English Monarchs Opens in a new window<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe Normans bequeathed over 10,000 words to English (about three-quarters of which are still in use today), including a huge number of abstract nouns ending in the suffixes \u201c-age\u201d, \u201c-ance\/-ence\u201d, \u201c-ant\/-ent\u201d, \u201c-ment\u201d, \u201c-ity\u201d and \u201c-tion\u201d, or starting with the prefixes \u201ccon-\u201d, \u201cde-\u201d, \u201cex-\u201d, \u201ctrans-\u201d and \u201cpre-\u201d. Perhaps predictably, many of them related to matters of crown and nobility (e.g. crown<\/em>, castle<\/em>, prince<\/em>, count<\/em>, duke<\/em>, viscount<\/em>, baron<\/em>, noble<\/em>, sovereign<\/em>, heraldry<\/em>); of government and administration (e.g. parliament<\/em>, government<\/em>, governor<\/em>, city<\/em>); of court and law (e.g. court<\/em>, judge<\/em>, justice<\/em>, accuse<\/em>, arrest<\/em>, sentence<\/em>, appeal<\/em>, condemn<\/em>, plaintiff<\/em>, bailiff<\/em>, jury<\/em>, felony<\/em>, verdict<\/em>, traitor<\/em>, contract<\/em>, damage<\/em>, prison<\/em>); of war and combat (e.g. army<\/em>, armour<\/em>, archer<\/em>, battle<\/em>, soldier<\/em>, guard<\/em>, courage<\/em>, peace<\/em>, enemy<\/em>, destroy<\/em>); of authority and control (e.g. authority<\/em>, obedience<\/em>, servant<\/em>, peasant<\/em>, vassal<\/em>, serf<\/em>, labourer<\/em>, charity<\/em>); of fashion and high living (e.g. mansion<\/em>, money<\/em>, gown<\/em>, boot<\/em>, beauty<\/em>, mirror<\/em>, jewel<\/em>, appetite<\/em>, banquet<\/em>, herb<\/em>, spice<\/em>, sauce<\/em>, roast<\/em>, biscuit<\/em>); and of art and literature (e.g. art<\/em>, colour<\/em>, language<\/em>, literature<\/em>, poet<\/em>, chapter<\/em>, question<\/em>). Curiously, though, the Anglo-Saxon words cyning<\/em> (king), cwene<\/em> (queen), erl<\/em> (earl), cniht<\/em> (knight), ladi<\/em> (lady) and lord<\/em> persisted.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhile humble trades retained their Anglo-Saxon names (e.g. baker<\/em>, miller<\/em>, shoemaker<\/em>, etc), the more skilled trades adopted French names (e.g. mason<\/em>, painter<\/em>, tailor<\/em>, merchant<\/em>, etc). While the animals in the field generally kept their English names (e.g. sheep<\/em>, cow<\/em>, ox<\/em>, calf<\/em>, swine<\/em>, deer<\/em>), once cooked and served their names often became French (e.g. beef<\/em>, mutton<\/em>, pork<\/em>, bacon<\/em>, veal<\/em>, venison<\/em>, etc). Sometimes a French word completely replaced an Old English word (e.g. crime<\/em> replaced firen<\/em>, place<\/em> replaced stow<\/em>, people<\/em> replaced leod<\/em>, beautiful<\/em> replaced wlitig<\/em>, uncle<\/em> replaced eam<\/em>, etc). Sometimes French and Old English components combined to form a new word, such as the French gentle<\/em> and the Germanic man<\/em> combined to formed gentleman<\/em>. Sometimes, both English and French words survived, but with significantly different senses (e.g. the Old English doom<\/em> and French judgement<\/em>, hearty<\/em> and cordial<\/em>, house<\/em> and mansion<\/em>, etc).<\/p>\n\n\n\nBut, often, different words with roughly the same meaning survived, and a whole host of new, French-based synonyms entered the English language (e.g. the French maternity<\/em> in addition to the Old English motherhood<\/em>, infant<\/em> to child<\/em>, amity<\/em> to friendship<\/em>, battle<\/em> to fight<\/em>, liberty<\/em> to freedom<\/em>, labour<\/em> to work<\/em>, desire<\/em> to wish<\/em>, commence<\/em> to start<\/em>, conceal<\/em> to hide<\/em>, divide<\/em> to cleave<\/em>, close<\/em> to shut<\/em>, demand<\/em> to ask<\/em>, chamber<\/em> to room<\/em>, forest<\/em> to wood<\/em>, power<\/em> to might<\/em>, annual<\/em> to yearly<\/em>, odour<\/em> to smell<\/em>, pardon<\/em> to forgive<\/em>, aid<\/em> to help<\/em>, etc). Over time, many near synonyms acquired subtle differences in meaning (with the French alternative often suggesting a higher level of refinement than the Old English), adding to the precision and flexibility of the English language. Even today, phrases combining Anglo-Saxon and Norman French doublets are still in common use (e.g. law<\/em> and order<\/em>, lord<\/em> and master<\/em>, love<\/em> and cherish<\/em>, ways<\/em> and means<\/em>, etc). Bilingual word lists were being compiled as early as the 13th Century.