ANGLO-NORMAN LANGUAGE

The 'Anglo-Norman language' is an extinct variety of the Norman language used in England following the Norman conquest in 1066.
When William the Conqueror invaded England, he, his nobles and many of his followers from Normandy spoke an Oïl language called Norman. This became the official language of Anglo-Norman England and later developed into the unique insular dialect now known as Anglo-Norman.
Anglo-Norman was the spoken language of the Norman nobility and was also used in the courts, to compile official documents, and for commercial purposes. The lower classes were keen on learning Anglo-Norman; some early textbooks for non-native speakers still exist. Although English survived and eventually eclipsed Anglo-Norman, the latter had been sufficiently widespread as to permanently change English. This is why English has lost many original Germanic characteristics that are still strong in German and Dutch.

Contents

Use and development

Characteristics

References

Endnotes

External links

Use and development

Among important writers of the Anglo-Norman cultural commonwealth are the Jersey-born poet, Wace, and Marie de France. The literature of the Anglo-Norman period forms the reference point for subsequent literature in the Norman language, especially in the 19th century Norman literary revival and even into the 20th century in the case of André Dupont's ''Épopée cotentine''. The languages and literatures of the Channel Islands are sometimes still referred to as Anglo-Norman.
Anglo-Norman remained the main administrative language of England for about a century after the conquest. After this it was eventually replaced by a dialect closer to Parisian French (though this in turn became Anglicised in the course of time: see Law French). This latter dialect continued to be known as "Norman French" until the end of the nineteenth century, even though philologically there was nothing Norman about it.^[1] Over time, the use of Anglo-French expanded further into the fields of law, administration, commerce, and science, in all of which a rich documentary legacy survives.
One notable survival of influence on the political system is the use of Anglo-French phrases in the granting of Royal Assent to legislation in the United Kingdom. It is also used in Parliament for some endorsements to bills:

★ "''soit baillé aux communes''" (a bill sent by the House of Lords to the House of Commons)

★ "''A ceste Bille les Seigneurs sont assentus''" (a Commons bill agreed by the Lords)

★ "''A ceste Bille avecque des amendements les Seigneurs sont assentus''" (a Commons Bill, with amendments, agreed by the Lords )

★ "''Ceste Bille est remise aux Seigneurs avecque des raisons''" (a Commons bill amended by the Lords, sent back by the Commons when they disagree with the Lords' amendments)

★ "''La Reyne le veult''" (Royal Assent for a public bill : "The queen wants it")

★ "''La Reyne remercie ses bon sujets, accepte leur bénévolence, et ainsi le veult'' (Royal Assent for a supply bill : "the queen thanks her good subjects, accepts their good will, and thus wants it")

★ "''Soit fait comme il est desiré''" (Royal Assent for a private bill : "may it be done as it is desired")

Characteristics

As a langue d'oïl, Anglo-Norman had developed collaterally to the central Gallo-Romance dialects that would eventually become Parisian French, in terms of grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary - it being also important to remember that before the 15th century French had not been standardised as an official administrative language of the kingdom of France.
Middle English was heavily influenced by both Anglo-Norman and the later Anglo-French. Some etymologists have called Anglo-Norman 'the missing link' because many etymological dictionaries seem to ignore the contribution of that language in English.
Anglo-Norman morphology and pronunciation can be deduced from its heritage in English. Mostly this is done in comparison with continental French. English has many doublets as a result of this contrast:

★ ''warranty - guarantee''

★ ''ward - guard''

★ ''warden - guardian''

★ ''glamour - grammar'' (see below)

★ ''catch - chase'' (see below)
Compare also:

★ ''wage'' (Anglo-Norman) - ''gage'' (French)

★ ''wait'' - ''guetter'' (French)

★ ''war'' (from AN ''werre'') - ''guerre'' (French)

★ ''wicket'' (Anglo-Norman) - ''guichet'' (French)
The palatalization of velar consonants before front vowel produced different results in Norman to the central langue d'oïl dialects that developed into French. English therefore, for example, has ''fashion'' from Norman ''féchoun'' as opposed to Modern French ''façon''.
The palatalization of velar consonants before /a/ that affected the development of French did not occur in Norman dialects north of the ligne Joret. English has therefore inherited words that retain a velar plosive where French has a fricative:

English	< Norman	= French
cabbage	< caboche	= chou
candle	< caundèle	= chandelle
castle	< caste(l)	= château
cauldron	< caudron	= chaudron
causeway	< cauchie	= chaussée
catch	< cachi	= chasser
cater	< acater	= acheter
wicket	< viquet	= guichet
plank	< pllanque	= planche
pocket	< pouquette	= poche
fork	< fouorque	= fourche
garden	< gardin	= jardin

