42. THE NORMAN CONQUEST.

FRENCH INFLUENCE ON ENGLISH

LANGUAGE. BORROWINGS AND CALQUES.

The topic of this paper is the Norman Conquest and its influence on
English language. To do so effectively, I will divide m presentation into five
sections. I will first give an overview of the situation immediately before the
Norman Conquest. I will then move on to the second section and provide a
historical approach of the Norman Conquest to the understanding of the French
influence in Britain. In the third section, I will discuss the influence of French on
English language and account for the borrowings through different periods. This
will lead us to the fourth section, which will show some of the French calques
remaining in nowadays English language. Finally, I will show the implications of
the influence of French on English language for teacher of English as a foreign
language.

After the migration of the Anglo-Saxons in the 5th C. from the continent to
Britain, the Norman Conquest was the most important even in the history of
Britain.

Directly across from England, on the Northern coast of France is the

territory known as Normandy. Its name derives from the bands of Northmen
who settle there in the 9th and 10th C. A generation after Alfred the Great
reached an agreement with Northmen in England, a similar understanding was
reached between Rollo, the leader of the Danes in Normandy, and Charles the
Simple, king of France. In 912, Rollo became the first Duke of Normandy. In the
following century and a half, a succession of masterful dukes raised the
Dukedom to a position of great influence, overshadowing the power of the king.

Normans had soon absorbed the most important elements of French

civilisation. They profited from their contact with French military forces and they
soon had one of the most important armies of Europe. They had also one of the
outstanding legal systems of the world, including the idea of the jury. They
accepted Christianity and began the construction of great cathedrals, which are
still considered marvels of the architecture. But most important of all, they soon
gave up their language and learnt French. At the time of the Norman Conquest,
the civilisation of Normandy was essentially French, and was among the most
advance and progressive peoples of Europe.

Some years before the Norman Conquest, the relations between

England and Normandy were very close. In 1002, Aethelred the Unready
married a Norman wife, and when driven to exile by the Danes, he took refuge
with his brother-in-law, the duke of Normandy. So, his son Edward, who grew
up in France was almost more French than English. However, when the Danish
line died out, Edward, known as the Confessor, was restored to the throne from
which his father had been driven.

This meant a strong French atmosphere in the English court, since he

brought with him a number of his Norman friends, enriched them and gave them
important places in the government.

Although relations between England and France were cordial, there was
a fact which triggered the Norman Conquest. In January 1066, when Edward
the Confessor died child-less, England was again faced with the choice of a
successor. Harold, eldest son of Godwin, the most powerful and influential of
the earls, was elected king the day after Edward’s death.

However, William, duke of Normandy and Edward’s cousin, had lived

with the expectation of becoming Edward’s successor. Only by force could
William obtain the crown to which he believed himself entitled. William the
Great, as chronicles called him, lost no time in beginning preparations. He
secured the cooperation of his vassals by the promise of liberal rewards, came
into terms with his rivals and enemies on the continent and appealed to the
Pope to receive the blessing of the Church. In September, William landed on
the South coast of England with a formidable force.

Harold drew up his forces on a broad hill not far from Hastings, and
awaited William’s attack. So well did the English defend themselves that William
had to resort to a desperate stratagem. Unfortunately, Harold died during the
battle, and deprived of their leader, the English became disorganised. The
confusion spread and Normans quickly profited by the situation.

Although William had won the battle of Hastings, he still found some
resistance but finally, the English capitulated and on Christmas Day, William
was crowned king of England.

One of the most important consequences was the introduction of new

nobility. Many of the English higher class had been killed on the field of
Hastings, and their places were filled by William’s Norman followers. For
several generations after the conquest, the important positions and the great
estates were almost always held by Normans.

In like manner, Normans were gradually introduced into all important

positions in the Church.

It is less easy to speak with certainty of the Norman population that came
into England after William’s victory. The numerous castles which the Conqueror
built were apparently garrisoned by Norman troops. Likewise merchants and
craftsmen from the continent settle in England in considerable number. It is
quite impossible to say how many Normans and French people settled in
England in the century and a half following the Conquest, but since the
governing class in both church and state was almost exclusively made up from
them, their influence was out of all proportion to their number.

I will now move on to the third section and discuss the influence of
French on English language and account for the borrowings through different
periods.

The Norman Conquest not only changed the history of Britain, but also
the whole course of the English language.
 Whatever the number of Normans settled in England, it is clear that the
members of the new ruling class were sufficiently predominant to continue using
their own language. For two hundred years after the Norman Conquest, French
remained the language among the upper classes in England. However, English
remained the language of the masses.

The most important factor which contributed to continue using French in

the English upper class was the close connection between England and the
continent. At his death, William the Conqueror gave Normandy to his eldest
son, and England to William, his second son. Later, both domains were united
in the hands of Henry I. Upon the accession of Henry II, Count of Anjou, English
possessions in France were still further, and by his marriage with Eleanor of
Aquitaine, he controlled about two thirds of France.

