Norman Conquest and its impact

on the development of English

language
English is the most widely spread language of the
world. But it has its own peculiar history. The
language of the British Isles shows that prior to the
Roman invasion of 55 B.C., the inhabitants of Britain
spoke the Celtic dialect. Thereafter Latin was used
and some Latin expressions are still in use e.g.
inter alia and per se. After the Roman invasion,
Angles, Saxons and Jutes invaded the British Isles.
Language brought by them formed the basis of Old
English. Some words which are still in use; God, man,
woman, child, love, live, go, at, to. Scandinavians
(Vikings) invaded England from the 8th Century
onwards. They brought their own language and added
names in places ending in by, e.g. Aslackby, Aylesby
(places in Lincolnshire, England, thorpe e.g.
Scunthorpe (a town in North Lincolnshire), wick eg.
Papplewick(a village in Nottinghamshire), ham eg.
Birmingham, Buckingham and brought words like egg,
husband, law, take, knife.
In 1066, the Normans invaded England from Northern
France. The Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson or
Harold II was defeated and killed by Duke William II
of Normandy, later styled William The Conquerer. The
Normans quickly occupied even the most local position
of power and suddenly the average English person knew
no one in authority who understood English customs,
laws or the language. The Norman French, the language
of the new rulers, became the language of the court.
There were three languages in England, thereafter;
English as the language of the majority peasant class
and French or Latin was used for legal and
professional matters. Old English and Old Norse were
used for daily speech.
Since the Norman invasion, French remained the
language of the court and legal matters for 300
years. In 1356, the statues of pleadings were enacted
in French. It provided that all legal proceedings
should be in English but recorded in French. English
was adopted for different kinds of legal documents at
different times. About in 1400, English began to be
used for writing bills. So far as the statues were
concerned, they were written in Latin until about
1300, in French until 1485, in English and French
both for a few years and in English alone 1489
onwards. But in legal pleadings, use of French
continued during the 17th century. In 1731, the
Parliamentary law was enacted divesting Latin or
French from being used in court documents. It
provided that all court documents, “shall be in
English tongue only, and not in Latin or French”.
Legal words of French origin became a part of the
English language. Words like appeal, arrest, assault,
attorney, contract, counsel, court, crime, defendant,
evidence, judge, jury, plaintiff, suit, battery,
damage, allegation, cause of action, plead,
indictment, felony, estoppel, slander, tort,
easement, misdemeanor, plead, party, etc. English
became rich and influenced by these words of French
origin. English “hue and cry” comes from Old French
verb “huer and crier” meaning to hoot, shout or cry
out. English word cavalry comes from the French word
“cheval”, which means a horse.
English Words French Origin Meaning

Hue and cry Huer, crier Hoot, shout, cry

out

county Counte or The domain of a

counter count

Charter Chartre A kind of legal

document
granting
privilege

jury juree Body of people

convened to
render an
impartial
verdict

Words like Grand Jury and Petit Jury are still

acceptable and preferred in comparison to the English
“the big jury” or “the little jury”. A Grand Jury
consisted of 16 to 23 members and a Petit Jury
consisted of 12 or fewer members.
Words also demarcated the class of the society and
its respective language. The peasant class worked in
fields, cultivated lands and reared animals and used
the words like sheep, cows and swine. The Norman
elite class used words originating in French and
differentiated the terms between a living animal and
cooked or prepared meat of different animals. E.g.
mutton, beef, pork.
Spellings and connotations of many words changed over
time and words used by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 13th
century did not remain the same in the works of
William Shakespeare in the 15th century Britain.
The Normans also used words of French origin in many
other aspects of life.
English or Anglo-Saxon Norman or French origin
origin words words
Hearty welcome Cordial Reception
Freedom Liberty
Friendship Amity
Happiness Felicity
Kingship Royalty
Holiness Sanctity
Breakfast Supper
Man Servant
King Crown
Lunch Meal

So, we can see that the words by the Normans were

very grandeur and had a sense of royalty in them.
Thus, the Normans Conquest greatly impacted the
development of the English language in all works of
life.

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