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Old French

Old French was the Romance languages|Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories which span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century. It was then known as the Langues d'oïl|''langue d'oïl'' (oïl language) to distinguish it from the ''Occitan language|langue d'oc'' (Occitan language, also then called Provençal (dialect)|Provençal), whose territory bordered that of Old French to the south. The Norman language|Norman dialect was also spread to Norman England|England, Norman Ireland|Ireland, Kingdom of Sicily|the southern part of what now is known as Italy and the Levant (Principality of Antioch).

Grammar and phonology

Historical influences

Gaulish

Gaulish language|Gaulish, one of the survivors of the continental Celtic languages in Roman times, slowly became extinct during the long centuries of Roman dominion. Only a handful (approx.200) of Gaulish words survive in modern French, for example wikt:chêne|''chêne'', ‘oak tree’ and wikt:charrue|''charrue'' ‘plough'. Fewer than two hundred words in modern French have Gaulish etymology; Delamarre (2003, pp.389-90) lists 167. Due to the expansion of the Roman Empire, Latin began to be spoken more often, explaining the limited influence and longevity of Gaulish. ''See also: List of French words of Gaulish origin

Latin

Old French began when the Roman Empire conquered Gaul during the campaigns of Julius Caesar, which were almost complete by 51 BC. The Romans introduced Latin to southern France by 120 BC when it came under Roman occupation. Beginning with Plautus's time (254–184 BC), the phonological structure of classical Latin underwent change, which would eventually yield vulgar Latin, the common spoken language of the western Roman empire. This latter form differed strongly from its classical counterpart in phonology; it was the ancestor of the Romance languages, including Old French. Some Gaulish words influenced Vulgar Latin and, through this, other Romance languages. For example, classical Latin ''wikt:equus|equus'' was replaced in common parlance by vulgar Latin ''wikt:caballus|caballus'', derived from Gaulish ''caballos'' (Delamare 2003 p.96), giving Modern French ''wikt:cheval|cheval'', Catalan ''wikt:cavall|cavall'', Occitan ''caval'' (''chaval''), Italian ''wikt:cavallo|cavallo'', Portuguese ''wikt:cavalo|cavalo'', Spanish ''wikt:caballo|caballo'', Romanian ''wikt:cal|cal'', and (borrowed from Anglo-Norman language|Anglo-Norman) English ''wikt:cavalry|cavalry'' and ''chivalry''.

Frankish

The Old Frankish language had a large influence on the vocabulary and the pronunciation of Old French after the conquest, by the Germanic peoples|Germanic tribe of the Franks, of the portions of Roman Gaul that are now France and Belgium during the Migration Period. The name ''français'' is derived from the name of this tribe. A number of other Germanic peoples, including the Burgundians and the Visigoths, were active in the territory at that time; the Germanic languages spoken by the Franks, Burgundians, and others were not written languages, and at this remove it is often difficult to identify from which specific Germanic source a given Germanic word in French is derived. Philology|Philologists such as Pope (1934) estimate that perhaps fifteen percent of the vocabulary of modern French (and its various dialects) derives from Germanic sources, including a large number of common words like wiktionary:haïr|''haïr'' ‘to hate’, wiktionary:bateau|''bateau'' ‘boat’, and wiktionary:hache|''hache'' ‘axe’. It has been suggested that the ''passé composé|passé composé'' and other compound verbs used in French Grammatical conjugation|conjugation are also the result of Germanic influences. Other Germanic words in Old French appeared as a result of Normans|Norman, ie. Viking, settlements in Normandy during the 10th century. The settlers spoke Old Norse and their settlement was legitimised and made permanent in 911 under Rollo of Normandy. ''See also: List of French words of Germanic origin

