The Norman Conquest and its effect

Normans were Scandinavians by their origin (Norþmann means “northern man”). Normandy, situated on the northern coast of France, acquired its name after the French king Carl the Simple (Карл Простой) being not able to resist the Viking Troops, gave them this territory according to the agreement of 912. Normandy was the Dukedom of feudal France. The Scandinavians assimilated with local population, adopted their language and culture. They came to England as French speaking people, the bearers of French culture.

The new English king Edward the Confessor (1042-1066), brought to England many Norman advisors and favorites. He not only spoke French himself but insisted on it being spoken by the nobles at his court. William (Вильгельм), Duke of Normandy, visited his court and it was rumoured that Edward appointed him his successor.

In 1066, upon Edward’s death, the Elders of England proclaimed Harold Godwin of Wessex king of England. As the news reached William of Normandy, he assembled a big army and landed in Britain.

In the battle of Hastings (битва при Гастингсе), in October 1066, Harold was killed and the English were defeated. This date is known as the date of the Norman Conquest. After it most of the lands of the Anglo-Saxon lords passed into the hands of the Norman lords. The same was with all the important posts in the church, in the government and in the army.

The Norman conquest was not only a great event in British political history but also the greatest event in the history of the English language. For almost 300 years French was the official language of administration: it was the language of the king’s court, the law courts, the church, and the army. French, alongside with Latin, was the language of writing. Teaching was conducted in French. For all that, England never stopped being an English-speaking country. The lower classes in the towns and the country-side, continued to speak English and looked upon French as foreign and hostile, though English was used mostly for oral communication.

At first two languages existed side by side without mingling. Then, slowly and quietly, they began to intermix. Eventually the struggle between French and English ended in the complete victory of English. The earliest sign of the official recognition of English by the Norman kings was the famous Proclamation, a document in which Henry III addressed the population of the country in 1258. It was written in 3 languages: French, Latin and English. By the end of the 14^th c. the domination of the French language in England came to an end, and English was reestablished as the language of literature and administration.

The three hundred years of the domination of French affected English more than any other foreign influence before or after. New words from French could not be adopted simalteniously by all the speakers. This led to growing dialectal differences, regional and social. Later the new features adopted from French extended to other varieties of the language.

The total number of French borrowings by far exceeds the number of borrowings from any other foreign language. The greater part of French loans in English date from ME.

French borrowings of the ME period refer to different semantic spheres:

To this day nearly all the words relating to the government and administration of the country are French by origin: country, assembly, authority, court, crown, government, nation, office, parliament, people, power, sovereign, etc. Close to this group are words pertaining to feudal system and words indicating titles and ranks of the nobility: baron, count, countess, duke, duchess, feudal, noble, prince. It is notable that very few words of these semantic groups are native, e.g. lord, lady, king, queen, earl, knight.

The military terms adopted from French are: armour, arms, army, battle, defeat, escape, force, lieutenant, navy, sergeant, soldier, troops, victory,etc.

A greater number of words belong to law and jurisdiction (which were under the control of the Normans), e.g. accuse, attorney, case, cause, condemn,court, crime, defendant, false, guilt, heir, judge, jury, justice, marry, marriage, money, penalty, poor, poverty, prove, traitor.

The Church and religion: abbey, archangel, Bible, baptism, charity, clergy, divine, honour, glory, lesson, miracle, paradise, passion, pray, religion,rule, sacrifice, saint, tempt, virgin, virtue.

Besides there are many other words which reveal the influence of the Norman way of life on the English. From the loans referring to house, furniture and architecture we see many innovations introduced by Normans: arch, castle, chimney, column, curtain, cushion, lamp, mansion, palace, porch, wardrobe, table. Some words connected with art: art, beauty, colour, design, figure, image, paint. Another group includes names of garments: boot, coat, collar, costume, dress, fur, garment, gown, jewel, robe.

Many loans belong to entertainment: cards, dance, leisure, partner, pleasure, sport, tournament. Names of meals and dishes: beef, veal, mutton, pork, bacon, venison.

French influence led to different kinds of changes in the vocabulary. There were many innovations (names of new objects). There were numerous replacements of native words. There was the adoption of French words synonymous with native words. The influx of French words is one of the main historical reasons for the abundance of synonyms in Modern English.

Assimilation of French words by the speakers of English was a more difficult process than that of Scandinavian words: French belonged to a different linguistic group and had very little in common with English.