This article examines the earliest and most decisive phase of French influence on English — the period from the Norman Conquest (1066) to the end of the fourteenth century. It considers the limited pre-Conquest contacts between the two languages, the trilingual situation that emerged after the Conquest (French for the ruling class, Latin for the church and scholarship, English for the common people), and the influx of Gallicisms into the fields of government, law, and warfare. Particular attention is paid to the lexical doublets arising from social stratification (cow/beef, sheep/mutton) and to the fact that French influence deepened rather than declined even after the 1362 Statute of Pleading permitted the use of English in court proceedings.
Gallicism
Norman Conquest
trilingualism
lexical doublet
legal terminology
social stratification