This list of English words with dual French and Old English variations lists various English words with redundant loanwords. After the
Norman invasion of England in 1066 many of the more refined English (
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...
) words describing finished products were replaced with words, borrowed from
Anglo-Norman Anglo-Norman may refer to:
*Anglo-Normans, the medieval ruling class in England following the Norman conquest of 1066
*Anglo-Norman language
**Anglo-Norman literature
*Anglo-Norman England, or Norman England, the period in English history from 1066 ...
(such as "beef," a prepared food). In contrast, common unfinished equivalents continued to use the native English term (such as "cow," a living animal). This replacement can be explained by the fact that meat was an expensive product at the time and that the lord and nobleman of Norman origin were eating it more often than the commoners, who were raising the livestock. This duality is also mirrored in French, where "beef" is ''bœuf'', but "cow" is ''vache''. These dual words later formed the basis of the
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old Englis ...
wordstock, and were eventually passed into the modern language.
[Stephan Gramley, Kurt-Michael Pätzold, ''A survey of modern English'' (Routledge, 2003]
/ref>
In some cases, these dual variations are distant Doublet (linguistics), etymological twins, as in cow/beef, both from Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo ...
*''gʷōus,'' but in other cases, such as calf/veal, they come from distinct PIE roots.
Generally, words coming from French often retain a higher register
Register or registration may refer to:
Arts entertainment, and media Music
* Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc.
* ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller
* Registration (organ), th ...
than words of Old English origin, and they are considered by some to be more posh, elaborate, sophisticated, or pretentious. However, there are exceptions: ''weep'', ''groom'' and ''stone'' (from Old English) occupy a slightly higher register than ''cry'', ''brush'' and ''rock'' (from French). Words taken directly from Latin and Ancient Greek are generally perceived as colder, more technical, and more medical or scientific – compare ''life'' (Old English) with ''biology'' (classical compound
Neoclassical compounds are compound words composed from combining forms (which act as affixes or stems) derived from classical Latin or ancient Greek roots. New Latin comprises many such words and is a substantial component of the technical an ...
– a modern coinage from Greek roots).
List of English words with dual Old English/Old French variations
Foods:
Other words:
Words now obsolete, archaic or dialectal:
See also
*Lists of English loanwords by country or language of origin
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
* List of English words of French origin
*Changes to Old English vocabulary
Many words that existed in Old English did not survive into Modern English. There are also many words in Modern English that bear little or no resemblance in meaning to their Old English etymons. Some linguists estimate that as much as 80 percent ...
*List of Germanic and Latinate equivalents in English
This list contains Germanic elements of the English language which have a close corresponding Latinate form. The correspondence is semantic—in most cases these words are not cognates, but in some cases they are doublets, i.e., ultimately deriv ...
References
{{English words of foreign origin
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
Lists of English words of French origin