Earliest written Old French

At the third Council of Tours in 813, priests were ordered to preach in the vernacular language—either in the rustica lingua romanica (Gallo-Romance), or in the Germanic vernaculars—since the common people could no longer understand formal Latin. While the earliest documents said to be written in French after the Vulgar Latin#The Reichenau glosses|Reichenau and Kassel glosses (8th and 9th centuries) are the Oaths of Strasbourg (treaties and charters into which King Charles the Bald entered in 842), it is probable that the text represents an older Langues d'oïl|Langue d'oïl or Gallo-Romance, a transitional stage between Vulgar Latin and early Romance: The House of Capet|Royal House of Capet, founded by Hugh Capet in 987, inaugurated the development of northern French culture in and around Ile-de-France (province)|Ile-de-France, which slowly but firmly asserted its ascendency over the more southerly areas of Aquitaine and Tolosa (Toulouse). The Capetian dynasty|Capetians' Langues d'oïl|Langue d'oïl, the forerunner of modern standard French, did not begin to become the common speech of the entire nation of France, however, until after the French Revolution. Another example of an early Langue d'oïl or Gallo-Romance text is the Eulalia sequence, which is probably much closer to the spoken language of the time than the Oaths of Strasbourg (based upon language differences). It is difficult to determine precisely how these extant Old French texts were pronounced.

Phonological summary

Old French was constantly changing and evolving. However, it is sometimes useful to consider as a "standard" form of the language the state it was in during the late 12th century (as attested in a great deal of mostly poetic writings). The phonological system can be summarised as follows:The chart is based on phonologies given in Laborderie, Noëlle, ''Précis de Phonétique Historique'', Nathan 1994; and in Rickard, Peter, ''A History of the French Language'', 2nd edition, Routledge 1989, pp. 47-8.

Consonants

Non-finite forms:
- Infinitive: estre
- Present participle: estant
- Past Participle: esté(t) auxiliary verb: ''avoir'' (?)

Dialects

Since Old French did not consist of a single standard, competing administrative varieties were propagated by the provincial courts and chanceries. The French of Paris was one of a number of standards, including:
- the Burgundian language (Oïl)|Burgundian of Duchy of Burgundy|Burgundy, then an independent duchy whose capital was at Dijon;
- the Picard language of Picardy, whose principal cities were Calais and Lille. It was said that the Picard language began at the east door of Notre-Dame de Paris, so far-reaching was its influence;
- Old Norman, spoken in Normandy, whose principal cities were Caen and Rouen. The Norman conquest of England brought many Norman-speaking aristocrats into the British Isles. Most of the older Norman (sometimes called "French") words in the English language reflect the influence of this variety of Oïl language which became a conduit for the introduction into the Anglo-Norman realm, as did Anglo-Norman control of Anjou and Gascony and other continental possessions. The Anglo-Norman language reflected a shared culture on both sides of the English Channel. Ultimately, this language declined and fell, becoming Law French, a jargon spoken by lawyers, which was used in English law until the reign of Charles II of England|Charles II. Norman language|Norman, however, still survives in Normandy and the Channel Islands as a regional language;
- the Walloon language, centered around Namur (city)|Namur in present-day Wallonia;
- the Gallo language of Brittany, the Romance language of the Duchy of Brittany;
- the Lorrain language|Lorrain, the Romance language of the Duchy of Lorraine (duchy)|Lorraine.

Derived languages

This Oïl language is the ancestor of several languages spoken today, including:
- Berrichon
- Burgundian language (Oïl)|Bourguignon-Morvandiau
- Champenois
- Franc-Comtois
- French language|French
    - *French-based creole languages
    - Acadian French
    - Belgian French
    - Cajun French
    - French language|Metropolitan French (Metropolitan France)
    - Quebec French
    - Swiss French
- Gallo language
- Lorrain language|Lorrain
- Norman language|Norman
    - Dgèrnésiais
    - Jèrriais
- Picard language|Picard
- Poitevin language|Poitevin
- Saintongeais
- Walloon language|Walloon

Literature

Main Article at Medieval French literature

Notes

References

- de la Chaussée, François. (1977). ''Initiation à la morphologie historique de l'ancien français''. Paris: Klincksieck. ISBN 2-252-10922-0
- Delamarre, X. & Lambert, P. -Y. (2003). ''Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise : Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental'' (2nd ed.). Paris: Errance. ISBN 2877722376
- Kibler, William (1984). ''An Introduction to Old French''. New York: Modern Language Association of America.
- Lanly, André. (2002). ''Morphologie historique des verbes français''. Paris: Champion. ISBN 2-7453-0822-X
- Pope, M.K. (1934). ''From Latin to Modern French with Especial Consideration of Anglo-Norman Phonology and Morphology''. Manchester: Manchester University Press.