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Abstract: During the development and evolvement of English many other languages have influence on it. Both French and English belong to the Indo-European Family, but French is the most important factor. With the increasing communication of economy, culture and technology, many foreign borrowings have been imported from French. We can find that there are many French words in the English vocabulary. The amount of borrowed words is unbelievable.
Key Words: French words; English words; influence
English is a number of the Indo-European family of language. When trace back the historical development of English, people usually divide it into three periods. The first period ——Old English (from A.D. 550 to 1100), West Germanic invades from Jutland and southern Denmark. The second period——Middle English (from 1100 to 1500), with the arrival of the French-speaking government, English began to be heavily influenced by the French and was turned into what we call Anglo-Norman English or Middle English. And the last period——Modern English (from1500 till now), English has now inarguably achieved global status.
The development of English is a long history. From its historical periods we could get that the second period—Middle English had been shaped by the French language. During the Norman Conquest about 10.000 French words adopted into English, some three-fourths of are still in use today. This French vocabulary is found in every domain; from government and law to art and literature. The decisive factor that a large number of French words poured into English is the Norman Conquest. On 1066, 24, Oct. the Norman Conquer, the French Dutch William, defeated the English and held the Coronation on Christmas Day. After then, the England was been controlled totally under the dominator of the French King. The Conquer William allocated the English land to the French lairds and numbers of French moved into England. At the beginning, French was only spoken by the immigrants of French. Later the dominated class forced everyone should speak French. So at some periods, French became the official language, and it is the language that belongs to the aristocrats’ class. Many people are very proud of mastering and speaking French. We can make a conclusion that Norman Conquer had an undeniable influence on English.
From that time, many French words began to be brought into English vocabulary. These words were the symbols of the new culture and the new life at that time. And they also stimulated the communion between the dominated classes of the two countries. Take some words for example, people used “castel” (the abode of the French aristocrats’’ class) to present a kind of new building, and this word has been displaced by the word “burg” from the ancient English. In the Peterborough Church, there has a book of chronicle that has been written about in 1155. We can find an article which told about the dominant of the French King Stephen in the book. In this article, there also have many French words, for example, acorden, bataille, curt (court), cutesse (countess), rent, fresor, caritecl (charity), paris (peace), miracle and processium. In the English history most of the wars broke out in the Middle Age. The generals who commanded the navy and the army spoke French and many battles were in French. In the 16th century, the borrowed words from French were about wars, such like, army, navy, peace, enemy, army, arms, battles, combat, siege, defense, spy, capital, sergeant and so on; these words are still used today. In the 17th century, if a woman in the court of Charles I couldn’t speak French, she must be sneered at. The story of English in the 20th century has been closely linked to the rise of the US as a superpower that has spread the English language alongside its economic, technological and cultural influence in the same period, the international importance of other European languages, especial French, has declined, even though the land and the language of English has been controlled by French.
Works Cited:
[1]Basil Blackwell. 1978. A History of the English Language (9th edn) [M] Oxford
[2]Baugh, A C T Cable. 1993. A History of the English Language (4th end) [M]. London: 4. Rout ledge
[3]March 29. 2001. China Boosts English. 21st Century. P14
[4]December 28. 2000. English is the international language. Financial Times
[5]David Graddol.1997. The Future of English
作者简介：
刘棠（1988.10～），女，黑龙江省宁安市人，哈尔滨师范大学外国语言学及应用语言学专业研究生。
Key Words: French words; English words; influence
English is a number of the Indo-European family of language. When trace back the historical development of English, people usually divide it into three periods. The first period ——Old English (from A.D. 550 to 1100), West Germanic invades from Jutland and southern Denmark. The second period——Middle English (from 1100 to 1500), with the arrival of the French-speaking government, English began to be heavily influenced by the French and was turned into what we call Anglo-Norman English or Middle English. And the last period——Modern English (from1500 till now), English has now inarguably achieved global status.
The development of English is a long history. From its historical periods we could get that the second period—Middle English had been shaped by the French language. During the Norman Conquest about 10.000 French words adopted into English, some three-fourths of are still in use today. This French vocabulary is found in every domain; from government and law to art and literature. The decisive factor that a large number of French words poured into English is the Norman Conquest. On 1066, 24, Oct. the Norman Conquer, the French Dutch William, defeated the English and held the Coronation on Christmas Day. After then, the England was been controlled totally under the dominator of the French King. The Conquer William allocated the English land to the French lairds and numbers of French moved into England. At the beginning, French was only spoken by the immigrants of French. Later the dominated class forced everyone should speak French. So at some periods, French became the official language, and it is the language that belongs to the aristocrats’ class. Many people are very proud of mastering and speaking French. We can make a conclusion that Norman Conquer had an undeniable influence on English.
From that time, many French words began to be brought into English vocabulary. These words were the symbols of the new culture and the new life at that time. And they also stimulated the communion between the dominated classes of the two countries. Take some words for example, people used “castel” (the abode of the French aristocrats’’ class) to present a kind of new building, and this word has been displaced by the word “burg” from the ancient English. In the Peterborough Church, there has a book of chronicle that has been written about in 1155. We can find an article which told about the dominant of the French King Stephen in the book. In this article, there also have many French words, for example, acorden, bataille, curt (court), cutesse (countess), rent, fresor, caritecl (charity), paris (peace), miracle and processium. In the English history most of the wars broke out in the Middle Age. The generals who commanded the navy and the army spoke French and many battles were in French. In the 16th century, the borrowed words from French were about wars, such like, army, navy, peace, enemy, army, arms, battles, combat, siege, defense, spy, capital, sergeant and so on; these words are still used today. In the 17th century, if a woman in the court of Charles I couldn’t speak French, she must be sneered at. The story of English in the 20th century has been closely linked to the rise of the US as a superpower that has spread the English language alongside its economic, technological and cultural influence in the same period, the international importance of other European languages, especial French, has declined, even though the land and the language of English has been controlled by French.
Works Cited:
[1]Basil Blackwell. 1978. A History of the English Language (9th edn) [M] Oxford
[2]Baugh, A C T Cable. 1993. A History of the English Language (4th end) [M]. London: 4. Rout ledge
[3]March 29. 2001. China Boosts English. 21st Century. P14
[4]December 28. 2000. English is the international language. Financial Times
[5]David Graddol.1997. The Future of English
作者简介：
刘棠（1988.10～），女，黑龙江省宁安市人，哈尔滨师范大学外国语言学及应用语言学专业研究生。