Old French
Old French is a term sometimes used to refer to the
langue d'oïl, the continuum of varieties of
Romance language spoken in territories corresponding roughly to the northern half of modern
France and parts of
Belgium and
Switzerland during the period roughly from
1000 to
1300 A.D.
It was known at the time as the
langue d'oïl to distinguish it from the
langue d'oc, (also then called
Provençal) which bordered these areas to the south.
Historical influences
Gaulish
The
Gaulish language, a
Celtic language, slowly became extinct during the long centuries of Roman domination. A handful of Gaulish words survive in contemporary French: words like
chêne, "oak tree", and
charrue, "plough", are Gaulish survivals, but fewer than two hundred words of modern French have a Gaulish
etymology; Delamarre (2003 pp.389-90) lists 167. Latin was the common language of the western Roman world, and opened up a wider world to its speakers than Gaulish did, so it grew at the expense of Gaulish.
Latin
In one sense, Old French began when the
Roman Empire conquered the territory it called
Gaul during the conquests of
Julius Caesar, which were substantially completed by
51 BC. The Romans introduced the
Latin language into southern France starting in around
120 BC, when they occupied southern Gaul during the
Punic Wars.
Starting during the period when
Plautus was writing, the common Latin of the Roman world, the phonological structure of
classical Latin began to change, yielding the
vulgar Latin that was the common spoken language of the western Roman world. This vulgar Latin began to vary strongly from the classical language in its
phonology; spoken Latin, rather than the somewhat artificial
literary language of classical Latin, was the ancestor of the
Romance languages including Old French. Some Gaulish words influenced Vulgar Latin and thus, not only Old French but also other Romance languages. For example classical Latin
equus was replaced in common parlance by vulgar Latin
caballus, derived from Gaulish
caballos (Delamare 2003 p.96) thus giving Modern French
cheval, Italian
cavallo, Spanish
caballo, Romanian
cal and (borrowed from French) English
cavalry.
Frankish
The
Frankish language had a large impact on the
vocabulary of Old French as a result of the Frankish conquest of much of the territory of modern France by the
Franks during the
Migration Period. The current and older names of the language,
français, derives from the name of the Franks. A number of other Germanic peoples, including the
Burgundians, were active in the territory at that time; the
Germanic languages spoken by the Franks, Burgundians, and others were not written languages, and at this remove it is often difficult to identify from which specific Germanic source a given Germanic word in French is derived.
Philologists such as Pope (1934) estimate that perhaps fifteen percent of the vocabulary of modern French derives from Germanic sources; this vocabulary includes a large number of common words like
haïr ‘to hate';
bateau ‘boat', and
hache ‘axe', which all derive from Germanic sources. It has been suggested that the
passé composé and other
compound verbs used in French
conjugation are also the result of Germanic influences.
In addition to the Germanic words that were introduced through Frankish, other Germanic words in Old French appeared as a result of
Normans settlements in
Normandy during the
10th century. These words came from the
Old Norse spoken by the Norsemen who settled in northern France during the period; their settlement was legitimised and made permanent in
911 under
Rollo of Normandy.
Earliest written Old French
The earliest documents said to be in French are the
Oaths of Strasbourg, which are treaties and charters entered by king
Charles the Bald in
842. These documents are written in a mixture of vulgar Latin and early Romance, and it is hard to determine from the text we have how they were pronounced:
Pro Deo amur et pro Christian poblo et nostro commun salvament, d'ist di en avant, in quant Deus savir et podir me dunat, si salvarai eo cist meon fradre Karlo, et in aiudha et in cadhuna cosa. . . : (For the love of God and for the Christian people, and our common salvation, from this day forward, as God will give me the knowledge and the power, I will defend my brother Charles with my help in everything. . .)
Beginning with the
Capetian dynasty, which was begun by
Hugh Capet in
987, the culture of northern France began to develop, and its political ascendency over the southern areas of
Aquitaine and
Toulouse was slowly but firmly asserted. The current French language, however, did not begin to become the common speech of the entire nation of France until after the
French revolution.
