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After William of Normandy won the Battle of Hastings in 1066, French became the language of England's kings and nobles for about three centuries. Thousands of French words entered English, which is why it often has two words for one thing, such as ‘begin’ and ‘commence’ or ‘freedom’ and ‘liberty’.

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After the Norman Conquest, England used three languages: French at court and among the nobility, Latin in the Church and in official records, and English among ordinary people. Every king after the Conquest spoke French as his first language until Henry IV, who took the throne in 1399 and was the first whose mother tongue was English. French borrowing peaked between 1250 and 1400, and about a third of English vocabulary is now estimated to come from French, including crown, justice, parliament and marriage. The famous story that English peasants kept ‘cows’ and ‘pigs’ while Norman lords ate ‘beef’ and ‘pork’ is largely a myth, popularised by Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe in 1819: for centuries the French words were used for the live animals as well as the meat.

Türkçe oku
Normandiyalı William 1066'da Hastings Muharebesi'ni kazanınca İngiltere'de krallar ve soylular yaklaşık üç yüzyıl Fransızca konuştu. İngilizceye binlerce Fransızca sözcük girdi; bu yüzden İngilizcede aynı şey için çoğu zaman iki sözcük vardır: “begin” ile “commence” (başlamak), “freedom” ile “liberty” (özgürlük) gibi.

Norman fethinden sonra İngiltere'de üç dil kullanılıyordu: Sarayda ve soylular arasında Fransızca, kilisede ve resmî kayıtlarda Latince, halk arasında İngilizce. Fetihten sonraki bütün kralların ana dili Fransızcaydı; 1399'da tahta çıkan IV. Henry, ana dili İngilizce olan ilk kral oldu. İngilizcenin Fransızcadan en çok sözcük aldığı dönem 1250-1400 yılları arasıdır. Bugün İngilizce sözcüklerin yaklaşık üçte birinin Fransızca kökenli olduğu tahmin ediliyor; crown (taç), justice (adalet), parliament (parlamento) ve marriage (evlilik) bunlardan yalnızca birkaçı. İngiliz köylülerinin “cow” (inek) ve “pig” (domuz) beslediği, Norman soylularının ise “beef” (sığır eti) ve “pork” (domuz eti) yediği yolundaki ünlü hikâye büyük ölçüde bir efsanedir; onu Walter Scott 1819'da yayımlanan Ivanhoe romanıyla yaygınlaştırdı. Oysa bu Fransızca sözcükler yüzyıllar boyunca hem canlı hayvan hem de et için kullanıldı.

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Background reading: Norman Conquest
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