French borrowings in the english language

ustify">   There were three periods of French borrowings:The first period,from about 1066 to 1250 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).There were not French borrowings,since English continues be used,largely in its own,low-level arenas and French and English speakers were kept separate.

We find the borrowings fall into several groups:

• Names for social roles and occupations that the lower classes would become familiar with through contact with a French-speaking nobility: baron,noble,

dame,servant,messenger,feast,minstrel,juggler,largesse.

• Labels introduced to English through literary channels:story,rime,lay
• Church terms(largest single group)-the need transfrer doctrine and belief from clergy to the people accounts for frequent transfer of words.
• In this period,the words were borrowed as foreign words,i.e.,the French words introduced into English were the sorts of words that people speakin one language often learn from people speaking another.

     So what happens to distinguish the earlier from the later period?The Norman influence waned,and the Parisian/Central/Metropolitian French became more important.This shift corresponded with a set of historical events which argually created the conditions for the re-emergence of English in the higher social strata.About 900 words were borrowed during this phase,with most of them showing the effects of Anglo-Norman phonology.In the 150 years following 1250,when all classes were speaking or learning to speak English,French loan-words entered English via speakers who were accustomed to speakin French,who now transferred these words into their adopted language,English.

  The second period,roughly from 1250 to 1400 represents the period of English-French bilingualism in individuals(not just in the nation).The number of French-loanwords ballooned in this period.Why was this?

  Very briefly,this is what happened.In 1204,Normandy(in northern France,where the Normans came from)was acquired by the French king.Among other thing,it meant that the Norman aristocracy in England couldn’t travel back and forth between their lands in England or France anymore.They had to choose whether they wanted to remain in England or in Fance.Those who remained in England  began to see England as their home.This led to the reassertion of English as the language of realm.Other reasons for the reassertion of English are:the Normans in England belonged to the Capetian dynasty spoke Norman French;this became non-prestigious in France as the variety spoken by the Angevian dynasty in France,Parisian French, became the prestige variety;because Norman French was seen as socially inferior,it was less dificult to abandon it in favour of English;subsequently,Enland became at war with France in the Hundred Years War(1337-1453).

     Even as English was o its way in,the gaps in English vocabulary had to be filled by loanwords from French. These include items pertaining  to  new  experiences

and ways of doing things introduced by the Normans. So whilst  the English already had kings,queens,and earls,terms taken from French include”count, countess, sire, madam, duke, marquis, dauphin, viscount,baron,master.Other domains that became enriched with French loanwords include:

Government and Administrative:govern,government,administer,crown,state,

empire,royal,majesty,treaty,statue,parliament,tax,rebel,traitor,treason,exile,peer

chancellor,treasurer,major,noble,prince,princess,duke,squire,page (but not king,

queen,lord,lady,earl),peasant,slave,servant,vassal,sovereign,scepter,ruler,power,

policy,court,office,chancery,counsel,ambassador,wardon,mayor,charter,accord,seal

agreement, covenant, alliance, curfew ,duty ,reign, civil, nation ,tyrant,oppression.

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

charity,chastity, chaplan,abbot, abbes, dean,confessor,person / parson, preacher,

evangelist,saint,chapel,closter,faith,bible,chapter,commandement,divine,service

prayer,sermon,absolution,procession,parish,baptize,praise,glorify,etc.

Legal terms: justice, equity, plaintiff, judge, advacate, attorney, felon,evidence,       petition,inquest,sue,accuse,arrest,blame,libel,slander,felony,adultery,property,heir,estate,executor,privilege,statue,ordinance,judge, chief, crime, fraud, trepass, client,

transgression,accusation,coroner,plaintiff,defendant,claimant,executor,notary,bail,

process, appeal,decree, divorce,exile,heritage,prison, treason,dungeon,arrest,plead,

jail,punish,banish,realese,etc.

Military terms: (Much of the fighting during this time was done in France. Many now-obsolete words for pieces of armor, etc., were borrowed at this time.) army, navy,peace,enemy, arms,battle,spy,combat,siege,defence,ambush,soldier,guard, mail, buckler, banner, lance, besiege, defend, array, admiral, armour, artillery, war,

Fortress,host,warrior,archer,chief,captain,admiral,conqueror,victor,robber,destroy,

expedition,etc.