From Vulgar Latin to Old French
One profound change that affected French, and every other Romance language, reordered the
vowel system of classical Latin. Latin had ten distinct vowels: long and short versions of A, E, I, O, U, and three (or four)
diphthongs, AE, OE, AU, and according to some, UI.
1 What happened to Vulgar Latin is set forth in the table.
| Letter | Classical Latin | Vulgar Latin | Old French | | closed | open |
|Short A| /a/ | /a/ | /a, au/ | /ɛ, iə/ |
|Long A| /a:/ |
|AE| /ai/ | /ɛ/ | /ɛ/ | /iə/ |
|Short E| /e/ |
|OE| /oi/ | /e/ | /e, eu/ | /ei/ |
|Long E| /e:/ |
|Short I| /i/ | /ɪ/ |
|Short Y| /y/ |
|Long I| /i:/ | /i/ | /i/ | /i/ |
|Long Y| /y:/ |
|Short O| /o/ | /"/ | /"/ | /yə/ |
|Long O| /o:/ | /o/ | /o/ | /ou/ |
|Short U| /u/ | /ʊ/ |
|Long U| /u:/ | /u/ | /y/ | /y/ |
|AU| /aw/ | /aw/ | /"/ | /"/ |
| (see International Phonetic Alphabet for an explanation of the symbols used); |
|
Both the diphthongs AE and OE also fell in with /e/. AU was initially retained, and turned into /O/ after the original /O/ fell victim to further changes.
Thus, the ten vowel system of Classical Latin, which relied on
phonemic vowel length was new-modelled into a system in which vowel length distinctions were suppressed and alterations of vowel quality became phonemic. Because of this change, the stress on accented syllables became much more pronounced in Vulgar Latin than in Classical Latin. This tended to cause unaccented syllables to become less distinct, while working further changes on the sounds of the accented syllables.
Old French underwent more thorough alterations of its sound system than did the other Romance languages. Vowel breaking was something that occurred generally in Proto-Western-Romance (here, Proto-Romance), although with different results in each of the daughter languages; Latin FOCU(M) (originally "hearth") becomes Italian
fuoco, Spanish
fuego, Romanian
foc and French
feu (all meaning "fire"). But in Old French the phenomenon went further than in any other Romance language; of the seven vowels inherited from Latin, only remained essentially unchanged. In stressed syllables:
* The sound of Latin E (short), turning to in Proto-Romance, became
ie in Old French: Latin MEL, "honey" > OF
miel* The sound of Latin O (short) > Proto-Romance > OF
uo: COR >
cuor, "heart"
* Latin Ê > Proto-Romance > OF
ei: HABÊRE >
aveir, "to have"; this later becomes /oi/ in many words, as in
avoir* Latin " > Proto-Romance > OF
ou: FL"RE(M) >
flour, "flower"
* Latin > OF , probably through an intervening stage of ; MARE >
mer, "sea" This change is found in no other Romance language.
Note that Latin AU did not share the fate of or ; Latin AURUM > OF
or, "gold": not
oeur nor
our. Latin AU must have been retained at the time these changes were affecting Proto-Romance.
Changes affecting the consonants were also quite pervasive in Old French. Old French shared with the rest of the Vulgar Latin world the loss of final -M. Since this sound was basic to the Latin
noun case system, its loss levelled the distinctions upon which the
synthetic Latin
syntax relied, and forced the Romance languages to adapt a more
analytic syntax based on word order. Old French also dropped many internal consonants when they followed the strongly stressed syllable; Latin PETRA{M) > Proto-Romance * > OF
pierre; cf. Spanish
piedra ("stone").
During the Old French period, Latin became , the lip-rounded sound that is written 'u' in Modern French.
In some contexts, became , still written
oi in Modern French. During the early Old French period this sound was pronounced as the writing suggests, as . This sound developed variously in different varieties of Oïl language - most of the surviving languages maintain a pronunciation as /we/ - but literary French adopted a dialectal phonology /wa/. The doublet of
français and
François in modern French orthography demonstrates this mix of dialectal features.
At some point during the Old French period, vowels with a following nasal
consonant began to be nasalized. While the process of losing the final nasal consonant took place after the Old French period, the nasal vowels that characterise modern French appeared during the period in question.