<\/audio><\/p>\n\n\n\nYour browser does not support the audio element.<\/audio><\/p>\n\n\n\nExcerpt from “Le Chanson de Roland” in Norman French (c. 1160) (23 sec)<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe pronunciation differences between the harsher, more guttural Anglo-Norman and the softer Francien dialect of Paris were also carried over into English pronunciations. For instance, words like quit<\/em>, question<\/em>, quarter<\/em>, etc, were pronounced with the familiar \u201ckw\u201d sound in Anglo-Norman (and, subsequently, English) rather than the \u201ck\u201d sound of Parisian French. The Normans tended to use a hard \u201cc\u201d sound instead of the softer Francien \u201cch\u201d, so that charrier<\/em> became carry<\/em>, chaudron<\/em> became cauldron<\/em>, etc. The Normans tended to use the suffixes \u201c-arie\u201d and \u201c-orie\u201d instead of the French \u201c-aire\u201d and \u201c-oire\u201d, so that English has words like victory<\/em> (as compared to victoire<\/em>) and salary<\/em> (as compared to salaire<\/em>), etc. The Normans, and therefore the English, retained the \u201cs\u201d in words like estate<\/em>, hostel<\/em>, forest<\/em> and beast<\/em>, while the French gradually lost it (\u00e9tat<\/em>, h\u00f4tel<\/em>, for\u00eat<\/em>, b\u00eate<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\nFrench scribes changed the common Old English letter pattern “hw” to “wh”, largely out of a desire for consistency with “ch” and “th”, and despite the actual aspirated pronunciation, so that hwaer<\/em> became where<\/em>, hwaenne<\/em> became when<\/em> and hwil<\/em> became while<\/em>. A “w” was even added, for no apparent reason, to some words that only began with “h” (e.g. hal<\/em> became whole<\/em>). Another oddity occurred when hwo<\/em> became who<\/em>, but the pronunciation changed so that the “w” sound was omitted completely. There are just some of the kinds of inconsistencies that became ingrained in the English language during this period.<\/p>\n\n\n\nManuscript of “Sumer is icumen in”, oldest known English song (c. 1260) (from UCL Opens in a new window<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nDuring the reign of the Norman King Henry II and his queen Eleanor of Aquitaine in the second half of the 12th Century, many more Francien words from central France were imported in addition to their Anglo-Norman counterparts (e.g. the Francien chase<\/em> and the Anglo-Norman catch<\/em>; royal<\/em> and real<\/em>; regard<\/em> and reward<\/em>; gauge<\/em> and wage<\/em>; guile<\/em> and wile<\/em>; guardian<\/em> and warden<\/em>; guarantee<\/em> and warrant<\/em>). Regarded as the most cultured woman in Europe, Eleanor also championed many terms of romance and chivalry (e.g. romance<\/em>, courtesy<\/em>, honour<\/em>, damsel<\/em>, tournament<\/em>, virtue<\/em>, music<\/em>, desire<\/em>, passion<\/em>, etc).<\/p>\n\n\n\nMany more Latin-derived words came into use (sometimes through the French, but often directly) during this period, largely connected with religion, law, medicine and literature, including scripture<\/em>, collect<\/em>, meditation<\/em>, immortal<\/em>, oriental<\/em>, client<\/em>, adjacent<\/em>, combine<\/em>, expedition<\/em>, moderate<\/em>, nervous<\/em>, private<\/em>, popular<\/em>, picture<\/em>,