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The Anglo-Norman language is an extinct variety of the Norman language used in England following the Norman conquest in 1066.
When William the Conqueror invaded England, he, his nobles, and many of his followers from Normandy spoke an Oïl language called Norman. This became the official language of Anglo-Norman England and later developed into the unique insular dialect now known as Anglo-Norman.
Anglo-Norman was the spoken language of the Norman nobility and was also used in the courts, to compile official documents, and for commercial purposes. The lower classes were keen on learning Anglo-Norman; some early textbooks for non-native speakers still exist. Although English survived and eventually eclipsed Anglo-Norman, the latter had been sufficiently widespread as to permanently affect English lexically. (Anglo-Norman left little to no trace on English grammatically.) This is why English has lost many original Germanic words which can still be found in German and Dutch.
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Among important writers of the Anglo-Norman cultural commonwealth are the Jersey-born poet, Wace, and Marie de France. The literature of the Anglo-Norman period forms the reference point for subsequent literature in the Norman language, especially in the 19th century Norman literary revival and even into the 20th century in the case of André Dupont\'s Épopée cotentine. The languages and literatures of the Channel Islands are sometimes still referred to as Anglo-Norman.
Anglo-Norman remained the main administrative language of England for about a century after the conquest. After this it was eventually replaced by a dialect closer to Parisian French (though this in turn became Anglicised in the course of time: see Law French). This latter dialect continued to be known as "Norman French" until the end of the nineteenth century, even though philologically there was nothing Norman about it.Pollock and Maitland, p. 87 note 3. Over time, the use of Anglo-French expanded further into the fields of law, administration, commerce, and science, in all of which a rich documentary legacy survives.
One notable survival of influence on the political system is the use of certain Anglo-French set phrases in the Parliament of the United Kingdom for some endorsements to bills and the granting of Royal Assent to legislation.Bennion, Frands. "Modern Royal Assent Procedure at Westminister" (Word document). New Law Journal. Retrieved on 18 November, 2007.Companion to the Standing Orders and guide to the Proceedings of the House of Lords. United Kingdom Parliament. Retrieved on 2007-11-18. These set phrases include:
The exact spelling of the formulæ has varied over the years; for example, s\'avisera has been spelled as s\'uvisera and s\'advisera, and Reyne as Raine.
As a langue d\'oïl, Anglo-Norman had developed collaterally to the central Gallo-Romance dialects that would eventually become Parisian French, in terms of grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary - it being also important to remember that before the signature of Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts in 1539, French had not been standardised as an official administrative language of the kingdom of France.
Middle English was heavily influenced by both Anglo-Norman and the later Anglo-French. Some etymologists have called Anglo-Norman \'the missing link\' because many etymological dictionaries seem to ignore the contribution of that language in English.
Anglo-Norman morphology and pronunciation can be deduced from its heritage in English. Mostly this is done in comparison with continental French. English has many doublets as a result of this contrast:
Compare also:
The palatalization of velar consonants before front vowel produced different results in Norman to the central langue d\'oïl dialects that developed into French. English therefore, for example, has fashion from Norman féchoun as opposed to Modern French façon.
The palatalization of velar consonants before /a/ that affected the development of French did not occur in Norman dialects north of the ligne Joret. English has therefore inherited words that retain a velar plosive where French has a fricative:
| English | < Norman | = French |
|---|---|---|
| cabbage | < caboche | = chou |
| candle | < caundèle | = chandelle |
| castle | < caste(l) | = château |
| cauldron | < caudron | = chaudron |
| causeway | < cauchie | = chaussée |
| catch | < cachi | = chasser |
| cater | < acater | = acheter |
| wicket | < viquet | = guichet |
| plank | < pllanque | = planche |
| < pouquette | = poche | |
| fork | < fouorque | = fourche |
| garden | < gardin | = jardin |
Other words such as captain, kennel, cattle and canvas exemplify how Norman retained a /k/ from Latin that was not retained in French.
However, Anglo-Norman also acted as a conduit for French words to enter England: for example, challenge clearly displays a form of French origin rather than the Norman calenge.
There were also vowel differences: cf. AN profound with PF profond, soun \'sound\' - son, round - rond. The former words were pronounced something like \'profoond\', \'soond\', \'roond\' respectively (compare the similarly denasalised vowels of modern Norman), but they later developed their modern pronunciation in English.
Since many words established in Anglo-Norman from French via the intermediary of Norman were not subject to the processes of sound change that continued in parts of the continent, English sometimes preserves earlier pronunciations. For example, \'ch\' used to be /tʃ/ in Medieval French; Modern French has /ʃ/ but English has preserved the older sound (in words like chamber, chain, chase and exchequer).
Similarly, \'j\' had an older /dÊ’/ sound (which it still has in English and some dialects of modern Norman) but has developed into /Ê’/ in Modern French.
The words veil and leisure retain the /ei/ (as does modern Norman in vaile and laîsi) that in French has been replaced by /wa:/ voile, loisir.
The word mushroom preserves a hush sibilant in mousseron not recorded in French orthography, as does cushion for coussin. Conversely, the pronunciation of the word sugar resembles Norman chucre even if the spelling is closer to French sucre. It is possible that the original sound was an apical sibilant, like the Basque s, which is halfway between a sibilant and a shibilant. (Need reference for what constitutes \'closer\' in this context.)
Note the doublets catch and chase, both deriving from Latin captiare. Catch demonstrates the Norman development of the velars, while chase is the French equivalent imported with a different meaning. (Reference please, esp. document that shows Norman evolution of catch.)
Distinctions in meaning between Anglo-Norman and French have led to many faux amis (words having similar form but different meanings) in Modern English and Modern French.
An interesting question arises when one considers English vocabulary of Germanic, and specifically Scandinavian, origin. Since, although a Romance language, Norman contains a significant amount of lexical material from Norse, some of the words introduced into England as part of Anglo-Norman were of Germanic origin. Indeed, sometimes one can identify cognates such as flock (Germanic in English existing prior to the Conquest) and flloquet (Germanic in Norman). The case of the word mug demonstrates that in instances, Anglo-Norman may have reinforced certain Scandinavian elements in English. Mug had been introduced into northern English dialects by Viking settlement. The same word had been established in Normandy by the Normans (Norsemen) and was then brought over after the Conquest and established firstly in southern English dialects. It is therefore argued that the word mug in English shows some of the complicated Germanic heritage of Anglo-Norman.
Many expressions used in English today have their origin in Anglo-Norman (e.g. the expression before-hand derives from AN avaunt-main), as do many modern words with interesting etymologies. Mortgage, for example, literally meant death-wage in AN. Curfew meant cover-fire, referring to the time in the evening when all fires had to be covered. The word glamour is derived, unglamorously, from AN grammeire, the same words which gives us modern grammar. Apparently glamour was used with the meaning magic or magic spell in Medieval times.
The influence of Anglo-Norman was very much asymmetrical in that very little influence from English was carried over into the continental possessions of the Anglo-Norman realm. Some administrative terms survived in some parts of mainland Normandy: forlenc (from furrow, compare furlong) in the Cotentin peninsula and a general use of the word acre for land measurement in Normandy until metrication in the 19th century. Otherwise the direct influence of English in mainland Norman (such as smogler - to smuggle) is because of direct contact in later centuries with English rather than Anglo-Norman.
Although Anglo-Norman was falling out of everyday use by the 13th century (Middle English was becoming stronger), it has left an indelible mark on English. Thousands of words, phrases and expressions are derived from it. English would have been a very different language without the influence of Anglo-Norman.
| Norman language |
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Channel Island dialects Mainland dialects Historic and legal |
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