Old French, along with
Portuguese, exhibits the most thorough phonetic changes from Latin, as opposed to relatively conservative Romance languages like
Spanish,
Italian or
Romanian. As the example of
pierre from PETRA(M) shows, many interior consonants were lost, swallowed up in the strong word stress accent.
Through Proto-Western-Romance:
*Reduction of ten-vowel system to seven vowels; diphthongs 'ae' and 'oe' reduced to and /e/; maintenance of 'au' diphthong.
*Loss of final -m (except in monosyllables, e.g. modern
rien <
rem).
*Loss of /h/.
*'ns' > 's'.
*'rs' > 'ss' when originating from Old Latin 'rtt', but retained when originating from Old Latin 'rct' (thus
dorsum > Modern French
dos, but
ursus (compare Greek
arktos) > Modern French
ours).
*Final 'er' > 're', 'or' > 'ro' (cf. Spanish
cuatro, sobre <
quattuor, super).
*Vulgar Latin unstressed vowel loss: Loss of intertonic (i.e. unstressed and in an interior syllable) vowels between /k/, /g/ and /r/, /l/.
*Reduction of 'e' and 'i' in hiatus to /j/, followed by
palatalization. Palatalization of /k/ and /g/ before front vowels.
**/kj/ is apparently doubled to /kkj/ prior to palatalization.
**/d'/ and /g'/ (from /dj/, /gj/, and /g/ before a front vowel) become /j/.
Through Proto-Gallo-Ibero-Romance:
*/k'/ and /t'/ merge, becoming /ts'/ (still treated as a single sound).
*/kt/ > /jt/.
*First diphthongization (only in some dialects): diphthongization of , to 'ie, uo' (later, 'uo' > 'ue') in stressed, open syllables. This also happens in closed syllables before a palatal, often later absorbed: PEIOR >> /pejro/ > /piejro/ >> 'pire' "worst"; NOCTE > /nojte/ > /nuojte/ >> /nujt/ 'nuit'; but TERTIU > /terts'o/ >> 'tierz'.
*First lenition (did not happen in a small area around the Pyrenees): chain shift involving intervocalic consonants: voiced stops and unvoiced fricatives become voiced fricatives (/ð/, /v/, /j/); unvoiced stops become voiced stops. NOTE: /ts'/ (from /k(e,i)/, /tj/) is pronounced as a single sound and voiced to /dz'/, but /tts'/ (from /kk(e,i)/, /kj/) is geminate and thus not voiced. Consonants before /r/ are lenited, also, and /pl/ > /bl/. Final /t/ and /d/ when following a vowel are lenited.
*/jn/, /nj/, /jl/, /gl/ (from Vulgar Latin /gn/, /ng'/, /gl/, /kl/, respectively) become and , respectively.
*First unstressed vowel loss: Loss of intertonic (i.e. unstressed and in an interior syllable) vowels, except /a/ when pretonic. (Note: This occurred at the same time as the first lenition, and individual words inconsistently show one change before the other. Hence MANICA > 'manche' but GRANICA > 'grange'. CARRICARE becomes either 'charchier' or 'chargier' in OF.)
Through Early Old French, in approximate order:
*Spread and dissolution of palatalization:
**A protected /j/ (not preceded by a vowel), stemming from an initial /j/ or from a /dj/, /gj/, or /g(e,i)/ when preceded by a consonant, becomes /d/.
**A /j/ followed by another consonant tends to palatalize that consonant; these consonants may have been brought together by intertonic loss. (E.g. MEDIETATE > /mejetate/ > /mejt'ate/ > 'moitié'. PEIOR > /pejro/ > /piejr'e/ > 'pire', but IMPEIORARE > /empejrare/ > /empejr'are > /empejrir/ > OF 'empoirier' "to worsen".)
**Palatalized sounds lose their palatal quality and eject a /j/ into the end of the preceding syllable, when open; also into the beginning of the following syllable when it is stressed, open, and front (i.e. /a/ or /e/). Hence *CUGITARE > /kujetare/ > /kujdare/ > /kujd'are/ >> /kujdir/ OF 'cuidier' "to think". MANSIONATA > /maz'onada/ > /maz'nada/ > /majz'njðə/ > OF 'maisniée' "household".