Other words such as ''captain'', ''kennel'', ''cattle'' and ''canvas'' exemplify how Norman retained a /k/ from Latin that was not retained in French.
However, Anglo-Norman also acted as a conduit for French words to enter England: for example, ''challenge'' clearly displays a form of French origin rather than the Norman ''calenge''.
There were also vowel differences: cf. AN ''profound'' with PF ''profond'', ''soun'' 'sound' - son, ''round'' - ''rond''. The former words were pronounced something like 'profoond', 'soond', 'roond' respectively (compare the similarly denasalised vowels of modern Norman), but they later developed their modern pronunciation in English.
Since many words established in Anglo-Norman from French via the intermediary of Norman were not subject to the processes of sound change that continued in parts of the continent, English sometimes preserves earlier pronunciations. For example, 'ch' used to be // in Medieval French; Modern French has // but English has preserved the older sound (in words like chamber, chain, chase and exchequer).
Similarly, 'j' had an older // sound (which it still has in English and some dialects of modern Norman) but has developed into // in Modern French.
The words ''veil'' and ''leisure'' retain the /ei/ (as does modern Norman in ''vaile'' and ''laîsi'') that in French has been replaced by /wa:/ ''voile'', ''loisir''.
The word ''mushroom'' preserves a hush sibilant in ''mousseron'' not recorded in French orthography, as does ''cushion'' for ''coussin''. Conversely, the pronunciation of the word ''sugar'' resembles Norman ''chucre'' even if the spelling is closer to French ''sucre''.
Note the doublets ''catch'' and ''chase'', both deriving from Latin ''captiare''. ''Catch'' demonstrates the Norman development of the velars, while ''chase'' is the French equivalent imported with a different meaning.
Distinctions in meaning between Anglo-Norman and French have led to many ''faux amis'' (words having similar form but different meanings) in Modern English and Modern French. ''See List of false friends''.
An interesting question arises when one considers English vocabulary of Germanic, and specifically Scandinavian, origin. Since, although a romance language, Norman contains a significant amount of lexical material from Norse, some of the words introduced into England as part of Anglo-Norman were of Germanic origin. Indeed, sometimes one can identify cognates such as ''flock'' (Germanic in English existing prior to the Conquest) and ''flloquet'' (Germanic in Norman). The case of the word ''mug'' demonstrates that in instances, Anglo-Norman may have reinforced certain Scandinavian elements in English. ''Mug'' had been introduced into northern English dialects by Viking settlement. The same word had been established in Normandy by the Normans (Norsemen) and was then taken over after the Conquest and established firstly in southern English dialects. It is therefore argued that the word ''mug'' in English shows some of the complicated Germanic heritage of Anglo-Norman.
Many expressions used in English today have their origin in Anglo-Norman (e.g. the expression ''before-hand'' derives from AN ''avaunt-main''), as do many modern words with interesting etymologies. ''Mortgage'', for example, literally meant ''death-wage'' in AN. ''Curfew'' meant ''cover-fire'', referring to the time in the evening when all fires had to be covered. The word ''glamour'' is derived, unglamorously, from AN ''grammeire'', the same words which gives us modern ''grammar''. Apparently ''glamour'' was used with the meaning ''magic'' or ''magic spell'' in Medieval times.
The influence of Anglo-Norman was very much asymmetrical in that very little influence from English was carried over into the continental possessions of the Anglo-Norman realm. Some administrative terms survived in some parts of mainland Normandy: ''forlenc'' (from ''furrow'', compare ''furlong'') in the Cotentin peninsula and a general use of the word ''acre'' for land measurement in Normandy until metrication in the 19th century. Otherwise the direct influence of English in mainland Norman (such as ''smogler'' - to smuggle) is because of direct contact in later centuries with English rather than Anglo-Norman.
Although Anglo-Norman was falling out of everyday use by the 13th century (Middle English was becoming stronger), it has left an indelible mark on English. Thousands of words, phrases and expressions are derived from it. English would have been a very different language without the influence of Anglo-Norman.

References

★ Kelham, ''Dictionary of the Norman or Old French Language'' (1779)

★ Pollock and Maitland, ''History of English Law'', 2nd edition: Cambridge 1898, pp. 80-87.

Endnotes

1. Pollock and Maitland, p. 87 note 3.

External links

★ The Anglo-Norman hub - a project to produce an AN dictionary. Contains articles and corpus texts.