CHAPTER XI

Traces of foreign influence in English before the Norman Conquest slight — difference between conditions of Norman influence and those of earlier influences the term Norman-French-Latin in Gaul - its character -the Franks in Gaul - they adopt the language of the conquered - the Northmen in France - they adopt the language of France-Norman influence in England before 1066 — the Norman Conquest — fusion of Normans and English-French in England — a mark of race — a mark of class use of French in the 14th century- disuse of French after 1350-in schools—among the upper classes as an official language — Latin of the Third Period-loss of old words - limitation in the use of old material - English after 1066 — the position of English dialects continuous series of English writings-the English Chronicle in 1154 the Southern dialect c. 1200- the Ancren Riwle - Layamon's Brut -the East Midland dialect-the Ormulum—the Southern dialect c. 1300 — Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle—its vocabulary — its grammar - the East Midland dialect - Robert of Brunne's Handlyng Synne — the Northern dialect-the Northumbrian Psalter - the Kentish dialect — the Ayenbite of Inwyt-literary English of the latter half of the 14th century-specimen from Chaucer - foreign element in its vocabulary — Old English element — grammatical forms - contrasts between the language of literature in the 11th and in the 14th centuries.

The traces of foreign influence in

1. WITH the conquest of England by the Normans came a new set of influences making for change in English speech. Before however attempting to consider the extent to which such influences were operative, it may be well to remind ourselves of the degree to which on earlier occasions

English before

the Norman Conquest are slight.

English speakers had shewn themselves susceptible to foreign influence. Celtic speech, the language of the conquered natives, had lived alongside English, the language of the conquering intruders, for centuries, but had produced little impression upon it. Latin, the language of the Church and of scholars, had been in use for a not much shorter period, but few Latin words had been adopted. The Danes had made settlements in the country two centuries before the Normans came, and in the end ruled in England; but, though in parts of the country a comparatively considerable number of Danish words might be used, the literary language of England remained to the end practically the language of Alfred. The differences between the various forms of speech in different parts of the country might be more strongly marked than they had been when the Teutonic invaders settled in different parts of Britain, but the vocabulary of the most cultivated form of English speech in the first half of the 11th century, still for the most part depended upon the original Teutonic material, and its grammar still for the most part preserved the old forms. As regards language, then, the English, though not refusing all change, had yet shewn themselves little disposed to allow their native forms to be ousted by foreign competitors.

The difference between the conditions under which Norman influence was exercised and those of earlier influences.

2. The case, which on the appearance of the Normans presented itself for determination, was an interesting variation on those which had been already worked out without materially affecting the Teutonic character of the language. English could hold its ground, though a quite distinct speech, Celtic, existed in the country along with it; but then the speakers of the latter were a conquered It could still hold its ground, when the Danes ruled England; but then English and Danish were very near akin, and the rule was not for long. Latin, as a spoken language, never came into competition with it. The question that asked for answer in 1066 was, what would become of English, when

race.

a speech, quite distinct from it, was spoken by rulers of England whose rule was to be permanent?

Derivation of the term 'Norman-French.'

3. And here it may be noted that the very name given to that distinct speech suggests how for similar questions the answers had been worked out in earlier times; answers which thanks to the Norman Conquest were to prove of lasting interest to English. For a language — Norman-French-whose name is built up from words that point to two races of the Teutonic stock, the Northmen and the Franks, yet shews only faint traces of Teutonic speech, and finds its place among the derivatives from Latin. To explain this want of correspondence between the name and the character of the language we must go back to the Roman colonisation of Gaul. The Celts of that country, unlike their kinsmen of Britain, almost entirely gave up their native speech, and adopted a form of Latin. Their knowledge of Latin was not, however, gained by studying the great writers or by listening to the talk of educated Romans, but rather by intercourse with soldiers and colonists. It was not, then, to the vocabulary of classical Latin that we are to look for much of the material from which was formed the speech of Gaul, nor are we to suppose that in such speech the grammatical accuracy of classical Latin was preserved.1 It is not from the same word that the terms denoting the knightly classes of Rome and of France are derived; though each class owes its title to the same characteristic, yet for the Roman eques and the French chevalier the titles are derived from different sources. 2

Latin in Gaul - its character.

1 A rough parallel to the relation between the literary Latin and the form which gave rise to the Romance language in Gaul may perhaps be found in the relation between the language of Longfellow or Lowell and the colloquial speech given in the works of Bret Harte.

2 The point illustrated by the use of equus and caballus is an important one; it marks the character of the Latin that was the source of the Romance speech of Gaul; in so far, then, as that speech affected English, it becomes of importance to English.

The Franks in Gaul - they adopt the language of the conquered.

The language, which by the end of the first century after Christ had supplanted Celtic, was in course of time subjected to a foreign influence, for Gaul became the land of the Franks. A case like that spoken of above presented itself for determination, that of a conqueror living with the conquered from whom he differed in both race and speech, and it was settled by the conqueror accepting, though with a slight admixture of his own, the language of the conquered. The Franks, then, at the end of the 10th century spoke a Romance speech.

One case thus determined, circumstances connected with

The Northmen in France - they adopt the language of France.

the first element of the name we are noting, led to the occurrence of another. The Northmen who had ravaged France not less than England, at length, as in England, obtained a permanent footing there. As at the end of the 9th century the English king had yielded part of his territory to the Danes, so at the beginning of the 10th the French king yielded up Neustria to Rollo and his followers. Again it was a question what would be the outcome of the competition between the different languages of conquering and conquered, and again it was with the language of those who had been defeated that the victory rested. In the middle of the 11th century the Scandinavian speech of the original conquerors of Normandy was no longer that of their descendants; a form of Romance speech, naturally with characteristics that distinguished it from forms current in other localities, had taken its place. Thus the language, whose name might seem to imply merely a mixture of Teutonic elements, is one in which few traces even of Teutonic influence are to be found, and the material which made its way from Norman-French into English can be spoken of as Latin of the Third Period.

4. Though the year 1066 is conveniently prominent as a date for marking the beginning of this period, yet it should

Norman influence in England before 1066.

Naturally

be noted that before this an opportunity to exert an influence upon English had not been wanting to NormanFrench. Ethelred had married a daughter of the ducal house of Normandy, and the success of the Danes in England had driven the sons of the marriage into exile at the Norman Court. Edward looked not unkindly upon the country where he had found asylum, and something of Norman influence may well have been felt in England during his reign. But the Conquest took place so soon after his death that it is unnecessary to mark off the contributions of this preliminary period from those which in such large numbers were made when the Normans were settled in England.

The Norman Conquest.

5. Passing, then, to the time of the Conquest we find the case presenting itself of two quite distinct speeches current in the same country, the one that of a foreign conqueror, the other that of the conquered natives. The previous record of the two peoples as regards language was, as we have seen, somewhat different; the conquerors were speaking a language that to their forefathers less than 200 years before had been a foreign speech, the conquered were speaking a language that, from times before those in which they had been the conquerors of the country, they had preserved almost intact. To an Englishman, who in 1066 might have been concerned for the fate of his native language, a consideration of the earlier circumstances of English and Normans might have afforded some consolation; for while the latter had shewn a readiness to adopt a foreign speech, and that too one whose speakers they had defeated, the former had shewn a tenacity in their hold upon their native speech, which whether they were conquerors or conquered never failed. Before noticing how far the hope which such a consideration might have inspired, was realised, a few words may be said as to the fusion of the two races; for with that fusion came the working out of a language common to the resultant nation.