The Origin of French Loans

French words penetrating into English were of various origin.

Most of them were inherited by French from Vulgar Latin (spoken form of non-Classical Latin from which originated the Romance group of languages, such as French and Spanish).

These words show all the phonetic changes characteristic of the rise of French from Latin.

Lat. Desiderare > OFr. Desirer > ME desiren

Lat. frater (“brother”) > OFr. Frere > ME frere (“brother”, “friar”)

Some Latin words appeared in OFr through books and therefore the phonetic changes were insignificant:

Lat. Positionem > OFr position > ME position

Some words had been borrowed from Greek: physique (medicine, physics), monarque (monarch).

There are also some words of Celtic origin: Celt, petti > Lat. petia > OFr piece > ME piece.

Among French words adopted into English were also some words borrowed by French from Germanic dialects. They mostly belong to the following semantic spheres: military terms, political and judicial terms, everyday things nature, proper names.

Germ. wahten (to guard) > OFr waitier > ME waiten (to wait)

Germ. Karl > OFr Charles > ME Charles

French words were adopted into the English language in great numbers, but that was not the same everywhere. The degree to which French words penetrated into English depended on two factors: the geographical region and the social layer addressed in the document. The farther North, the fewer French borrowings. The closer to the lowest strata of the society, the fewer French words.

Alongside words the English language adopted some French derivational affixes. If a number of words was borrowed with the same affix, it could become familiar and be used to derive new words from English roots. But this process took place mainly in MnE.

FRENCH DERIVATIONAL AFFIXES

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