how has french influenced the english language?

Question

basically i'm doing a report on french, and i'm trying to do a section on how french has impacted english, and i remember learning about how someone french took over england for a while and switched the language to french and a bunch of french stuff filtered into english but i cant exactly remember... if someone could please help me out here on how the french language impacted the english language and give a source like a website or something i would appreciate it so much and i PROMISE I WILL PICK A BEST ANSWER! merci beaucoup :DDDDDD

Answer 1

William the Conqueror was the Duke of Normandy in France when he conquered England.



"His reign, which brought Norman-French culture to England, had an impact on the subsequent course of England in the Middle Ages. The details of that impact and the extent of the changes have been debated by scholars for over a century. In addition to the obvious change of ruler, his reign also saw a programme of building and fortification, changes to the English language, a shift in the upper levels of society and the church, and adoption of some aspects of continental church reform."

Answer 2

I would just say check out Wikipedia. Englisch is German and still part of the German family, during the Norman Conquest the social elite of England spoke French since it was the language of the conquerors at the time. That's why their are so many similarities. Also to note tho is that German actually influenced French as a Language during its development. As well the Name France and French are actually German words that were altered slightly into Latin. Englisch is a mix language and borrows heavily from other languages. That's about the sum of it ^^ .

Answer 3

I actually had this in class today. Apparently when William the conqueror was king in Britain he "swapped" the over-class in london, like judges, bishops, high priests and such to people from his home in Normandie who obviously spoke french, or at least some version of it. And whereever they didn't have a word they borrowed one from the french.



If I remember correctly our teacher said that 75% of the english dictionary is based on french. Take this last thing with a pinch of salt since I don't remember exactly what she said.

Answer 4

Basically, you need to review the Battle of Hastings/William the Conqueror, and the attitudes of the people in the Robin Hood sagas.



That, plus the fact that Fance was pretty much the center of Europe for about 200 years, and affected a lot of countries/languages.

Answer 5

Well the word cafe evolved from the French. Ummmm the French inspired Americans to be nice to Native Americans in order to trade fur with them.....Sorry, I don't know much else.

Answer 6

Quick points:

=proximity with french Canada (Quebec)

=Louisiana was french (culture, language) - proof: the capital is Baton Rouge