***/t/ and /d/ (including those from later sources, see below) eject a following /j/ normally, but do not eject any preceding /j/.
***Double /ss'/ < /ssj/ and from various other combinations also ejects a preceding /j/.
***Single /dz/ ejects such a /j/, but not double /tts/, evidently since it is a double sound and causes the previous syllable to close; see comment above, under lenition.
***Actual palatal /l'/ and /n'/ (as opposed to the merely patalized varieties of the other sounds) retain their palatal nature and don't emit preceding /j/. Or rather, palatal /l'/ does not eject a preceding /j/ (or else, it is always absorbed, even when depalatalized); palatal /n'/ emits a preceding /j/ when depalatalized, even if the preceding syllable is closed, e.g. JUNGIT > *YŌNYET > /dot/ > /dojnt/ 'joint'.
***Palatal /r'/ ejects a preceding /j/ as normal, but the /j/ metathesizes when a /a/ precedes, hence OPERARIU > /obrar'o/ > /obrjaro/ (not */obrajro/) >> 'ouvrier' "worker".
*Second diphthongization: diphthongization of /e/, /o/, /a/ to 'ei, ou, ae' (later, 'ei' > 'oi', 'ou' > 'eu', 'ae' > 'e') in stressed, open syllables, not followed by a palatal sound (not in all Gallo-Romance).
*Second unstressed vowel loss: Loss of all vowels except /a/ in unstressed, final syllables; addition of a final, supporting /e/ when necessary, to avoid words with impermissible final clusters.
*Second lenition: Same changes as in first lenition, applied again (not in all Gallo-Romance). NOTE: Losses of unstressed vowels may have blocked this change from happening.
*Palatalization of /ka/ > /ta/, /ga/ > /da/.
*Further vocalic changes (part 1):
*/ae/ > (but > /j/ after a palatal, and > /aj/ before nasals when not after a palatal).
*/au/ > .
*Further consonant changes:
**Geminate stops become single stops.
**Final stops and fricatives become devoiced.
**/dz/ > /z/, when not final.
**A /t/ is inserted between palatal , and following /s/ (DOLES > 'duels' "you hurt" but COLLIGIS > *COLYES > 'cuelz, cueuz' "you gather"; JUNGIS > *YŌNYES > 'joinz' "you join"; FILIUS > 'filz' "son").
**Palatal , are depalatalized to /n, l/ when final or following a consonant.
***In first-person verb forms, they may remain palatal when final due to the influence of the palatalized subjunctives.
*** > /jn/ when depalatalizing, but > /l/, without a yod. (*VECLUS > /vl'o/ > /vil'o/ > 'viel' "old" but CUNEUM > /kon'o/ > 'coin'. BALNEUM > /banyo/ > 'bain' but MONTANEA > /montanya/ > 'montagne'.)
*Further vocalic changes (part 2):
*/jej/ > /i/, /woj/ > /uj/. (PLACERE > /plajdzjejr/ > 'plaisir'; NOCTE > /nuojt/ > 'nuit'.)
*Diphthongs are consistently rendered as
falling diphthongs, i.e. the major stress is on the
first element, including for 'ie, ue, ui, etc.' in contrast with the normal Spanish pronunciation.
Through Old French, of c. 1100 AD:
*/f/, /p/, /k/ lost before final /s/, /t/. (DEBET >
Strasbourg Oaths 'dift' /deift/ > OF 'doit'.)
*'ei' > 'oi'.
*'wo' > 'we'.
*/a/ before /s/ becomes "darker": farther back and rounded. (Later, this becomes a separate phoneme, after /ts/ > /s/.)
*Loss of /θ/ and /ð/. When this results in a hiatus of /a/ with a following vowel, the /a/ becomes a schwa /ə/.
*Loss of /s/ before voiced consonant (perhaps passing through /h/), with lengthening of preceding vowel. Produces a new set of long vowel phonemes.
*/u/ > /y/.
Through Late Old French: c. 1250-1300 AD:
*/o/ > /u/.
*/l/ before consonant becomes /w/.
*Diphthongs shift to second element.
*'we' and 'ew' > /"/.