Clothing and ornamentation: 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 ,blouse, chemise, cloak, frock,

veil,cotton,boot,broach,pearl,scissors,brush,mirror,towel,carpet,curtain,couch,lace,

blanket,cushion,table,chair,fashion,emerald,sapphire,crystal,amethyst,luxury,satin,

embroidery,taffeta,etc

Food and cooking: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,fry,boil,roast,mince,dine,dinner,supper,appetite,flour,lard

grease,spice,vinegar,victuals,sausage,sauce,gravy,jelly,juice,cabbage,biscuit,fritter,cider,cucumber,onion,olive,lettuce,grape,orange,leman,cherry,peach,pastry,treacle,

tart,spice,clove,thyme,herb.

Social terms:curtain,couch ,lamp, wardrobe ,screen, closet, leisure, quilt,checker,

dance, carod,lute, melody,conversation,rein,stallion,trot,harness,mastiff,pheasant,

terrier,squirrel,etc.

Hunting terms:rein, curry, trot, stable, harness, mastiff,spaniel, stallion, pheasant, quail, heron, joust, tournament, pavilion,etc.

Art,Learning,Medicine: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,clause,logic,geometry,compile,

copy,gout,etc.

Common expressions:draw near, make believe, hand to hand, by heart, without fail (These are loan-translations).

Geography:country,coast,river,valley.lake,mountain, frontier, border, city,hamlet,

village; estate,etc.

Noble title: emperor; duke; duchess; duchy; prince; count; countess; baron; squire; noble(man/woman); gentle(man/woman); dame; damsel,chevalier,master,dauphin,

marquis,etc.

Terms referring to sections of the community: peasantry; people; subjects; burgesses; nobility; gentry; knighthood; chivalry,etc

Terms for emotional states:ease, disease, joy, delight, felicity, grief, despair, distress,courage,folly,passion,desire,jealousy,ambition,arrogance,despite,disdain,malice,envy,avarice,certainty,doubt, enjoy,despise,furious,etc

Trades and crafts: barber, butcher, carpenter, carrier,draper,forester,fruiterer; grocer; mason; mercer; merchant; spicer; painter; tailor; victualler; apprentice; surgeon; physician; bargain; fair; merchandise; price; money; coin; dozen; double; measure; gallon; bushel; purchase; profit; pay; usury; debt; prosperity; barrel; bottle; basket; vessel,etc.

Terms that expressed  fundamental theological or religious concepts : creator,

saviour,trinity,saint,miracle,faith,heresy,reverence,devotion,sacrilege,temptation,redemption,absolution,immorality,salvation,etc.

Pervasive French influence on vocabulary:

by 1300-action, adventure, affection, age, air, bucket, calendar, cheer, city,   coast, comfort, cost, country, courage, debt, force, flower, malice, manner,marriage, noise, odor, opinion, order, pair, people, person, poverty, sign,sound, waste,etc

  by 1350-able, abundant, active, blank, calm, certain, courageous, poor,faint, easy, eager, firm, foreign, jolly, large, perfect, original, nice, hardy,safe, rude, real, solid, special, sudden, sure, tender, universal, usual, allow,apply, arrange, betray, carry, change, chase,close,complain,consider,continue, count, cry, deceive, declare, defy, defer, desire, destroy, embrace, enjoy, enter, flatter, force, grant, increase, inquire, join, marry, muse, murmur,obey observe, pass, please, prefer prove, receive, refuse, remember, reply, to take leave, to do justice, by heart, in vain, without fail,  according to, at large,etc.

Assorted loanwords: affair; action; air; baggage; beauty; branch; cage; cable; cattle; chance; change; choice; company; consent; coward; couple; cry; cure; damage; danger; delay; demand; departure; difference; difficulty; error; example; exception; excercise; experience; face; fate; favour; fence; fool; force; foreign; fountain; guide; honour; labour; leisure; marriage; piece; pencil; possession; question; language; wages able; ancient; brief; certain; clear; considerable; cruel; different; difficult; easy; familiar; famous; favourable; feeble; faint; fine; general; gentle; glorious; poor; safe; sure achieve; arrive; appear; approve; approach; assemble; assist; attend; advertise; affirm; await; blame; catch; cancel; carry; cease; chase; cry; change; consent; consider; count; cover; demand; deny; depart; deserve; discover; disturb; finish; employ; encourage; enjoy; enter; excuse; escape; increase; examine; force; fail; form; grieve; marry; refuse; perish; suffer; paint; perform; propose; save; touch; travel; tremble,etc.

   The conquered island of English was for centures a pale moon,illuminated by the Sun of French civilization,and it must be our task to trace the penetration of that light into English and common consciousness of the English people.

