Did you know ? For several centuries, French was the official language of the… kingdom of England. Eh yes ! Remember your history lessons. In 1066, William the Conqueror won the Battle of Hastings and took the throne of London. And of course, the Norman aristocracy imposed its language there.
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Let us therefore immediately correct what I have just written: at that time, it was not French which was in use among the elites, but Norman, in other words a langue d’oïl close, but different, from that spoken in Paris. And, like any language, it has characteristic features. This is why, to designate a car, our British friends still use today because (Norman style) and not “char” (Parisian style). Why do they say veil and not “veil”; escape and not “escaped”; market and not “market”. We also find there the typical hissing of Norman, where “ash” is said ashin the pronunciation of terms like nation, ocean Or push. As the linguist Bernard Cerquiglini points out in the work he has just devoted to this subject (1), Norman has truly exerted a major influence on English. Which does not prevent some, out of ignorance, from still considering it as a despicable “patois”…
The domination of William’s language continued more or less until the loss of Normandy by the Kingdom of England in 1204. It was then the French of Paris which began to dominate on the banks of the Thames. Logic: the kingdom of France has gained in power and the idea is creeping into London that the “good language” can only be that spoken around the Île de la Cité. For this reason – this too, little is known – the first manuals to describe and teach our language were written… by English people, like this Donait François by John Barton, written around 1400.
In French, the noble lexicon; current vocabulary in Anglo-Saxon
If these works are necessary, it is because times have changed. In 1399, when King Henry IV acceded to the throne, his mother tongue was not French, but English (the Hundred Years’ War happened there). This has not happened since Edward the Confessor, the predecessor of William the Conqueror! But beware of errors of interpretation: if French became a second language from this time on, it nonetheless continued to play a major role. It remains in fact the idiom of economics (commerce, debt, entrepreneur, finance, inflation, money) ; of the government (authority, parliament, state) ; of Justice (advocate, judge, prison) ; of religion (abbey, cathedral, sacrament); science (astronomy, physics, study, doctor, remedy)… In reality, it is a sort of hierarchical bilingualism that is being established: in French, the noble lexicon; to Anglo-Saxon, current vocabulary. This is how animals are designated by an English word when they are raised by peasants and by a French term when they arrive on the plates of aristocrats: ox/beef, calf/veal, pig/pork, sheap/mutton…
The impregnation is intense, massive, deep. In total, beauty has city, Passing by cruel, different, flower, people, prince, river, table, more than a third of the vocabulary of modern English comes from either Norman or French. A proportion which made Clemenceau (perfectly bilingual) say: “The English language does not exist. It is poorly pronounced French” – a phrase taken up in the title by Bernard Cerquiglini.
This tricolor ascendant even goes beyond the lexicon, underlines the linguist, since we spot it in certain expressions (the most part, in vain, in conclusion). This is also evidenced by the frequency of “a” prefixes. (alive)in “dis” (disappear)in “in” (insensitive) ; suffixes in “ance” (compliance) and in “able” (eatable) – all from this side of the Channel. Finally, this is evidenced by the abundance of plurals in -s to the detriment of the turn in -en (child/children), typical of Old Anglo-Saxon.
Although it has remained a sort of variant of French, English has nevertheless always lived its life independently. This is how many words that disappeared among us have survived across the Channel, such as grievance, pledge Or solace. Still others have retained a meaning that no longer applies in France, such as cellar (with the meaning of “cave”), injury (“injury”), noise (“noise”) – this is particularly the origin of “false friends”. Hence this formula from another linguist, Henriette Walter: “English is a good introduction to old French”.
Let us end with a paradox which is not one. If “England is a French colony that has gone bad” (Clemenceau, again), Norman and French did indeed offer English the vocabulary of modernity, the one which “allowed it to later become an international language”, as Bernard Cerquiglini writes. Its current global success is therefore – in part – a way of homage to the French-speaking world.
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(1) The English language does not exist. It’s poorly pronounced French, by Bernard Cerquiglini. Editions Gallimard
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Lafont, Manciet and Lesfargues: three authors between French and Occitan
It should be noted: the Maison des Francophonies de Montpellier Via Domitia is showing openness by offering an event centered on the relations between French and Occitan, in association with the ReSO laboratory. A literary meeting, entitled “Lafont, Manciet and Lesfargues: three great Occitan voices between two languages (French and Occitan)”, will take place on March 26 at 6 p.m. on the Saint-Charles site of the Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3 University , with speakers Guy Latry, Jean-Claude Forêt, Christian Lagarde and Claire Torreilles. As its title indicates, it will be devoted to these three major writers of the 20th century in Doc language. It will be possible to attend by videoconference thanks to this link.
Participate in regional language and culture meetings
The first “regional language and culture meetings”, organized by the Collective Prouvènço And the Ousservatori (Observatory of Provencal language and culture), will be held on Saturday March 23 at the Etang des Aulnes estate, in Saint-Martin-de-Crau (Bouches-du-Rhône). I will have the pleasure of participating, alongside sociolinguist Philippe Blanchet in particular.
TO LISTEN
This title received the Priziou for best sung work during the 27th ceremony co-organized by France 3 Bretagne and the Office Public de la Langue Bretonne, in partnership with France Bleu, on March 13. You can find here the complete list.
The Rouen French Language Festival highlights the diversity of the French
On the occasion of the sixth edition of French language festival, organized at the National Drama Center of Rouen, Pascal Paradou makes the diversity of the French heard, in the Francophonie as in France. With in particular Ronan Chéneau, the author behind this festival.
TO WATCH
Originally from southern India, Suchetha Satish sings in 140 languages, including French. She explains her journey by answering questions from the Cheminez site!“the media of languages and cultures from here and elsewhere”.
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