The English language we now know would not have
been the same if it was not for the events that happened in 1066. In 1066, the
Duke of Normandy,
William sailed across the British Channel. He challenged King Harold of England in the
struggle for the English throne. After winning the battle of Hastings William
was crowned king of England
and the Norman Kingdom was established. Norman-French
became the language of the English court. At the beginning French was spoken
only by the Normans
but soon through intermarriage, English men learnt French. Some 10,000 French
words were taken into English language during the Middle English period and
about 75% of them are still in use.
One of the most obvious changes that occurred
after the Norman conquest was that of the language: the Anglo-Norman. When
William the Conqueror was crowned as king of England, Anglo-Norman became the
language of the court, the administration, and culture. English was demoted to
more common and unprestigious usages. Anglo Norman was instated as the language
of the ruling classes, and it would be so until about three centuries later.
But not only the upper classes used French, merchants who travelled to and from
the channel, and those who wanted to belong to these groups, or have a
relationship with them, had to learn the language.
These events marked the beginning of Middle
English, and had an incredible effect in the way English is spoken nowadays.
Before the Norman conquest, Latin had been a minor influence on English, but at
this stage, some 30000 words entered the English language, that is, about one
third of the total vocabulary. But vocabulary was not the only thing that
changed in the English language. While Old English had been an extremely
inflected language, it now had lost most of its inflections.
The influence of the Normans can be illustrated by looking at two
words, beef and cow. Beef, commonly eaten by the aristocracy, derives from the
Anglo-Norman, while the Anglo-Saxon commoners, who tended the cattle, retained
the Germanic cow. Many legal terms, such as indict, jury, and verdict have
Anglo-Norman roots because the Normans
ran the courts. This split, where words commonly used by the aristocracy have
Romantic roots and words frequently used by the Anglo-Saxon commoners have
Germanic roots, can be seen in many instances.
In vocabulary,
about 10000 words entered the English language at this stage, and more than a
third of today’s PdE (Present-day English) words are related to those Anglo-Norman
ME (Middle English) words.
English pronunciation also
changed. The fricative sounds [f], [s], [Ɵ] (as in thin), and [ʃ] (shin), French influence helped to
distinguish their voiced counterparts [v], [z], [] (the), and [ƺ]
(mirage), and also contributed the diphthong [oi] (boy).
Grammar was also influenced by
this phenomenon especially in the word order. While Old English (and PdE in
most of the occasions) had an Adj + N order, some expressions like secretary
general, changed into the French word order, that is, N + Adj.
English has also added some words and idioms that
are purely French, and that are used nowadays.
Since French-speaking Normans took control over
the church and the court of London. A largest number of words borrowed by
the government, spiritual and ecclesiastical (religious) services. As example –
state, royal (roial), exile (exil), rebel, noble, peer, prince, princess,
justice, army (armee), navy (navie), enemy (enemi), battle, soldier, spy
(verb), combat (verb) and more. French words also borrowed in English art,
culture, and fashion as music, poet (poete), prose, romance, pen, paper,
grammar, noun, gender, pain, blue, diamond, dance (verb), melody, image,
beauty, remedy, poison, joy, poor, nice, etc. Many of the above words are different
from modern French in use or pronunciation or spelling.
Thus, the linguistic situation
in Britain
after the Conquest was complex. French was the native language of a minority of
a few thousand speakers, but a minority with influence out of all proportion to
their numbers because they controlled the political, ecclesiastical, economic,
and cultural life of the nation.