*'oi' > 'we'.
*'ai' > .
* and /e/ merge in closed syllables.
*/ts/ > /s/, > , > .
*Loss of /s/ before any consonant, with lengthening of preceding vowel.
Old French maintained a two-case system, with a
nominative case and an
oblique case, longer than did some other Romance languages (e.g. Spanish and Italian). Case distinctions, at least in the masculine
gender, were marked on both the
definite article and on the noun itself. Thus, the masculine noun
li voisins, "the neighbour" (Latin VICÍNU(S) /wi'ki:nus/ > Proto-Romance */
vetsinu(s)/ > OF
voisins /voizi
ns/) was declined as follows:
Singular: Nominative: li voisins (Latin
ille vicinus) Oblique: le voisin (Latin
illum vicinum)
Plural: Nominative: li voisin (Latin
illi vicini) Oblique: les voisins (Latin
illos vicinos)
In later Old French, these distinctions became moribund. When the distinctions were marked enough, sometimes both forms survived, with a
lexical difference: both
li sire (nominative, Latin SENIOR) and
le seigneur (oblique, Latin SENIORE(M)) survive in the vocabulary of later French as different ways to refer to a feudal
lord. As in most other Romance languages, it was the oblique case form that usually survived to become the modern French form:
l'enfant (the child) represents the old accusative; the OF nominative was
li enfes. But some modern French nouns perpetuate the old nominative; modern French
soeur (OF
suer) represents the Latin nominative S"ROR; the OF oblique form
seror, from Latin accusative SOR"REM, no longer survives.
As in Spanish and Italian, the neuter
gender was eliminated, and old neuter nouns became masculine. Some Latin neuter plurals were re-analysed as feminine singulars, though; for example, Latin GAUDIU(M) was more widely used in the plural form GAUDIA, which was taken for a singular in Vulgar Latin, and ultimately led to modern French
la joie, "joy" (feminine singular).
Nouns were declined in the following declensions:
*Class I (feminine, no case marking): la fame, la fame, les fames, les fames "woman"
*Class II (masculine): li voisins, le voisin, li voisin, les voisins "neighbor"; li sergenz, le sergent, li sergent, les sergenz "servant"
*Class Ia (feminine hybrid): la riens, la rien, les riens, les riens "thing"; la citéz, la cité, les citéz, les citéz "city"
*Class IIa (masculine hybrid): li pere, le pere, li pere, les peres "father"
*Class IIIa (masculine): li chantere, le chanteor, li chanteor, les chanteors "singer"
*Class IIIb (masculine): li ber, le baron, li baron, les barons "baron"
*Class IIIc (feminine): la none, la nonain, les nonains, les nonains "nun"
*Class IIId (isolated, irregular forms): la suer, la seror, les serors, les serors "sister"; li enfes, l'enfant, li enfant, les enfanz "child"; li prestre, le prevoire, li prevoire, les prevoires "priest"; li sire, le seigneur, li seigneur, les seigneurs "lord"; li cuens, le conte, li conte, les contes "count"
Class I is derived from the Latin first declension. Class II is derived from the Latin second declension. Class Ia mostly comes from feminine third-declension nouns in Latin. Class IIa generally stems from second-declension nouns ending in -er and from third-declension masculine nouns; note that in both cases, the Latin nominative singular did not end in -s, and this is preserved in Old French.
Class III nouns show a separate form in the nominative singular that does not occur in any of the other forms. IIIa nouns ended in -ÁTOR, -AT"REM in Latin, and preserve the stress shift; IIIb nouns likewise had a stress shift from -O to -"NEM. IIIc nouns are an Old French creation and have no clear Latin antecedent. IIId nouns represent various other types of third-declension Latin nouns with stress shift or irregular masculine singular (S"ROR, SOR"REM; ÍNFANS, INFÁNTEM; PRÉSBYTER, PRESBÝTEREM; SÉNIOR, SENI"REM; C"MES, C"MITEM).
The verb in Old French was somewhat less distinct from the rest of Proto-Romance than the noun was. It shared in the loss of the Latin
passive voice, and the reduction of the Latin futures of the AMABO type (I will love) to Proto-Romance
amare habeo (lit. "I have to love"), which became
amerai in Old French.
