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France and England
Melvyn Bragg
goes to Hastings where, in 1066, William, Duke of Normandy defeated
King Harold and invaded England. The actual fighting took place
in the nearby village of Battle. It was to be the starting point
of a long and intense relationship between England and France
that continues to this day. The Norman Conquest was not only
military but also linguistic, bringing thousands of French words
into the language.
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French
enters the language
When William
the Conqueror seized power in England, French became the official
language of the court. This didn't mean that the conquered Saxons
all started to speak French. The mass of the populace contined
to speak Old English, but French began to influence their vocabulary.
An amazing 10,000 loan words entered English, including such
words as enemy, battle, peace, religion, service, miracle, design,
beauty, romance - and, especially, many words for food. These
French words can be grouped together in various ways, according
to J C Smith, Professor of French Linguistics at Oxford University.
Why
don't the English learn French?
Although England
and France are close neighbours and have had an intense relationship
now for over ten centuries, it is remarkable how separate they
remained after the Normans, both as nations and cultures. Remarkable
too is the relatively small number of English people who speak
French. One of the reasons for this may be the deep ambivalence
that the English feel towards the French language, according
to Lisa Appignanesi, novelist and writer on French affairs.
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