   Two French words borrowed before the Conquest are of considerable interest.These are pride,which appears about A.D 1000,and proud which came in about fifty years later.They are both derived from the French prüd (preux) in modern French which descends from the first element in Latin verb prdesse,to be of value. These words ,which in French had the meaning of valiant, brave, gallant,

soon acquired in English sense of arrogant,haughty,overweening.This change of meaning was due,perhaps,to bearing of the proud Normans who came over to England before Conquest in the train of Edward the Confessor,and the aspect in which these haughty nobles and ecclesiastics presented themselves to the Englishmen they scorned.Another word introduced at this time,and no doubt by Edward the Confessor,is chancellor-a word full of old history,which,for all its present dignity,is derived ultimately from cancer,the Latin word for crab.How the cancellarious,a petty officer of the Eastern Empire,stationed at the bars or crab-like lattices(cancelli) of the law courts,rose from an usher to be notary or secretary and come to be infested with judical functions,and to play a more important part in the Western Empire,belongs however,to European,and not to English history; but the word is interest to us as being one of the three or four French terms that found their way into English in Anglo-Saxon times.But the French language has undergone considerable and more recent changes since the date when the Normans brought it into England.Some words that borrowed have become obsolete in their native country,some consonants have been dropped,and the sound of others has been changed,we retain,for instance,the s that the French have lost in many words like beast and feast,which are bête and fête in Modern French.So,too,the sound of ch has become sh in France,but in English words of early borrowings,like chamber,charity,etc.,they keep the old pronunciation.They keep,moreover,in many cases,forms peculiar to the Norman dialect,as caitiff,canker,carrion,etc.,in which c before a did not become ch,as it did in the Parisian dialect,cark and charge are both from the same Latin word carricare,but one is the Norman and the other the Parisian from the word.In many cases the g of Norman French was changed to j in the Central dialects and English word goal has preserved its Norhern spelling, while it is pronounced,and sometimes written,with the j of Parisian French.

   As we haven seen,the main additions to the English language,additions so great as to change its character in a fundamental way,were from the French,first of all from the Northern French of the Norman conquerors,and the from the literary and learned speech of Paris.But the French language,as we have seen,is mainly based on Latin-not on the Latin of classical literature,but the popular spoken language,the speech of the soldiers  and uneducated  people, and the Latin  words  were so clipped, changed and deformed by them (not,however,capriciously,but in accordance with certain definite laws) that they are often at first unrecognizable.

   From early times,however,a large number of latin words were taken into French,and thence into English,from literary Latin;and as they were never used in popular speech,they did not undergo this process of popular transformation.

   With importation,therefore,of French vocabulary into English,many of the learned words borrowed first from Late,and then from Classical Latin,were adopted into English.But in England,also,Latin was spoken by clergy and learned men of the country,the Bible and the service-books were in Latin,and historical and devotional books were largely written in it.When these Latin books were translated into English,or when a scholar writing in English wished to use a latin word,he followed the analogy of the Latin words that had already come to English through the French language,and altered them as if they had first been adopted in French.It is often,therefore,difficult to say whether a Latin word has come to English through the French language,or has been taken immediately from the Latin.  

   A curious tendency,due not so much to the Genius of the Language as to the self-conscious action of the learned people,has affected the form of Latin words in English and French,but more drastically,perhaps,on this side of the Channel.From early times a feeling has existed that the popular forms of words were incorrect,and attepts more or less capricious and often wrong,have been made to change back to words to shapes more accordance with their original spelling.Thus,the h was added to words like umble,onour,abit,etc;b was inserted in debt(to show its derivation from the Latin debitum) and l in fault,as proof of its relation to the Latin fallere,and p found its way into receipt as a token of the Latin receptum.These pedantic forms were either borrowed direct into English from the French,or in many old words the change was made by English scholars;and in some words,as for instance debt and fault,their additions have remained in English,while in French the words have reverted to their old spelling.These changes,as in honour,dept,receipt,do not always affect the pronunciation;but in many words, as vault,fault,assault,the letters pedantically inserted have come gradually to be pronounced fault rhymed with thought in the eighteenth century,and only in the nineteenth century has h come to be pronounced in humble and hospital.

   Among the various types of changes which took place in 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 French form complementing the English one.For example,the English verb choose obtained a noun choice on the basis of a borrowing of French choise.

   As a generalization one can say that the French loans are to be found on a higher stylistic levels in English.With the later Central French borrowings this is obvious given the sectors of society where the loans occurred.The general split is between colloquial native words and more formal Romance terms and can be seen clearly I word pairs like”forgive and pardon”.Other examples are:

                   French                                       English

                   close                                              shut

                   reply                                              answer                                                                  

                   odour                                             smell

                   annual                                            yearly

                   demand                                         ask

                   chamber                                        room

                   desire                                            wish

                   power                                           might

                   ire                                                 wrath/anger