The English nobility was not so much a nobility of England, but an Anglo-
French aristocracy. English landowners had possessions on the continent too.
The king and his nobles crossing the Channel with military forces, business of
ecclesiastics and merchants, this constant going and coming across the narrow
seas made the continued use of French by those concerned, not only natural,
but inevitable. Meanwhile, English was considered an uncultivated language,
the language of a socially inferior class. But there is plenty of evidence of
mutual respect and intermarriage between the Normans and the English.

Although French had the social and cultural prestige, Latin remained the
language of religion and learning, while English survived as the common
speech. The mingling of these three powerful traditions can be seen, for
example, in the word “kingly”. Anglo-Saxons had only one word to express this
concept – made up from king-. After the Normans, three synonyms entered the
language: royal, regal, sovereign. The capacity of expressing three or four
different words for the same meaning is characteristic of the language after the
Norman Conquest (ask - question – interrogate).
 The influence of French on English is more complex than that of the
Scandinavian languages, since there is as prolonged history in which French
influenced English as a technical written language.

There were two main ways of importation of French words into English.
- From Anglo-Norman (Early Middle English) (1)
- From Central French (Late Middle English and beyond) (2)

(1) The earliest borrowings from the language of the conquerors are possibly
words borrowed from Latin and rendered with the spelling and conventions
proper to French, such as chancellor, council, charity, prior, privilege, war,
peace, justice, miracle, mass, scholar, cannon or castle, which refers now to the
military fortifications rather than the villages which were its reference in Old
English. Especial mention deserves the group of borrowings referring to titles
and aristocratic concerns, such as duke, court, count, countess, rent, arrest.

Yet the language of the peasants remained English. The peasants

worked on the land and reared sheep, cows or swine (words from Old English),
while the French upper classes ate mutton, beef or pork (words of French
origin). Hence, the different words in Modern English to refer to these animals in
the farmyard or on the plate.

(2) Borrowings from Central –Parisian- French have poured into English
language reflecting the French domination in spheres of fashion, lifestyle, arts
and sciences: dress, fashion, garment, gown, habit, petticoat, luxury, comedy,
copy, page, romance, story, tragedy, engineer, college, lecture, medicine,
physician, surgery, library, etc.

And also numerous gastronomic words, such as bonbon, casserole,

champagne, crêpe, fondant, menu, praline, restaurant, crème, etc. were
introduced.

Many loans have been adapted to English sound patterns, however,

especially later borrowings, have kept phonetic or intonation patterns of the
donor language. Thus, we can hear garage completely /’gᴂrƏᴣ/ or partially
assimilated /’gᴂra:dᴣ/, /’gᴂridᴣ/ or even more French-sounding pronunciations
as /gƏ’ra:dᴣ/ especially in American English.

Special mention deserves the following vestige of the influence of French

on English language. In morphology, the lasting effect of French was to
increase the number of weak verbs, shown in the past and past participle
endings and so, indirectly, induce native strong verbs to follow the same
pattern. This is the reason why we find in Modern English that the past and past
participle of verbs as learn, can be learned or learnt.

Apparently, the density of French borrowings increased with the passing

of the time. During the Renaissance most of the borrowings were connected to
literary terms, such as genre and numerous abstract terms ending in –ance,
-ence, -ant, -ent, -ment.

The coming of the Industrial Age, in the 17th and 18th C. brought an
intensive activity, with borrowings such as chaise, clique, salon, bouquet,
canteen, croupier, roulette, vignette, critique, brochure, conservatoire,
silhouette, cuisine, police, debut, souvenir, etc.

Together with borrowings, several calques still remain in nowadays

English language. Calques are loan-translations or the literal translation
element by element of a word from other language (French) into the lexicon of
another (English) using not the roots of the originating language but those of the
borrowing language. Some of these French calques are Adam’s Apple (calques
pomme d’Adan), deaf-mute (calques sourd-muet), free verse (calques vers
libre), by heart (calques par Coeur), crime of passion (calques crime passionel),
point of view (calques point de veu), flea market (calques marché aux puces),
marriage of convenience (calques marriage de convenance), bushmeat
(calques viand de brousse), etc.

To finalise my presentation, I would like to make a comment on how

English teachers should approach this topic when teaching the target language.
According to Decree 233/2002, 6th June, by which the Decree 78/1993 is
modified, and establishes the curriculum for ESO in Galicia, and the Decree
126/2008, 19th June, which establishes the curriculum for Upper Secondary
School (Baccalaureate) in Galicia, one of the goals is the knowledge of the most
relevant cultural aspects of the target language. Grasp on the history of English
language will help students to familiarise with different cultures and to identify
wide range of French lexicon. As an example activity, I would like to suggest the
comparison of English language during the period after the Norman Conquest
with the Galician language during the so-called “Dark Centuries”. It can be
presented as a speaking activity requiring the participation of all the students,
so that they can compare the foreign language they are learning with their own
language.