The Joret line (; Norman: ''lène Joret:'' Picard: ''line Joret'') is an

isogloss An isogloss, also called a heterogloss, is the geographic boundary of a certain linguistics, linguistic feature, such as the pronunciation of a vowel, the meaning of a word, or the use of some morphological or syntactic feature. Isoglosses are a ...

that divides the

langues d'oïl The ''langues d'oïl'' are a dialect continuum that includes standard French and its closest relatives historically spoken in the northern half of France, southern Belgium, and the Channel Islands. They belong to the larger category of Gallo- ...

. Dialects north and west of it preserve Latin and before ; dialects south and east of it palatalize them. In

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th [2-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...

the result of this palatalisation was and (for original and respectively), which yield and in Modern French. The line was first identified by Charles Joret and published in 1883. The area north and west of it is sometimes called the 'Normano-Picard domain' (). Within it lie Picard and the northern dialects of Norman.

Geography

The Joret line extends from the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...

(including Jèrriais, Guernésiais, and Sercquiais) and across the continent from Granville, Manche to the linguistic border with Dutch in the North of France and

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. It runs approximately west to east through

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

north of Granville and Villedieu-les-Poêles and divides

Manche Manche (, ; Norman language, Norman: ) is a coastal Departments of France, French ''département'' in Normandy (administrative region), Normandy on the English Channel, which is known as , literally "the sleeve", in French. Manche is bordered by ...

in two linguistically and separates Calvados and

Orne Orne (; or ) is a département in the northwest of France, named after the river Orne. It had a population of 279,942 in 2019.Eure Eure ( ; ; or ) is a department in the administrative region of Normandy, northwestern France, named after the river Eure. Its prefecture is Évreux. In 2021, Eure had a population of 598,934.Picardy, where the line runs with the Amiénois and Thiérache, up to the west of Rebecq, Beaumont and Chimay in

, where it separates Picard from Walloon.

Examples

* Norman Picard ~ Southern Norman, French , Walloon ( palatalization) :Latin ''cattu'' (cat) gave rise to ''cat'' north of the line and '' chat'' to the south. :Low Latin ''*captiare'' (to catch) gave rise to ''cachier'' / ''cacher'' (> English catch) north of the line and ''chasser'' (> English chase) to the south. :Low Latin ''*cantionem'' (song), Picard ''canchon'' West of the line, French ''chanson'', Walloon ''tchinson'' South and East of the line. Similarly Latin ''cantare'' → ''canter'' vs. ''chanter'', ''tchanter''. :Frankish ''*pokka'' (bag) gave rise to ''pouque'' (> English dial. poke) north of the line and ''pouche'' (> English pouch) to the south. French ''poche'' (pocket), Norman ''pouquette'' (> English pocket). :Latin ''candela'' (candle) gave rise to ''candelle'' north of the line and ''chandelle'' to the south. :Celtic ''*carros'' > Latin ''carrus'' gave rise to ''car'' (> English car) north of the line and ''char'' (wain, carriage), ''chariot'' (> English chariot) to the south. :Celtic ''*kagio-'', Gaulish ''caio-'' > Norman Picard ''kay'', ''cay'' (> ME kay) > French quai (> English quay); Old French ''chay'' > French ''chai'' (wine cellar) * Norman Picard ~ Southern Norman, French , Walloon (palatalization) :Latin ''gamba'' (leg) gave rise to ''gambe'' north of the line and ''jambe'' to the south, ''djambe'' to the East. :Frankish ''*gard-'' (yard) gave rise to ''gardin'' (> English garden) north of the line and ''jardin'' to the south. :Late Latin ''*galleto'' > Norman Picard ''gal(l)on'' (> English gallon) ; Old French ''jallon'' , French ''jalon'' (measure)

Second isogloss

Another effect of the palatalizations a bit further to the north but quite parallel was this: * Norman Picard (or ) ~ Southern Norman or , French . :Low Latin ''*captiare'' > Norman Picard ''cacher'', ''cachi(er)'' (> English catch); Southern Norman, French ''chasser'' :Low Latin ''ceresiu(m)'' > Norman Picard ''cherise'', ''chrise'', ''chise'' (> English cherry); Southern Norman ''srise'' French ''cerise''

Third isogloss

A third isogloss, marking a consonantal change unrelated to the others, more or less follows the Joret line throughout Normandy and continues through northeastern France. It includes all of Picardy,

Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

, Champagne, Lorraine and a part of Burgundy. Germanic (sometimes Latin was affected as well) was kept north of the line (written ''w'' or ''v''), but became (written ''g'' or ''gu'') south of the line. *Northern French ~ French :Latin ''vespa'' / Frankish ''*waspa'' (wasp) > Picard ''Wespe'', Norman ''Vêpe'' ~ French ''guêpe'' (wasp) :Frankish ''*wala hlaupan'' (S. English well and leap) > Picard, Old Norman ''waloper'' (> English wallop) ; French ''galoper'' (> English gallop) :Frankish ''wahtôn'' (S. English wake and watch) > Picard, Old Norman ''wait(i)er'' (> English wait) ; Old French ''guaitier'', French ''guetter'' :Frankish ''*werra'' > Old Picard Old Norman ''werre'', ''warre'' (> English war) ; French ''guerre'' (war)

Toponymy

The Joret line affects

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...

s in Normandy and Picardy: Cambrai (corresponding to Chambray),

Camembert Camembert ( , , ) is a moist, soft, creamy, surface-ripened cow's milk cheese. It was first made in the late 18th century in Camembert, Normandy, in northwest France. It is sometimes compared in look, taste and texture to brie cheese, albe ...

, Carentan (corresponding to Charenton),

Caen Caen (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune inland from the northwestern coast of France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Calvados (department), Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inha ...

( Wace gallicized as ''Chaem''). Norman placenames derived from the Gallo-Romance word '' Campaniacum'' show initial ''C-'' in some cases ( Campigny, north) and initial ''Ch-'' in others ( Champigny-la-Futelaye, south).

Notes

References

*''La Normandie dialectale'' Lepelley, Caen 1999 {{ISBN, 2-84133-076-1 Oïl languages Picardy Normandy Isoglosses Norman language