In Latin, certain verbs shifted the accented syllable based on the Latin accentual system, which depended on vowel length. Thus, the Latin verb ÁMO, "I love," stressed on the first syllable, changed to AMÁMUS, "we love." Because the Latin stressed syllable affected Old French vowels, this syllable shift created a large number of
strong verbs in Old French. ÁMO yielded
j'aim, while AMÁMUS, moving the stress away from the first syllable, yielded
nous amons. There were at least 11 types of alternations; examples of these various types are
j'aim, nous amons; j'achat, nous achetons; j'adois, nous adesons; je mein, nouns menons; j'achief, nous achevons; je conchi, nous concheons; je pris, nous proisons; je demeur, nous demourons; je muer, nous mourons; j'aprui, nous aproions. In Modern French almost all of these verbs have been leveled, generally with the "weak" (unstressed) form predominating (but modern
aimer/nous aimons is an exception). A few alternations remain, however, in what are now known as
irregular verbs, such as
je tiens, nous tenons or
je meurs, nous mourons.
In general, Old French verbs show much less analogical reformation than in Modern French. The Old French first singular
aim, for example, comes directly from Latin AMO, while modern
aime has an analogical -e added. The subjunctive forms
j'aim, tu ains, il aint are direct preservations of Latin
AMEM, AMES, AMET, while the modern forms
j'aime, tu aimes, il aime have been completely reformed on the basis of verbs in the other conjugations. The simple past also shows extensive analogical reformation and simplification in Modern French as compared with Old French.
The Latin
pluperfect was preserved in very early Old French as a past tense with a value similar to a
preterite or
imperfect. E.g. (Cantilène de sainte Eulalie, 878 AD) 'avret' < HABUERAT, 'voldret' < VOLUERAT. (
Old Occitan also preserved this tense, with a
conditional value.)
Example of regular -er verb
| | | Indicative | Subjunctive | Conditional | Imperative |
|---|
| Present | Simple Past | Imperfect | Future | Present | Imperfect | Present |
Present |
| je | dur | durai | duroie | durerai | dur | durasse | dureroie | |
| tu | dures | duras | durois | dureras | durs | durasses | durerois | dure |
| il | dure | dura | duroit | durera | durt | durast | dureroit | |
| nous | durons | durames | duriiens/-ïons | durerons | durons | durissons/-issiens | dureriions/-ïons | durons |
| vous | durez | durastes | duriiez | dureroiz/-ez | durez | durissoiz/-issez/-issiez | dureriiez/-ïez | durez |
| ils | durent | durerent | duroient | dureront | durent | durassent | dureroient | |
Non-finite forms:
* Infinitive: durer
* Present participle: durant
* Past Participle: duré
Auxiliary verb:
avoirExample of regular -ir verb
| | | Indicative | Subjunctive | Conditional | Imperative |
|---|
| Present | Simple Past | Imperfect | Future | Present | Imperfect | Present |
Present |
| je | dorm | dormis | dormoie | dormirai | dorm | dormisse | dormiroie | |
| tu | dorms | dormis | dormois | dormiras | dorms | dormisses | dormirois | dorme |
| il | dormt | dormit | dormoit | dormira | dormt | dormt | dormiroit | |
| nous | dormons | dormimes | dormiiens/-ïons | dormirons | dormons | dormissons/-issiens | dormiraions/-ïons | dormons |
| vous | dormez | dormistes | dormiiez | dormiroiz/-ez | dormez | dormissoiz/-issez/-issiez | dormiraiez/-ïez | dormez |
| ils | dorment | dormerent | dormoient | dormiront | dorment | dormissent | dormiroient | |
Non-finite forms:
* Infinitive: dormir
* Present participle: dormant
* Past Participle: dormi
Auxiliary verb:
avoirExamples of the auxiliary verbs
avoir (to have)
| | | Indicative | Subjunctive | Conditional | Imperative |
|---|
| Present | Simple Past | Imperfect | Future | Present | Imperfect | Present |
Present |
| je | ai | eus | avoie | aurai | ai | eusse | auroie | |
| tu | ais (later as) | eus | avois | auras | ais | eusses | aurois | ave |
