French borrowings, their influence on the English vocabulary

1066. With the famous Battle of Hasting, when the English were defeated by the Normans under William the Conqueror, we come to the eventful epoch of the Norman Conquest. The epoch can well be called eventful not only in national, social, political and human terms, but also in linguistic terms. England became a bilingual country, and the impact on the English vocabulary made over this two-hundred-years period is immense: French words from the Norman dialect penetrated every aspect of social life. Here is a brief list of example of Norman French borrowings.

· Administrative words: state, goverment, parliament, council, power.

· Legal terms: court, judge, justice, crime, prison.

· Military terms: army, war, soldier, officer, battle, enemy.

· Educational terms: pupil, lesso, library, science, pen, pencil.

Everyday life was not unaffected buy the powerful influence of French words, Numerous terms of everyday life were also borrowed from French in this period: e.g. table, plate, saucer, dinner, supper, river, autumn, uncle, etc.

According to different sources, nearly 30% of all English words have a French origin. This fact suggests that 80,000 words should appear in this list. However, this list does not include derivatives formed in English, but only the ones imported as such directly from French (for instance joy and joyous, but not joyful, joyfulness, nor partisanship, parenthood, …). It does not include either combinations of words of French origin with words of origin other than French (e.g. icecream, sunray, jellyfish, killjoy, lifeguard, passageway). It also excludes English-made combinations of words of French origin (e.g. grapefruit is made of grape + fruit but has been coined in English, layperson: lay + person, consider also mailorder, magpie, marketplace, petticoat, straitjacket).

The influence of the French language has also marked the domain of the arts: surrealism, impressionism, symbolism, art nouveau, gouache, collage, grisaille …; Architecture: aisle, arcade, arch, vault, belfry, arc-boutant, buttress, bay, estrade, facade, balustrade, terrace, lunette, niche, pavilion, pilaster, porte cochère; Cuisine: petit four, soufflé, mille-feuille, croissant, pastry, gateau, baba au rhum, cream, caramel, custard, marmalade, meringue, clafoutis, flognarde, beef bourguignon, cassoulet, casserole, confit, gratin, mustard, mayonnaise, sauce, pâté, foie gras, terrine, navarin …

Other examples include color names (ecru, mauve, beige, carmine, maroon, blue, orange, violet, vermilion, turquoise, lilac, perse, scarlet); vegetables or fruits (courgette, aubergine, cabbage, carrot, nutmeg, quince, lemon, orange, apricot); months of the year (January, March, May, July, November, December).

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