food, meals and cooking. The French-speaking classes, it would seem, must also be credited with a considerable adornment of the English table. Not only are the words dinner and supper French, but also the words feast, appetite, taste, banquet, cutlery, mutton, olives, mustard, vinegar, etc. Another aspect worth mentioning is the semantic change. Due to the fact that the language, from which the loans were trasferred was language of upper classes, the French loans were placed above the level of common every day English vocabulary. This was mentioned and described on example of words work and labour. There is no doubt that French language largely influenced English lexis in the semantic fields of food, meals and cooking. Baugh and Cable’s sentence nicely concludes our presentation: “It is melancholy to think what the English dinner table would have been like had there been no Norman conquest. ”