700 years - Part Three

Actually, the Battle of Hastings was NOT necessarily a victory of the French over the English. The Normans were basically Norsemen who had rapidly absorbed French names and language over the previous two hundred years (since c.850 when Alfred put them off attacking England).

In 1066 they landed at Sussex to fight against Germanic Anglo-Saxons and fellow Danes & Nordics. In effect, the Norman Conquest can be seen as a tussle between former Teutonic tribes upon British soil. Out of all this bloodshed was born the beautiful English tongue.

THE LAWS OF THE LAND were written in Norman-Latin - the language of the dominant, ruling class.

FUSION of TONGUES

SCHIZOID SPEECH: Dual level whereby the established Anglo-Saxon/ Teutonic words were overlaid by the new Norman-French/Latin words. A parallel, almost schizoid, process occurred before we entered the Middle English phase from c.1150. We will see later how English today still reflects this dynamic period.

NOTE / ASIDE: Should I give the new ANGLO-NORMAN words first, then get the class to work out what the missing OLD ENGLISH words would be - make into a game??

Abbreviations Code:

ROYALTY:

OE: king, queen - surprisingly the top titles remained OE!
AN: castle, crown (corona), palace, royal, sceptre, sovereign, throne,

RULING ELITE

OE: lord + lady - retained at top again.
AN: sir + madam / master + mistress /
butler (bottle), porter (carry), servant (slave),

TITLES of NOBILITY

OE: earl - sole exception
AN: baron, chancellor, chief, constable, countess, duke, marshal, prince, viscount,

FIGHT / MILITARY, BATTLE:

OE: fight, might, sword,
AN: armour, army, assault, banner, castle, champion, conquest, court martial, destroy, enemy, fort, moat, navy, peace (pax), portcullis, siege, soldier, sortie, tower, victory, war,

PROPERTY

OE: ditch, field, land, owe, own,
AN: heir, lease, privilege (private law), prohibit, property (proper = one's own), mortgage, tenant,

LAW / ADMINISTRATION of JUSTICE

OE: law (ON = something laid down, fixed),
AN: assizes, dungeon, execution, gaol, government, judge, jury, magistrate, order, parliament (parley), penalty, power, prison, punishment, question, rebel, torture, verdict, villain *, vow,
(Note: Villain - based upon the Latin word linked with 'villa' - possibly a servant in such a country house. But, as with other words linked with countryside workers (paganus), it fell into disrepute.

CRIMES

OE: kill (quell), murder, steal, theft,
AN: arson, burglar, crime, damage, felony, larceny, traitor, (police = Gk)

ARCHITECTURE

OE: building, iron, shed (OE = shade), spade, wood,
AN: aisle, arch, column, construction, palace, pillar, nave, vault

GAMES / SPORT

OE: foot+ball, game, hunt ?,
AN: chase, falconry, joust, lance, leash, park, quarry, scent, tournament, umpire,

W O R K / PROFESSIONS

OE: baker, miller, smith, weaver, quack (ON=fake medical doctor),
AN: barrister, doctor, professor, solicitor,
Trade/Labour: draper, tailor, spicer, plumber (lead), farmer (firm = fixed lease),
ASIDE: job (16th.c. Unknown Etyml),

ANIMALS, FOOD / CUISINE, COOK, KITCHEN

cow, oxen /     beef (boef from Latin = bovine)
sheep, lamb  / mutton
pig, swine, ham /      pork, bacon
chicken /     poultry
calf   /    veal
deer /       venison
(Note: deer entrails called umbles. These were left for servants who 'ate humble pie')

FOOD PREPARATION:

AN: boiled, condiments, fry, jelly, pastry, sauce, soup, toast,
OE: apple, bean, berry, pear, sprout, turnip
AN: butter, carrots, cauliflower, cheese, dates, fruit, grapes, lard, onions, mushroom, vegetables, wine

