Myth or fact: the history of the French language
Did everyone speak French in 1789? Does the circumflex hide a lost s? Did English borrow thousands of French words? Judge eight claims about French.
- B1
- 8 claims
- Vrai ou faux ?
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In short
French has a surprising history: in 1789 most people in France spoke regional languages rather than standard French; the circumflex often marks a lost s (forêt / forest, hôpital / hospital); and after 1066 English absorbed thousands of French words.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
Vrai ou faux ? Decide before you see the verdict.
In 1789, most people in France spoke standard French as their first language.
le breton, l'occitan, l'alsacien
FauxFaux. A 1790s survey by the Abbé Grégoire found that only a minority spoke French fluently. Many people spoke Breton, Occitan, Alsatian, Basque or local dialects.
The circumflex often marks an s that disappeared.
forêt / forest, hôpital / hospital
VraiVrai. Compare forêt and forest, fête and feast, île and isle: the hat sits where an old s used to be.
English borrowed many words from French after 1066.
beef, mutton, government, justice
VraiVrai. After the Norman Conquest, French was the language of the English elite for centuries. Beef comes from bœuf, mutton from mouton.
A 1539 royal decree made French the language of official documents.
l'ordonnance de Villers-Cotterêts
VraiVrai. The ordonnance de Villers-Cotterêts, signed by François Ier, required legal acts to be written in French rather than Latin.
The Académie française can fine people for using English words.
l'Académie française
FauxFaux. It publishes a dictionary and recommendations, but cannot fine anyone. Laws on French in public life are a separate matter.
Since the 1990 spelling reform, ognon is an accepted spelling.
ognon / oignon
VraiVrai. The 1990 reform accepts both. Most people still write oignon, but ognon isn't a mistake.
French comes mainly from classical Latin as Cicero wrote it.
le latin populaire
FauxFaux. French grew from the everyday spoken Latin of Gaul, influenced by Gaulish and the Germanic Franks.
The Strasbourg Oaths of 842 are one of the oldest texts in an early form of French.
les Serments de Strasbourg
VraiVrai. They're often cited as the 'birth certificate' of French, written in an early Romance language.
What to take away
The story of French is also the story of regional languages pushed aside by schools from the 19th century. Today, Breton, Occitan, Basque and Alsatian are taught in some schools again.
| French | English cousin |
|---|---|
| la forêt | forest |
| la fête | feast |
| l'hôpital | hospital |
| la côte | coast |
- L'Académie a interdit le mot « email ».L'Académie recommande « courriel ».
It recommends; it doesn't ban.
- le latin de Cicéronle latin populaire
French grew from spoken Latin.