[Talk] BORROWING IN MIDDLE ENGLISH
Heavy borrowing from French occurred in two phases:
1066-1250. About 900 words were borrowed during this phase, with
most of them showing the effects of Anglo-Norman phonology.
Examples from this source are:
Social: baron, noble, dame, servant, messenger, feast, minstrel,
juggler, largess.
Literary: story, rime, lay, douzepers.
Church: The largest number of words were borrowed for use in
religious services since the French-speaking Normans took control
of the church in England.
1250-1400. The heaviest borrowing from French occurred in this
period because after about 1250 there were more French speakers
who began speaking English--remember the loss of Normandy in 1204.
The words borrowed during this phase are found in many areas.
Government and Administrative: govern, government, administer,
crown, state, empire, royal, majesty, treaty, statute, parliament,
tax, rebel, traitor, treason, exile, chancellor, treasurer, major,
noble, peer, prince, princess, duke, squire, page (but not king,
queen, lord, lady, earl), peasant, slave, servant, vassal.
Ecclesiastical: religion, theology, sermon, confession, clergy,
clergy, cardinal, friar, crucifix, miter, censer lectern, abbey,
convent, creator, savior, virgin, faith, heresy, schism, solemn,
divine, devout, preach, pray, adore, confess.
Law: justice, equity, plaintiff, judge, advacate, attorney,
petition, inquest, felon, evidence, sue, accuse arrest, blame,
libel, slander, felony, adultery, property, estate, heir,
executor.
Military--Army and Navy: (Much of the fighting during this time
was done in France. Many now-obsolete words for pieces of armor,
etc., were borrowed at this time.) army, navy, peace, enemy, arms,
battle, spy, combat, siege, defence, ambush, soldier, guard, mail,
buckler, banner, lance, besiege, defend, array.
Clothing: habit, gown, robe, garment, attire, cape, coat, collar,
petticoat, train, lace, embroidery, pleat, buckle, button, tassel,
plume, satin, taffeta, fur, sable, blue, brown, vermilion, russet,
tawny, jewel, ornament, broach, ivory, turquoise, topaz, garnet,
ruby, pearl, diamond.
Food: feast, repast, collation, mess, appetite, tart, sole, perch,
sturgeon, sardine, venison, beef, veal, mutton, port, bacon,
toast, cream, sugar, salad, raisin, jelly, spice, clove, thyme.
Social: curtain, couch, lamp, wardrobe, screen, closet, leisure,
dance, carol, lute, melody.
Hunting: rein, curry, trot, stable, harness, mastiff, spaniel,
stallion, pheasant, quail, heron, joust, tournament, pavilion.
Art, Learning, Medicine: painting, sculpture, music, beauty,
color, image, cathedral, palace, mansion, chamber, ceiling, porch,
column, poet, prose, romance, paper, pen, volume, chapter, study,
logic, geometry, grammar, noun, gender, physician, malady, pain,
gout, plague, pulse, remedy, poison.
Common words and expressions include nouns--age, air, city, cheer,
honor, joy; adjectives--chaste, courageous, coy, cruel, poor,
nice, pure; verbs--advance, advise, carry, cry, desire;
phrases--draw near, make believe, hand to hand, by heart, without
fail (These are loan-translations).
Many of the above words differ from Modern French in form and
pronunciation because of phonological changes such as the following:
French /s/ was lost before other consonants in the 12th century,
so OF feste became MF fete (MnE feast). Cf. forest--foret,
hostel--hotel, beast--bete.
In the 13th century the French `j' came to be pronounced `zh', and
`ch' became `sh'. Early borrowings (i.e., before the 13th century)
thus have the `ch' and `j' pronunciations: charge, change,
chamber, chase, chair, chimney; just, jewel, journey, majesty,
gentle. Later borrowings (i.e., after the 13th century) have the
`zh' and `sh' pronunciations: chamois, chaperon, chiffon, chevron,
jabot (last trim on the front of a dress), rouge.
The Anglo-Norman dialect was also different from the dialect of
Paris, which was Central French: AN retained the initial ca-,
which became cha-, chie- in CF, e.g.: MnE caitiff, not CF chaitif.
English contains words borrowed from both dialects at different
times, e.g.:
cattle < AN catel catch < AN cachier
chattel < CF chatel chase < CF chacier (MF chasser)
CF also showed an early dislike of w-, but the northern dialects
did not, e.g.: warden from AN and guardian from CF. CF also
dropped the /w/ in qu- (i.e., AN /kw/, CF /k/), so MnE has
quarter, quality, question, etc., pronounced /kw-/. (cf. MF
qualite, etc.)
Vowels also show some differences. For example, AN retained the ei
diphthong, but in the 12th century it became oi in CF, so:
MnE leal < AN leial MnE loyal < CF
MnE real < AN reial MnE royal < CF
Some 10,000 French words were borrowed into Middle English, and
about 75% (7500) of these words are still in use. These words were
quickly assimilated into English; i.e., English suffixes, etc.,
were freely added to the borrowed French words; e.g., gentle,
borrowed in 1225, is found compounded with an English word,
gentlewoman, in 1230.
This heavy borrowing from French had several effects on English:
Native words were replaced:
OE aeeele -- F. noble
OE aeeeling -- F. nobleman
OE here -- F. army
OE campa -- F. warrior
OE sibb -- F. peace
English and French words were retained with a differentiation in
meaning:
hearty--cordial
ox--beef
sheep--mutton
swine--pork
calf--veal
house--mansion
The Old English word-forming powers were reduced, with less use of
prefixes and suffixes and fewer compounds.
Latin Borrowings. In a sense the French words were Latin
borrowings since French developed from Vulgar Latin--as did all
the Romance languages. The borrowings that came directly from
Latin tended to be more learned in character--e.g., allegory,
index, magnify, mechanical, private, secular, zenith. Aureate
terms--direct borrowings from Latin--were a stylistic affectation
of the 15th century Scottish Chaucerians such as James I,
Henryson, and Dunbar. Some of these words have been dropped from
English (or never really made it in) while others have survived,
e.g., diurnal (daily or daytime), tenebrous (dark), laureate,
mediation, oriental, prolixity.
It has been pointed out that as a result of Middle English
borrowing from French and Latin, Modern English has synonyms on
three levels: popular (English), literary (French), and learned
(Latin), as in rise--mount--ascend; ask--question--interrogate;
fire--flame--conflagration; holy--sacred--consecrated.
Based on Baugh and Cable, A History of the English Language.
http://pages.towson.edu/duncan/brmideng.html
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