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Saturday Quiz: English and French   (April 19, 2008)


Readers Journal has been updated with more great thought-provoking comments (and I do mean provocative!) and excellent new essays by Steve R. Schizoid Boundary Condition and Michael Goodfellow, Employment Penalties. Read these two essays--they are quite different but equally thoughtful.


Q:How much of the English language is derived from French?

A: About 30%.

From The English language (wikipedia)

Many French words are also intelligible to an English speaker (though pronunciations are often quite different) because English absorbed a large vocabulary from Norman and French, via Anglo-Norman after the Norman conquest and directly from French in subsequent centuries. As a result, a large portion of English vocabulary is derived from French, with some minor spelling differences (word endings, use of old French spellings, etc.).

The Norman conquest of England in 1066 greatly influenced the evolution of the language. For about 300 years after this, the Normans used Anglo-Norman, which was close to Old French, as the language of the court, law and administration. By the latter part of the fourteenth century, when English had replaced French as the language of law and government, Anglo-Norman borrowings had contributed roughly 10,000 words to English, of which 75% remain in use. These include many words pertaining to the legal and administrative fields, but also include common words for food, such as mutton, beef, and pork. However, the animals associated with these foods (e.g. sheep, cow, and swine) retained their Saxon names, possibly because as a herd animal they were tended by Saxon serfs, while as food, they were more likely to be consumed at a Norman table.

Examples of French-based words include formidable and casserole.



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