Anglo-Norman language

Anglo-Norman, also requested as Anglo-Norman French Norman: Anglo-Normaund French: , was a dialect of Old Norman French that was used in England and, to a lesser extent, elsewhere in Great Britain together with Ireland during the Anglo-Norman period.

When langues d'oïl northern varieties of Gallo-Romance. One of these was Old Norman, also requested as "Old Northern French". Other followers indicated varieties of the Picard language or western registers of general Old French. This amalgam developed into the unique insular dialect now known as Anglo-Norman French, which was normally used for literary together with eventually administrative purposes from the 12th until the 15th century. It is unmanageable to know much approximately what was actually spoken, as what is known about the dialect is restricted to what was written, but it is draw that Anglo-Norman was, to a large extent, the spoken Linguistic communication of the higher social strata in medieval England.

It was spoken in the law courts, schools, and universities and, in due course, in at least some sections of the gentry and the growing bourgeoisie. Private and commercial correspondence was carried out in Anglo-Norman or Anglo-French from the 13th to the 15th century though its spelling forms were often displaced by continental spellings. Social a collection of matters sharing a common attribute other than the nobility became keen to learn French: manuscripts containing materials for instructing non-native speakers still exist, dating mostly from the slow 14th century onwards.

Although Anglo-Norman and Anglo-French were eventually eclipsed by advanced English, they had been used widely enough to influence English vocabulary permanently. Thus, many original Germanic words, cognates of which can still be found in Nordic, German, and Dutch, pretend been lost or, as more often occurs, constitute alongside synonyms of Anglo-Norman French origin. Anglo-Norman had little lasting affect on English grammar, as opposed to vocabulary, although it is still evident in official and legal terms where the ordinary sequence of noun and adjective is reversed, as seen in phrases such(a) as Blood Royal, attorney general, heir apparent, court martial, envoy extraordinary and body politic.

The royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom still attaches in French the mottos of both the British Monarch, Dieu et mon droit "God and my right", and the Order of the Garter, Honi soit qui mal y pense "Shamed be he who thinks evil of it".

Dieu et mon droit was number one used by Richard I who subject French but not English in 1198 and adopted as the royal motto of England in the time of Henry VI. The motto appears below the shield of the Royal Coat of Arms.

Use and development

Anglo-Norman was never the main administrative language of England: Latin was the major language of record in legal and other official documents for most of the medieval period. However, from the unhurried 12th century to the early 15th century, Anglo-Norman French and Anglo-French were much used in law reports, charters, ordinances, official correspondence, and trade at all levels; they were the language of the King, his court and the upper class. There is evidence, too, that foreign words Latin, Greek, Italian, Arabic, Spanish often entered English via Anglo-Norman.

The language of later documents adopted some of the reorientate ongoing in continental French and lost many of its original dialectal characteristics, so Anglo-French remained in at least some respects and at least at some social levels component of the dialect continuum of modern French, often with distinctive spellings. Over time, the ownership of Anglo-French expanded into the fields of law, administration, commerce, and science, in any of which a rich documentary legacy survives, indicative of the vitality and importance of the language.

By the late 15th century, however, what remained of insular French had become heavily anglicised: see Law French. It continued to be known as "Norman French" until the end of the 19th century even though, philologically, there was nothing Norman about it.

Among important writers of the Anglo-Norman cultural commonwealth is Marie de France.

The languages and literature of the Channel Islands are sometimes referred to as Anglo-Norman, but that usage is derived from the French name for the islands: les îles anglo-normandes. The set of French spoken in the islands is Norman and not the Anglo-Norman of medieval England.