Why is more than half of English words from French? Did they molest English in 100 years after the battle of h

Question

HASTINGS?

Answer 1

C'est la vie!

Answer 2

I think that the question is absurd. Who "molested" english ? How ?
After Hastings, the official language in Englsnd was French, and the Anglo Saxon the language of uncouth oafs, according to the kings and nobility. That was the situation for centuries and many French words became part of the english language.
Edward III spoke French ( 1348 ) and refused to speak english calling it a barbaric language

Answer 3

They simply took over the running of the country. Bryson calls the Norman conquest of 1066 the "final cataclysm [which] awaited the English language." When William the Conqueror became king of England, French took over as the language of the court, administration, and culture - and stayed there for 300 years. Meanwhile, English was "demoted" to everyday, unprestigious uses. These two languages existed side by side in England with no noticeable difficulties; in fact, since English was essentially ignored by grammarians during this time, it took advantage of its lowly status to become a grammatically simpler language and, after only 70 or 80 years existing side-by-side with French, Old English evolved into Middle English.
During the Norman occupation, about 10,000 French words were adopted into English, some three-quarters of which are still in use today. This French vocabulary is found in every domain, from government and law to art and literature. More than a third of all English words are derived directly or indirectly from French and it's estimated that English speakers who have never studied French already know 15,000 French words. (This works both ways, which makes French easier for English speakers).
English pronunciation owes a lot to French as well. Whereas Old English had the unvoiced fricative sounds , , (as in thin), and (shin), French influence helped to distinguish their voiced counterparts , , (the), and (mirage), and also contributed the diphthong (boy).
Another rare but interesting remnant of French influence is in the word order of expressions like secretary general and surgeon general, where English has retained the noun + adjective word order typical in French, rather than the usual adjective + noun used in English.

Answer 4

After conquering England, the Normans (they weren´t French as such but dominated the north of France at the time, see Normandy nowadays) became the ruling class in England, and they spoke a French-related language. The Anglo-Saxons (or English, if you want) became a class under them. So the Normans made their French-like language dominant. It then took a few centuries for everything to "mix". If you want to see this historical class difference in modern English, you can see it in the different words for animals/meat. The animal (that the Germanic Anglo-Saxons cultivated for their Gallic Norman masters) is a Germanic word (compare the sound of modern German: "cow" -> "Kuh", "sheep" -> "Schaf"), and the meat that Norman masters ate from them you can compare to modern French ("beef" -> "boeuf"). The French word for a sheep is "mouton" so you can imagine in which situation the English got their word for "mutton" from.

Answer 5

it's not molestation or anything.

think of it this way: as history unfolded, people adapted the culture and language of the dominant group. in public life, people are forced to learn some foreign words or else they can't do business with the foreigners. imagine going to the market where people talk french. either you learn it or you can't buy anything.

in the long run, words were adapted and modified (anglicized).

you should also remember that the french got it from the romans, who were also influenced by the greeks.

the greeks, in turn, were influenced by the macedonians, etc.

Answer 6

Yes, Hastings, 1066

William the conqueror spoke French.
If the English farmers wanted to cope with the situation,
they had to learn that their pigs turned into pork
as soon as they were served on the table.
The same happened to cows (German: Kuh) and beef (French: boeuf),
sheep and mutton, calf and veal, etc
On the other hand, Latin is really the origin of a lot of European languages

You are welcome

Answer 7

yeees. The Battle of Hastings

Answer 8

English itself has borrowed words from many different languages over its history.

Answer 9

the English molested the GREEK language

Answer 10

All European languages pillaged Latin for their roots. English happens to be one of the most far-removed from Latin.