Influence of French on English

The influence of French on English is mostly seen in the words we use, how we spell them, and a little in how we put sentences together and say words. Most French words entered English after the Norman Conquest in 1066, when Old French, especially the Old Norman dialect, became the language of the new Anglo-Norman court, government, and wealthy people. This lasted for many years, even through the Hundred Years' War from 1337 to 1453. Even today, English still gets ideas and words from French. Experts think that about one-third to two-thirds of English words come from French.

Background

Main article: History of English

In the early 1000s, Old English was not one single language but many different dialects spoken across England. One of these dialects, from the area around Winchester, became the main literary language.

In 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, invaded England and became its king. His Norman followers brought their French language to England, and it became the language of the royal court, the government, and the wealthy. For many years, French was the language of the ruling class in England.

Over time, English began to grow stronger again. By the 1300s, English was used more in schools and government. The printing press, introduced in the late 1400s, helped spread English even more. By then, English had become the main language of England once more.

Main article: Norman Conquest

Lexical

Main article: List of English words of French origin

French has greatly influenced the English language, especially in the words we use. About a third of English words come from French. Some experts think it may be even more. Over 40,000 English words are taken directly from French and can often be understood by French speakers without any changes in spelling.

These French words entered English slowly over a long time, starting after a big event in history. They came into many areas of life, such as government, the church, law, war, fashion, food, and learning. For example, words like authority, religion, justice, army, gown, feast, paper, and study all have French roots.

Sometimes, the same French word came into English twice, once from one dialect and then from another, leading to pairs of words with similar spellings but different meanings, like catch and chase. The biggest wave of these borrowed words happened between 1250 and 1400. After that, fewer French words entered English, but they still do today.

Morphological and syntactical

Over time, English changed some of its words because of French. For example, instead of using old words like thou and thee, English started using you, which is similar to how French uses vous in formal situations.

French also helped shape how we make words that are more than one. In English, we often add -s to make plurals, like "cats" or "dogs." This habit might have been strengthened by French, where they also use a similar way to show more than one thing.

English also uses some special beginning and ending parts of words that came from French, such as pre-, -ous, -ity, -tion, -ture, -ment, -ive, and -able. These join with natural English word parts like over-, -ish, -ly, -ness, -ship, -some, -less, and -ful.

Phonological

The French influence on English pronunciation is small, but there are a few examples. Some French loan words have stress patterns that are not used at the start of English words. Also, the sounds /z/ and /v/ became separate sounds in English, whereas in Old English they were variations of /s/ and /f/.

Some English words use special sound combinations like /ui/ and /oi/ from French. The sound sequence /juː/ also developed from French influences. Some experts think certain French sounds, like those in bon, could be considered part of British English pronunciation, but many speakers do not make the same distinctions as French speakers do.

Orthographic

After the Norman Conquest in 1066, many English words began to be written using French spelling rules. This led to changes in how English words looked on the page.

Some of these changes included using "qu-" instead of "cw-" as in queen, "gh" instead of "h" as in night, and "ch" instead of "c" as in church. Words also started using "ou" instead of "u" like in house, and doubled vowels to show long sounds like in see. Some older letters stopped being used because they were not familiar to the new French-speaking writers.

Miscellaneous

The Norman conquest changed the way English developed. Before this, the main literary language came from places like Hampshire, Wiltshire, and Somerset. But after the Normans took over, the capital moved to London, and the influence of the East Midlands area grew. This area’s dialect became the standard form of written English by the 15th century.

Personal names

The Normans also changed common English names. Old names like Alfred and Harold were replaced with new ones such as John, Peter, and William. These new names came from Hebrew, Greek, Christian traditions, and Normanized Germanic roots.

Norman culinary myth

The Norman culinary myth is an old idea that tries to explain why some English words for food come from French. It says that after the Norman Conquest in 1066, English people took care of animals, while French nobles ate the meat. This created a split where English words like cow, sheep, and pig refer to the live animals, and French words like beef, mutton, and pork refer to the meat.

This idea started in the 1600s and became popular in stories like Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe. But experts now know this isn’t true. They found that French food words were used for both live animals and meat long after 1066. The idea of French words only for meat and English words only for animals became common much later, in the 1800s. Even though it’s not accurate, the myth remains popular because it fits ideas about class and language from later times.

Examples of English words of French origin

Many English words come from French. After the year 1066, French words started to join English, especially from the French spoken by people in power.

Some common words we use today from French include:

Law and society: Words like crown, custom, justice, and marriage came from French.
Commerce: Words such as pay, ticket, debt, and budget have French roots.
Sport: Words like champion, sport, challenge, and tennis are from French.
Domestic life: Words like aunt, chamber, blanket, and chair also came from French.
Food and cooking: Foods such as bacon, toast, beef, and menu have French origins.
Art of living and fashion: Words like gown, blouse, salon, and boutique are from French.
Other domains: Words such as proud, grief, change, and rendezvous also came from French.

These words show how French has helped shape the English language over many years.