French Borrowings

The number of French borrowings during the ME period was much greater than that of Scandinavian loanwords, and their character was different since the relations between both the peoples and their languages were different.

Some French borrowings penetrated into the English language in the IX- X cc., long before the Conquest, e.g. mount, castle, tower, pride, proud.

The process of borrowing French words went on during the XII-XIVcc.

Prior to the XIII c., no more than one thousand French words entered the English language, whereas by 1400 their number had risen to 10,000. (75 % of them are still in common use.)

The majority of the English loanwords adopted in ME were first recorded in the texts of the XIV c. Chaucer’s vocabulary, which amounts to 8,000 words, contains about 4,000 words of Romance origin, i.e. French and Latin borrowings.

The development of feudalism and new relations between the lords and peasants brought with them such loans as manor, villain, peasant.

The relations between the English people and the French aristocracy are evident in the semantic correlation of some English words and some medieval French borrowings. As Walter Scott pointed out in «Ivanhoe», the domestic animals kept their English names while the English were looking after them in the fields (ox, cow, calf, sheep, swine), but they were given French names when they appeared on the Norman’s lord table (beef, lamb, veal, mutton, pork).

Compare also the English house and the French palace, the English miller, blacksmith and the French painter, tailor, the English breakfast and the French dinner, supper, the English hand and the French face.

After the Conquest French became the state language of the country. It was the language of law courts, debates in Parliament, school teaching.

Most French loanwords were aristocratic words testifying that the Normans were the conquerors, the rulers of the country. Here belong:

Designations of feudal ranks: baron, baronesse (NE baroness), duke, duchesse (NE dutchess), prince, princesse (NE princess), emperor, sovereign, peer, noble;

Titles of respect: sir, madame (NE madam), mistresse (NE mistress);

Governmental and administrative words: countee (NE county), contree (NE country), court, crown, counseillen (to give advice), counsel (NE counsel), governen (NE govern), government, majesty, nation, pouer (NE power), reign, royal, serven (NE serve), tax.

However, the words king and queen survived. In 1265 on the initiative of Simon-de-Montfort, the Earl of Leicester, the Council was founded to govern the country, which was called Parliament (from Fr parle – speak);

Legal terms: accusen (NE accuse), accusacioun (NE accusation), court, condemnen (NE condemn), executen (NE execute), judge, jury, justice, prisun (NE prison), sentence, traitor, tresoun (NE treason);

Military terms: admiral, army, assault, banner, bataille (NE battle), captain, defeat, enemy, lieutenant, navy, officer, regiment, siege, soldier, sergeant, victory werre (of Gc origin) (NE war);

School: lesson (originally reading), page, library, pen, pencil, pupil (originally orphan), science;

Art and literature: art, beauty, colour, column, figure, image, music, ornament, peinten (NE paint), poem, romance;

Amusements, reflecting the life and habits of the nobility of France: ese (NE ease), feste (NE feast), dinner, soper (NE supper), daunce (NE dance), dress, deintee (NE dainty), dignitee (NE dignity), fashion, jewel, leysir (NE leisure), plesir (NE pleasure);

Town occupations: bocher (NE butcher), peintre (NE painter), tailor

However, the native words were used to denote country professions: miller, shoemaker and shepherd.

Household articles: table, plate, saucer, napkin;

Religion and church: cloister (NE cloister), conscience, chapel, frere (NE friar), preyen (NE pray), preire (NE prayer), religion, saint, sermon.

There were also many other words, which were not connected with any specific semantic sphere, such as air, coveren (NE cover), change, large, montagne (NE mountain), place, riviere (NE river), etc.

Frequently it was necessary to explain a French word with the help of an English synonym. As a result, many synonymic pairs appeared in the XII-XIII cc. of the type «safe and sound». Some of them survived in ModE: with might and main, really and truly, by leaps and bounds.

If we take into consideration not only the meaning of words but their forms as well, we have to distinguish between two varieties of French borrowings: Norman French (NFr) and Central French (CFr). The Norman conquerors brought with them a peculiar Northern dialect of French that differed in a number of ways from Central French or Parisian French, the source of Modern French (ModFr), e.g. NFr [k] corresponded to CFr [tò], and NFr [tò] corresponded to CFr [ò]. Up to the XIII c., French borrowings came mostly from NFr. Later the overwhelming majority of French loanwords came from CFr. It often happened that a word was borrowed twice, first from NFr, then from CFr, thus forming etymological doublets, e.g. canal (< NFr) and channel (< CFr), catch (< NFr) and chase (CFr).

Some French loans gave way to native English words, e.g. amity (which is still found in Shakespeare) was replaced by friendship, moiety was replaced by half.

When both the native and the French word survived, there arose differentiation in their meanings or the sphere of their usage, e.g. in such pairs as work – labour, life – existence, the native word has a more concrete meaning, while its French countertpart is more abstract. The native verb «beginnen» is colloquial, while its French counterpart «commencen» is an official term used in official documents.

Sometimes the French word ousted its native synonym into a different sphere of meaning, e.g. the French word autumn replaced OE hærfest (denoting a season of the year) but it survived with the meaning harvest.

 

 

Part 4