MANNERS

OE: belch!
AN: pardon, please,

FAMILY RELATIVES

OE: Inner Circle, Close Kin
mother, mam ?
father, dad ?
child: girl (LGm) boy (ME?)
sister, daughter
brother, son

AN: Outer Circle / Distant relations
aunt, uncle
niece, nephew, cousin,

PARALLELS:

motherhood / maternity
brotherhood / fraternity
friendship / amity

SIDE-by-SIDE / PAIRED

expressions which survive in Modern English
goods and chattels (Gm+OF)
law and order (OE+OF)
lord and master (OE+OF)
rack and ruin (OE/Dutch=wreck+OF=fall)
ways and means (OE/Gm+OF)
In Prayer Book: acknowledge and confess(OE+OF=admit a fault)

ASIDE: Norman's 'dandelion' = looks like 'teeth of a lion' from dent-de-lion.

MODERN-DAY FRENCH PHRASES

la carte
bete noire
billet-doux
bon voyage
coup d'‚tat
cordon bleu
cul de sac
esprit de corps
fait accompl¡
hors d'oeuvre
laizze faire ?
menage … trois
noblesse oblige
nom de plume
savoir faire
s'il vous plait
tour de force

NOTE: 10,000 Norman French words still in Modern English.

WHY DID LATIN LAST and STAY?
How did the Latin-based language gain such a strong foothold in England? The invaders were not so numerous and the chances were that the Normans would have adopted the native English language just as their ancestors had done after the Vikings / Norsmen adopted French when Neustria became Normandy from around 860. Apart from a few place names, barely any Norse words survive in Normandy.
The answer is that centuries of strong links between France and England (in war and peace) followed the Conquest:
Kings of England were often Dukes of Normandy.
The Plantagent Kings ruled vast French provinces.
During the One Hundred Years War, begun in 1337, England controlled much of France.
It was not until 1399 that England had a ruler whose mother tongue was English - HENRY IV (1366-1413) House of Lancaster.
Reigned 1399-1413
Old French literature was much admired and imitated in England and works translated into Anglo-French. Norman-French was the language of Polite Society e.g., town cryer's "Oyez! is Old French for Hear!

FUSION   CONCLUSION

French scribes had to write Saxon words in their legal documents; while Saxon scribes had to submit accounts using Latin-based terms which their Norman masters could understand.
It is often assumed that English has a rich vocabulary because of the wave after wave of invasions producing a layer-upon-layer of language. But this view is not the full picture.
At the heart of the matter was a HAPPY attitude which the Anglo-Saxons had toward accepting new words into their language. They not only loved ALLITERATION, but seemed overjoyed to absorb ALTERNATIVE words.
We saw earlier how the Anglo-Saxons had taken in Roman words even before they arrived on these shores.
The Anglo-Saxons accepted 10,000 new Norman-French words into their language - never any barriers, open door, laissez-faire attitude one might say (unlike some).
Despite this massive flood of new Latin-based words, the foundation or bedrock of the English grammar remain solid. The Norman-French words slotted into the established grammatical patterns. For example, in Latin grammar (Spanish) we get 'Casablanca' (house white), while English prefers the adjective before the noun (white house) - so in ways like this, the Normans bowed to the English.
Curious anomalies, however, still survive from our French inheritance:
attorney general, body politic, heir apparent, knight errant, princess royal, proof positive, treasure trove,
And poetry uses this device to good effect:

MILTON: "old man eloquent"
WORDSWORTH: "vision splendid"
DICKENS "Ivy green that growth on ruins old"
NOTE: During this early transition phase, English was still very much a spoken language. Most of the writing by scholars, scribes was in Latin.

Warring Words called by Churchill

"We shall not flag or fail. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be.
We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender."
House of Commons 4 June 1940

CONCLUSION: Despite the deluge of Latinate words which drenched English after the Norman Conquest, it is the more powerful, emotional Anglo-Saxon words which win through in the end. They predominate in our everyday modern speech.

Speech by Henry V at Agincourt