Historical changes in the sphere of the English vocabulary: borrowings from the French Language.

It is customary to divide the time in which English was in contact with French into two periods, 1) Anglo-Norman and 2) Central French.

After this there is little or no direct influence of French on English but the language remained fashionable and the practice of borrowing words from the continental language continued well into the 15th century. The Central French period (during which influence from the region around Paris dominated) can be taken to cease gradually with the introduction of printing at the end of the 15th century and the general resurgence in interest and status of English.

The difference between Anglo-Norman and Central French loans in English is to be seen in famous pairs of words like catch and chase, both of which go back originally to Latin captiare, which itself furnished English with the later loan ‘capture’. The main differences between Anglo-Norman and Central French are outline in the tables below.

Anglo-Norman	Central French
/k/	/tʃ/
cattle /k-/	chattels /tʃ/
pocket /-k-/	poach /tʃ/
/tʃ/	/s/
catch /-tʃ/	chase /-s/
launch /-ntʃ/	lance /-ns/
pinch /-ntʃ/	pincers /-ns-/

SPLIT IN ENGLISH VOCABULARY

The general split is between colloquial native words and more formal Romance terms and can be seen clearly in word pairs like forgive and pardon. Other examples are begin : commence; hearty :cordial; happiness : felicity; help : aid; hide : conceal; meal : repast (only literary nowadays).

The areas of the English lexicon in which the influence of French was to be felt reflect the spheres of life in which the French predominated in the early Middle English period. The following lists are intended to give a brief impression of the richness of the this Romance influence on the Germanic stock of English vocabulary.

Titles and ranks: baron, count, duchess, duke, feudal, manor, noble, prince, viscount etc.

Geography: country; coast; river; valley; lake; mountain; frontier; border; city; hamlet; village.

Terms referring to sections of the community: peasantry; people; subjects; burgesses; nobility.

Terms for administration and administrators: sovereign; crown; sceptre; ruler; power; policy.

Church and religious terminology: abbey, altar, Bible, baptism, cell, chapel, charity, clergy, divine, grace, honour, glory, lesson, miracle

Legal terms: justice; privilege; statute; ordinance; judge; chief; crime; fraud; trespass; transgression.

Military terms: peace; war; armour; artillery; fortress; host; army; warrior; archer; soldier; chief.

Ecclesiastical terms: charity; chastity; chaplan; abbot; abbess; dean; friar; confessor; person/parson;

Terms for emotional states: ease; disease; joy; delight; felicity; grief; despair; distress; courage; folly.

The Home: furniture, architecture, arch, castle, chimney, column, curtain, cushion, lamp, mansion, palace, porch, table, wardrobe

Fashion:boot, coat, collar, costume, dress, fur, garment, gown, jewel, robe etc

Leisure (Games and Sports, Parties, Dancing, Theatre, Travel and Tourism): entertainment, chase, cards, dance, dice, leisure, partner, pleasure, sport, tournament, trump, contest,

Trades and crafts: barber; carpenter; draper; forester; merchant;spicer; painter; tailor; victualler.

Clothing and ornamentation: blouse; chemise; cloak; coat; frock; garment; gown; robe; veil; cotton.

Food and cooking: boil; fry; roast; mince; dine; appetite; flour; sugar; bacon; veal; sausage; salad.

Assorted loanwords: age; affair; action; air; baggage; beauty; branch; cage; cable; cattle; chance.

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