Re: Norman French?

Hi,

On Mon, 19 Oct 1998, Don Blaheta wrote:

> Quoth Arek Bellagio:
> > HI all. I heard the term Norman French the other day.. and I was wondering
> > if this was a type of 'old English' applied to French. Does anyone know? If
> > not.. what does it mean?
>
> Norman French was (and is) the version of French spoken in Normandy;
> usually it refers to the Norman French of ~1000CE, which was what
> William the Conqueror spoke, and which provided a great deal of
> influence to English---iirc it was the main catalyst which brought Old
> English into Middle English.
1066 AD, after the Battle of Hastings in which Duke William of Normandy, a
cousin of the then dead English king (Edward the Confessor?)  entered
England. The Normans were descendents of the formidable Vikings of
mediaevel times who had set out from the fjords of Central Norway. They
themselves called the lang "Norman", I think, which is a shortened form of
"Northmanni", i.e, Northmen. For a really cool read on the life & times of
the Anglo-Norman period, do check out the classic "Ivan Hoe" by Sir Walter
Scott.

Regards,
skrintha