| il | ai (later a) | eut | avoit | aura | ai | eusst | auroit | |
| nous | avons | eumes | aviens/-ïons | aurons | aions | eussons/-issiens | auravons/-ïons | avons |
| vous | avez | eustes | aviez | auroiz/-ez | aiez | eussoiz/-issez/-issiez | auravez/-ïez | avez |
| ils | ont | eurent | avoient | auront | ont | eussent | auroient | |
Non-finite forms:
* Infinitive: avoir (earlier
aveir)
* Present participle: aiant
* Past Participle: eut
Auxiliary verb:
avoiretre (to be)
| | | Indicative | Subjunctive | Conditional | Imperative |
|---|
| Present | Simple Past | Imperfect | fut, étuure | Present | Imperfect | Present |
Present |
| je | suis | fus | estoie, earlier eroie | serai | soi | fusse | seroie | |
| tu | es (sometimes suis, to fit the 1. person form) | fus | estois, earlier erois | seras | sois | fusses | serois | es |
| il | est (sometimes es) | fut | estoit, earlier eroit | sera | soi | fusst | seroit | |
| nous | sommes (sometimes spelled som) | fumes | estions, earlier eriens/-ïons | serons | soions | fussons/-issiens | sommes |
| vous | etes | fustes | estiez, earlier eriez | seroiz/-ez | soiez | fussoiz/-issez/-issiez | serestes/-ïez | estes |
| ils | sont | furent | estoient, earlier eroient | seront | soient | fussent | seroient | |
Non-finite forms:
* Infinitive: estre
* Present participle: soiant
* Past Participle: fut, étu
auxiliary verb:
avoir, earlier aveirSince Old French did not consist of a single standard, competing administrative varieties were propagated by the provincial courts and chanceries.
The French of Paris was one of a number of standards, including:
*the
Burgundian of
Burgundy, then an independent
duchy whose capital was at
Dijon;
*the
Picard language of
Picardy, whose principal cities were
Calais and
Lille. It was said that the Picard language began at the east door of
Notre-Dame de Paris, so far-reaching was its influence;
*the
Norman language of
Normandy, whose principal cities were
Caen and
Rouen. The
Norman conquest of
England brought many Norman speaking aristocrats into the British Isles. Most of the older French words in the
English language reflect the influence of this variety of Oïl language which became a conduit for the introduction into the Anglo-Norman realm, as did Anglo-Norman control of Anjou and Gascony and other continental possessions. The
Anglo-Norman language reflected a shared culture on both sides of the
English Channel. Ultimately, this language declined and fell, becoming
Law French, a
jargon spoken by lawyers, which was used in English
law until the reign of
Charles II;
*the
Walloon language, centered around
Namur in present-day
Wallonia;
*the
Gallo language of
Brittany, language of the
Duchy of Brittany;
*the
Lorrain language, spoken in
Metz.
Languages derived from Old French
This Oïl language is the ancestor of several languages spoken today, including:
*
Bourguignon-Morvandiau *
Champenois*
Franc-Comtois *
French**
Acadian French**
Belgian French**
Cajun French**
Metropolitan French (
Metropolitan France)
**
Quebec French**
Swiss French*
Gallo language*
Lorrain*
Norman**
Dgèrnésiais**
Jèrriais*
Picard *
Poitevin-Saintongeais *
WalloonMain Article at Medieval French literatureSee also:
Languages of France,
Anglo-Norman literature1In this article:
* CAPITAL letters indicate Latin or Vulgar Latin words;
*
Italics indicate Old French and other Romance language words;
* An
asterisk marks a conjectured or hypothetical form;
* Phonetic transcriptions appear , in the
International Phonetic Alphabet.
* Delamarre, X. (2003).
Dictionnaire de la Langue Gauloise (2nd ed.). Paris: Editions Errance. ISBN 2-287772-237-6
* Pope, M.K. (1934).
From Latin to Modern French with Especial Consideration of Anglo-Norman Phonology and Morphology. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
* Kibler, William (1984).
An Introduction to Old French. New York: Modern Language Association of America.
*
Old French on the Web
