Anglo-Norman and Central French

The French words introduced into English as a result of the Norman Conquest often present an appearance quite different from that which they have in Modern French. This is due first of all to subsequent developments which have taken place in the two languages. Thus the OE feste passed into Middle English as feste, whence it has become feast in Modern English, while in French the "S" disappeared before other consonants at the end of the twelfth century and we have in Modern French the form fête. The same dif­ference appears in forest - forêt, hostel - hôtel, beast - bête, and many other words. The difference is not always fully revealed by the spelling but is apparent in the pronunciation. Thus the English words judge and chant preserve the early French pronunciation of "J" and "CH", which was sof­tened in French in the XIII th century to [Z] end [S] as in the modern French juge and chant. Therefore we may recognize charge, chance, chamber, chase, chair, chimney, just, jewel, journey, majesty, gentle, and many other words as early borrowings, while such words as chamois, chaperon, chiffon, chevron, jabot, rouge and the like show by their pronunciation that they have come into the language at a later date. The word chivalry is an early word and should be pronounced [C] but it has been influenced by such words as chevalier and by Modern French. A similar case is that of words like police and ravine, where we pronounce the "I" in the French manner. If these words had been borrowed early, we should pronounce them as we do nice, and vine. A second cause of difference between English words and their French counterparts is the fact that the Anglo-Norman or Anglo-French dialect spoken in England dif­fered from the language of Paris (Central French) in numerous respects. In Anglo-Norman initial CA - was often re­tained, whereas it became CHA -, CHI - in Central French: carry, carriage, case have corresponding words in the dia­lect of Paris with CH.

Central French showed an early avoidance of the [w] - sound, both separately and in combination with other consonants; English wicket representing the old Norman French wiket became in the Paris dialect guichet. In the same way waste (A.N. waster) was in Central French guaster or gaster (Mod. F. gater). Other examples are wasp (F. guepe), warrant (F. garantier), reward (F. regarder), wardrobe, wait, warden (cf. guardian, from Central French) wage, warren, wince. In the combination que - Central French likewise dropped the labialelement while it was retained for a ti­me in Anglo-Norman. For this reason we say quit, quarter, ouality, question, require, etc., all with the sound of [kw], where French has a simple [k] (quitter, quartier, qualite, etc.).

The vowels also at times developed differently. In OF. the diphthong “UI” was originally accented on the first element (VI). This accentuation was retained in Anglo-Nor­man and the I disappeared, leaving a simple U [y]. In Middle English this [y] became [V] or [IV] written u, ui, ew, etc. Hence the English fruit which has in Mo­dern French a quite different pronunciation. English salary, victory correspond to French salaire, victoire.

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