what is the historical reason english has adopted so many french words and phrases?

Answer 1

The Norman conquest. William the Bastard, or William the Conqueror brought his forces from northern France to settle in England. They made up the upper class in their new homeland, bringing with them the French language.

Answer 2

I also don't think the Norman invasion in 1066 had as much to do with french in English as the proximity of England to France. English has more words in it than any other language and grows rapidly.

There are a number of cultural reasons for this. The most obvious is that the British empire was spread all across the world. Army officers, adventurers, business men and royalty all traveled to numerous foreign countries, bringing back with them the huge foreign collections, including names and words.

As things have been discovered or invented, English has for the most part not translated them, only English-ised them. The United States and Canada have also added words from the many diverse cultures that live there.

Basically, English just picks up a lot of words, as opposed to say French, where they make an effort to keep the language french.

Latin is not a common language between french and English. French and Spanish and Italian are from Latin but English is Germanic like German and Flemish.

Answer 3

Interesting question! It could be the common roots of English and French and the historical ties of the countries where these languages were first used. Wikipedia has an excellent resource regarding the Normans, old English and the evolution of the language as spoken today. Let's not forget more modern influences like multiculturalism of major cities and people, the "chic-ness" (there goes another example) or modishness (again!) of a given language either. Those can be a stimulus for incorporating foreign language words into a domestic language's vocabulary. The French language, for example, is constantly linked with style, romance, food...things that are desirable and appealing and would increase the likelihood of French words being used by English-speakers (I'm convinced that most of us are fascinated by things French). I live in a country where English and French are official languages, and English words are often incorporated into French dialogue (e.g., "Le ville by night"), slang, and so on (and vice-versa). The editors of modern dictionaries like the Oxford might have lots of light to shed on this subject. Why not consult their website? Links are below.

Answer 4

Unlike previous answerers, I don't believe that claiming the Norman Conquest is reason enough. Going back a thousand years, the English and French languages were both substantially different; vocabulary naturalised into English from those times would be largely unrecognisable as French.

If you are looking for a reason for the adoption of phrases such as "rendezvous" and "deja vu", I believe it is not historical in nature, but cultural and geographical. France is Britain's closest geographical neighbour, and cultural ties have always been strong (and would have been so even without the Norman Conquest).

Answer 5

One of the major reasons is the influence of the Norman French in England after the Norman Invasion led by William the Conqueror. For generations, the elite of England were dominated by French speaking Normans who probably didn't speak much English at all. Slowly but surely there was a fusion of French terms that entered the English langauge and remain there today.

Answer 6

As someone said, "the Norman conquest."
The French ruled England. The English adopted a lot of the French words.

Answer 7

Partly because of Cultural Diffusion, or the sharing of ideas, technology, words, etc.. secondly because of the close proximity between England and France. Another reason why so many words sound similar and have the same meaning is because both English and French developed from Latin, as did Spanish. Words that are similar in sound and meaning are called cognates.

Answer 8

There sure is a lot of B.S. going on in the answers! Why do you guys answer if you don't have a clue?! It's because there have been some influential french people here in the past that have done big important things and they end up getting things named after them, or they discovered something or were a part of something important in history. The same as you see a lot of scientific words in Latin.

Answer 9

New words and expressions are added whenever a new phrase or expression comes into vogue, also when there's a need to express a feeling, action, invention (thing), mood, etc., that there is no word to describe in English. For example, "cojones," (Spanish) may very well be translated as "balls" but it looses a bit in the translation since it JUST doesn't say the same, it lacks "umph."

Answer 10

English is a fairly new language and it took bits and pieces from many other languages. Plus, with the diversity of English speaking countries, each culture contributes pieces of themselves.